Celebrating the Good Work of 2024

Favorite posts by favorite substackers', uh, favorite substackers

Bringing you the “light from the Old Year” part!

Hi everyone!

Following the tradition I established last year, I am proud to share with you today the favorite Substack posts of nine excellent Substack writers. Not their own posts, no. Instead, here they recommend essays by other outstanding authors.

So, do you need some reading to soothe your nerves while the Christmas cookies burn and the kids throw spice drops at each other? Go take a look! Merry almost Christmas!

(Also, this post is too long for e-mail! Read it in your browser, if you can.)

In case you are interested, before we move to the recommendations I thought I would share that the most popular posts at the Hollow in 2024 were Slightly Odd Stocking Stuffing, 5 Lessons Learned from the First Day of Homeschooling, Teach Me of Motherhood: Six Inspiring Mothers in Literature, and How My Children Learn to Read. (This one on C.S. Lewis for young teens was in the top five, too, but it also seemed to lead to hurt feelings. So I am not sure whether I am glad I posted it or whether I regret it. I don’t regret writing it!) I also published a couple dozen pieces off-substack (fewer than last year because I was also working on a book manuscript).

Happy reading, and please consider subscribing to the wonderful authors listed below!

Dixie

P.S. If you need a really blockbuster Christmas present for a graduate or spouse or child, don’t forget to consider our upcoming walk on the Camino de Santiago with

Ruth Gaskovski

and

Peco

!

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Now, for our recommendations!

Meredith Hinds

recommends a post by

Thomas

:

Chapter 3.2: Individual Effort (Reprise)

Kristin Haakenson

recommends a piece by

Carolyn

:

Mundane Liturgies

Carolyn

herself, very tidily indeed, recommends something by

Kristin Haakenson

:

St. Gabriel to Mary flies / this is the end of snow & ice

Searching for Shalom

recommends pieces related to food (and more), by

Emily Stimpson Chapman

and

Olivia Marstall

, respectively :

Food & the Feminine Genius

Better Than Skinny Feels

Amelia McKee

recommends fascinating pieces by

Ruth Gaskovski

and

Robert Keim

:

For the Love of Language: Unlocking Classic Literature with 217 Words

Why the Sky Is Blue

Ivana Greco

recommends an wonderfully practical piece by

Leila Marie Lawler

:

Managing your kitchen table in the busy yet reasonably clean house

Annelise Roberts

recommends some thoughts on artists by

Amelia McKee

:

Five contemporary artists

Amber Adrian

recommends

Sarah Menkedick

on the Ballerina Farm kerfluffle:

What are women allowed to want?

Hadden Turner

recommends

Andrew Roycroft

and

Brett Gallagher

in two different but striking pieces:

Can Christians create dangerously?

Bohemian Wood

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And that’s a wrap for recommendations from 2024! What posts did we miss?

Have a wonderful New Year!