t looks like a shaken snow globe outside, a white Christmas assured, usually a time of celebration and hope. Though we do now live in very dark times, I often think of Arthur Hugh Clough's 1855 poem Say not the Struggle nought Availeth:
"Say not the struggle nought availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain,
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
It may be, in yon smoke concealed,
Your comrades chase e'en now the fliers,
And, but for you, possess the field.
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
And not by eastern windows only,
When daylight comes, comes in the light,
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly,
But westward, look, the land is bright."
Words like these do provide hope, and reading can offer a welcome distraction from everyday concerns. So, as we do every year, we offer you BookLoons' picks from 2024's reading bounty. These are mainly hardcovers - find engaging reads most likely published in paperback in 2024 in our Recommended Reads 2023.
