Reading
So Far Gone by Jess Walter. This is my third 2025 Christmas gift book. It’s the story of an estranged father who becomes a hermit when he can no longer cope with his dysfunctional family, especially his menacing son-in-law who is involved in a Christian nationalist end-of-days cult. The father comes out of the woods to deal with a family crisis that touches so many bases: angsty teenage girl, annoying younger brother, Bible-twisting preacher, a drug-laden Peruvian-inspired music festival, and more. Somehow Walter makes it all work. Adding to my enjoyment, it is set in western Washington State and Idaho, an area that I rode through on my 2018 bike tour.
Holding by Graham Norton. The fourth 2025 Christmas gift book. The BBC Irish chat show host’s first novel and quite a good one. Set in a sleepy rural town in County Cork, a bored, corpulent guarda Sergeant is confronted with the discovery of a buried remains at a construction site. Then another set of remains are unearthed. Who are these poor souls? Norton does a fine job of leading us to a resolution of the mysteries.
Deadwood by Peter Cozzens. The fifth 2025 Christmas gift book. A history of the founding and early days of Deadwood, the fabled gold mining town in the Black Hills of present day South Dakota. Loads of colorful characters including Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. (Both of them were fictionized beyond recognition by dime novelists). Stinky streets, robbers, murderers, “soiled doves”, and many more colorful characters. I learned to my amazement that the U. S. Army initially chased white miners out of the area to protect the sovereignty of the Lakota people. When the economy crashed in 1873, President Grant turned on the Lakotas and forced them off their land.
Taking Manhattan by Russell Shorto. A historical account of how the English acquired Dutch holdings in North America. A companion to Shorto’s The Island at the Center of the World which explained how New Amsterdam was the blueprint for pluralism and tolerance (among white people, at least) in the New World. Richard Nicholls, the English officer in charge of the invading fleet, wisely chose to negotiate a peace with Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Amsterdam. This created the blueprint for cosmopolitan cities the world over.
The Birds that Audubon Missed by Kenn Kaufman. The last of the Christmas gift books given by our friend Melissa, an avid birder. (I ran into her in Key West during my 2017 bike tour. She and her husband were going to the Dry Tortugas National Park on a birding excursion the following day.) The book describes how ornithology and bird art evolved during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with a focus on Audubon. It turns out he was quite a flawed character – (he fabricated an large eagle that he called the “Bird of Washington” to impress his English patrons. Nevertheless he was a tireless, unmatched painter of hundreds of actual birds. This is just the book for bird nerds.
Frankie by Graham Norton. The life and times of Frances Howe, from 1950 to 2024, as told to her caregiver in her old age. Frances is cast out of her miserable home in County Cork to adulthood in London and New York City. An extraordinary tale, beautifully written. Just a wonderful book.
Medical
On the 7th, I had my sixth (or maybe seventh) colonoscopy. This time with a new doctor, as my previous gastroenterologist had retired. The good news is no cancer was found. The bad news is they found 8 benign polyps which means I have to do this again in 2029.
Watching
Hamnet – We actually saw this on New Years Eve. I thought Jesse Buckley was terrific as Shakespeare’s wife. She’s in nearly every scene. Often in extreme closeups with minimal to no makeup. Oddly, she and Paul Mescal, who plays the Bard, are both Irish. The film didn’t meet my expectations (based on rave reviews) but it it held my interest for 2 hours and 15 minutes.
The Rip – Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in a buddy cop movie with more twists than a bag of Twizzlers. There’s $20 million of drug money in a house in Hialeah. Who do you trust? Implausible amounts of gun violence. Also, stars Kyle Chandler. Much better than I expected.
Miracle: The Boys of ’80. A Netflix documentary about the Miracle on Ice US Olympic hockey team. My freshman year at Boston University I lived on one of the hockey team’s floors so I knew (and got whupped at ping pong by the team captain, Mike Eruzione. He proved Leo Durocher wrong; nice guys sometimes finish first. A fun trip down memory lane.
Pro Football – In order to prep for the Super Bowl, I watched a few playoff games. I was pleased to see games played in snow. Now I have to find out who Bad Bunny is.
Riding
I managed to ride 722.5 miles, 403 of which were outside. Riding outside was out of the question for the last week or so due to the snow and ice storm. It’s not at all surprising that I rode 50 miles less than January 2025.
I spent at least ten hours digging through the snowcrete to free up our cars. My car, parked at the curb, had been plowed in. It was not a lot of fun digging it out. Thankfully we didn’t lose power (yet) and missed out on a follow-up storm that moved south of the area.
One interesting thing that took place was the fact that my banged up shoulder handled all the shoveling and chopping very well. No pain at night anymore. Also, an unexpected side effect was how my weight machine workouts became easier. Go figure.
A Few Spokes Shy of a Wheel 