To say the pop culture year is winding down would be an understatement, as new music and book releases have slowed to a trickle. And, tomorrow is the end of my official ‘reading year’, as I dedicate the last two weeks of the year to holiday books and re-reading old favourites. Today I’ll do my normal roundup before talking a bit about the pop musical ‘Christmas canon.’
Roundup
Music
While most of my music listening has been directed to preparing for my year-end list, a couple new songs have dropped lately that have captured my attention, most notably “Rein Me In”, a collaboration between two British artists who’ve had very good years, Sam Fender and Olivia Dean.
Songs
- “Rein Me In,” by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean
- “Know This (feat. Miley Cyrus),” by Braison Cyrus
- “Your Direction,” by Goose
Albums
- n/a
Reading
As I mentioned in the introduction, tomorrow marks the official end of my reading year. But, the last two weeks have been pretty stellar, with some big wins both on the fiction and especially nonfiction side of things:
- The Grief of Stones, by Katherine Addison (2022)
- Take Two, by Danielle Hawkins (2024)
- Things in Nature Merely Grow, by Yiyun Li (2025)
- Booked for Murder, by P.J. Nelson (2024)
- Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, by Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea (2024)
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams (1979)
In Focus: Beyond the Christmas Canon
Back in 2014, I stumbled across a fascinating article about how strange it was that there had not been a new addition to the ‘canon’ of widely known and accepted Christmas music in twenty years, since Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” in 1994. A full decade has now passed since that article and I’m pretty sure it remains true. So today I’d like to nominate a few songs I’d like to see get wider airplay this time of year.
- “Love Is Christmas,” by Sara Bareilles
- “Maybe This Christmas,” by Ron Sexsmith
- “These Christmas Nights,” by Good Lovelies
- “Snowflake,” by Sia
- “Better than Snow,” by Norah Jones and Laufey
- “This Christmas,” by Ingrid Michaelson
Matthew Root 