We’ve come to the end of 2024, and that means it’s time wrap up two different read-alongs, the Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week 4 Year Read-Along Odyssey and the 2024 Fantasy Classics Chapter-a-Day Read-Along.

The Aubrey/Maturin Series

The Aubrey/Maturin Read-Along lasted four years, from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2024. In those four years we read all 209 chapters of one of the greatest historical fiction series ever written. That’s twenty-one books by Patrick O’Brian set in the Napoleonic Era, featuring Captain Jack Aubrey and surgeon/intelligence agent Stephen Maturin. While I had the best of intentions to write introductory posts to each book, it turned out to be something I could not muster enough time for, so I focused instead on posting quotes from each chapter on X.

Each chapter is quite long, so my plan was to set aside about an hour each Sunday to read that week’s chapter. That worked quite well until this past year when I found myself getting behind rather quickly, and before I knew it five months had gone by without any Aubrey/Maturin reading. In November I rededicated myself to completing the series and the read-along, and caught up to the schedule by the middle of December.

This was my third or fourth “circumnavigation” of the series, and I last read these books a decade ago. I was so pleased to find the story as compelling, humorous, exciting, and enjoyable as ever. I’m sure I will read them again, though hopefully it will be sooner than another ten years.

The 2024 Fantasy Classics Chapter-a-Day Read-Along

The 2024 Fantasy Classics Read-Along was a chance to revisit two favorite series and also fill a huge hole in my reading history by completing a series I had never read before. The year started with The Chronicles of Narnia, and it had been quite a while since my last visit to the world behind the wardrobe. This was my first time reading the books in order of the internal chronology rather than in order of publication, and I didn’t mind the order at all.

Reading the end of the series was quite moving for both my wife and me. My wife’s mother passed away last April, and her funeral was right around the time we were scheduled to finish The Last Battle. Before we left town for the funeral we sat at our kitchen table reading the ending aloud as the characters were led “further up and further in” to the true Narnia, leaving the shadow Narnia behind. It was a powerful moment of consolation and hope for us in the midst of our grief, and I am grateful for the blessing of its timing.

After Narnia came Middle-earth and Lord of the Rings, a series I am never not reading, it seems. I’m always either just finishing, just starting, or somewhere in the middle of a book by Tolkien. This past year I also read The Fall of Numenor, a collection of tales about the Second Age of Middle-earth, the setting for the new TV series Rings of Power. I always enjoy rereading Lord of the Rings, and I always will.

Finally came the series I have neglected for too long, the Harry Potter series. I really enjoyed reading about Harry, Hermione, and Ron, and as with any great story, it was the characters that kept me interested. The toughest book for me to get through was Order of the Phoenix with all the teen angst dripping from its pages, but I have to admit that Dolores Umbridge is a villain you love to hate.

Thank you to everyone who joined me this past year for one, some, or all of these fantasy classics! And a special shout-out to Rick Barry for hanging in there for all four years of the Aubrey/Maturin Read-Along Odyssey! For all love, which he not only read along for the entire series, but he posted multiple quotes on X each week, along with occasional articles and links related to the events in the books! Be sure to wish him joy on his first circumnavigation of the series!

Finally, I hope you join us for the 2025 American Masterpieces Chapter-a-Day Read-Along that starts tomorrow with chapter 1 of Roots by Alex Haley!