And so ends a year that our culture has anthropomorphized for the last couple of months.  Thought I’d end a year in posts with something other than a “best-of” list (though I would like to get around to that at some point).  So here’s my list of “last things” for the year.

Last Novel.  I didn’t read as much fiction as I’d planned in 2016.  The last novel I read this year took me longer than I had expected (not because it was a long novel, mind you).  Francis Spufford’s Golden Hill, released earlier this year in England and later next year in America, tells the story of a mysterious man who shows up in early New York with a bank note beyond the means of many.  The novel takes so many wonderful twists (wonderful might not be the best word) that makes the story utterly unpredictable (to the very end) and also a great Christmas read.

Last Book of Non-Fiction.  I finished Anthony Esolen’s Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child just minutes before landing in Honolulu today.  For a book about the humanities, it sure did make me feel a little guilty and a little sad.  I’ll get more into the book later (and I also mentioned it a couple of days ago).  It’s a great read, one that serves as a reminder of what feels like a long-lost era, even though it was only a handful of years ago.

Last TV Show- Cable.  “The Return of Doctor Mysterio,” which I wrote about here.

Last TV Show- Network.  The season finale and reunion show for this fall’s Survivor: Millennials vs. Generation X, which I wrote about here.

Last Short Story.  Thanks to Anthony Esolen, I finally got around to reading J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Smith of Wootton.”  It reads like a nice companion piece to “Leaf by Niggle,” taking a more magical, faery-like approach to looking at gains and losses and the nature of the world.  Definitely something worth reading once a year.

Last 2016 Movie.  On the final leg of my flight back to Honolulu today, the plane had a full array of movie options.  I tried watching the reboot of Ghostbusters, but stopped about 30 minutes in.  Not a horrible movie; just not something with a real hook for me.  Thanks to the time-period of Golden Hill, I decided to watch Love and Friendship.  It played in Honolulu for a few weeks and had great reviews.  I just didn’t make the time for it.  The movie is an adaptation of a Jane Austen short story.  The most notable cast member was Kate Beckinsale, who played her part perfectly.  Some strange editing choices, but the great one-liners more than make up for any narrative rough spots.