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Site Updates – starting with May 15, 2020; recent updates include: (January 10) Favorite Books: added five candidates for 2026 Favorite Books (November) My NCRS Music Playlist: when I started in mid-2023 to add music from NC artists to the beginning and the end of my NC Reading Service episodes of NC History (NC History episode archive on NCRS website), I put the songs into a Spotify playlist in the order they appeared on the air. Since one can only use up to 30 seconds without paying a royalty, putting the complete songs into a playlist gives the listener a more complete experience. (June) Links and Videos since mid-March 2020, Part 1: moved the content from the home page to its own page (March 15) Tremblay Genealogy: major update, adding many new links for Tremblay, Ouellet, Domingue, and Acadian family branches as well as other American-Canadian, French-Canadian, and Acadian resources

Links and Videos since mid-March 2020, Part 1: Highlights | Volunteer | Donate | Performances | Sports | Streaming | Parodies | Local Events

Part 2: Lists | Books | Games

Part 3: Nature | Culture

Archive – Performances

More Videos

Even More Videos (includes Bela Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart – Discs A and B)

Even More Videos, Part 2 (includes Bela Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart – Concert Extras and Full Concert Performances)

January 10, 2026

Candidates for Favorite Books of 2026
The Gift of Nothing and The Gift of Everything	Patrick McDonnell
Dog Show	Billy Collins
Scientific Progress Goes Boink and The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book	Bill Watterson

Favorite Books of 2025
The Diary of Jesus Christ	Bill Cain, S.J.
A Wound Full Of Hope	Pope Francis
Pocket Bear	Katherine Applegate
Small Things Like These	Claire Keegan
Come Forth and Jesus: A Pilgrimage	James Martin, S.J.
Vessels of Love	Joyce Rupp
The Kaiju Preservation Society and When The Moon Hits Your Eye and 3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years and Constituent Service	John Scalzi
Secrets of the Octopus and What The Chicken Knows	Sy Montgomery
A Walk In The Park	Kevin Fedarko
Lazarus Is Dead	Richard Beard
Five Christmas Gifts	Margaret Maron
Lost Summer	Bill Reynolds
The Dog Who Followed The Moon	James Norbury
Treats, Who Let The Cat Out? and Everyday Mutts	Patrick McDonnell
Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life and The Spamalot Diaries	Eric Idle
Greatest Landscapes	National Geographic Society
Peace, Love and Wi-Fi and Dance Like Everybody’s Watching	Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman
Orris and Timble: Lost and Found	Kate DiCamillo
Make Me Commissioner	Jane Leavy
Baseball: The Movie	Noah Gittell
Water, Water	Billy Collins
Love Poems (for the Office) and Love Poems (for People with Children)	John Kenney

Favorite Books of 2024
Why We Love Baseball	Joe Posnanski
The One and Only Family	Katherine Applegate
Sigrid Harald Mysteries (9 books: One Coffee With, Death of a Butterfly, Death in Blue Folders, The Right Jack, Baby Doll Games, Corpus Christmas, Past Imperfect, Fugitive Colors, Take Out)	Margaret Maron
Mouse and His Dog	Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko
The Bookstore Sisters and The Bookstore Wedding	Alice Hoffman
Dogland	Tommy Tomlinson
Breaking the Chains: The Guard Dog Story	Patrick McDonnell
The Baseball 100	Joe Posnanski
The Hotel Balzaar	Kate DiCamillo
All The Worst Humans	Phil Elwood
Starter Villain	John Scalzi
The Answer Is No	Fredrik Backman
The Christmas Book Hunt	Jenny Colgan
Ferris	Kate DiCamillo
Crows	Candace Savage
The Magnificent Migration	Sy Montgomery
Heart To Heart	His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Patrick McDonnell
The Cat Who Taught Zen	James Norbury
LoveMUTTS; You Have Those Wild Eyes Again, Mooch; Hot Dogs, Hot Cats; and Mutts Moments	Patrick McDonnell
Orris and Timble: The Beginning	Kate DiCamillo

Favorite Books of 2023
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating	Elisabeth Tova Bailey
Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff	Richard Carlson
Return to the Root	Joyce Rupp
The Power of the Powerless and Things That Matter Most	Christopher de Vinck
Dogtown	Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko
The Lost Library	Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass
Another Year of Wonder	Clemency Burton-Hill
The Puppets of Spelhorst	Kate DiCamillo
The Lives We Actually Have	Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie
Guardians Of Being	Eckart Tolle and Patrick McDonnell
The Book of Charlie	David Von Drehle
Coco The Miracle Rescue Dog	Sarah Pai
How to Say Goodbye	Wendy MacNaughton
The One and Only Ruby	Katherine Applegate
Look For Me There	Luke Russert
From A Parish Priest and Mustard Seeds From A Parish Priest	Fr. Stephen Kluge, O.F.M.
Little Pieces of Hope	Todd Doughty
Devotions	Mary Oliver
The Best Game Ever	Adam Lucas
Going-to-the-Sun Road (Images of America)	Bill Yenne
P Is For Pterodactyl	Raj Haldar, Chris Carpenter, and Maria Beddia
Sparrow Envy	J. Drew Lanham
Wish It Lasted Forever	Dan Shaughnessy
Musical Tables	Billy Collins
40: A Doonesbury Retrospective – Book 1: 70-79 and Book 2: 80-89 and Book 3: 90-99	Garry Trudeau
Homophones Visualized	Bruce Worden

Favorite Books of 2022
Simple Wonders	Christopher de Vinck
Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old	Steven Petrow
The Soul of an Octopus and The Hawk’s Way	Sy Montgomery
Odder	Katherine Applegate
Big Panda and Tiny Dragon and The Journey	James Norbury
Year of Wonder	Clemency Burton-Hill
Love In The Time Of Coronavirus	Angela Alaimo O’Donnell
No Cure For Being Human	Kate Bowler
Call Us What We Carry	Amanda Gorman
Minute Manna	Fr. Stephen Kluge, O.F.M.
The Boys	Ron Howard & Clint Howard
Happy-Go-Lucky	David Sedaris
On Animals	Susan Orlean
All About Me!	Mel Brooks
The Photo Ark and Photo Ark Wonders	Joel Sartore
Birds of the Photo Ark	Noah Strycker and Joel Sartore
National Geographic Rarely Seen	Susan Tyler Hitchcock
The Puzzler	A. J. Jacobs
Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir	Alan Gaff
Great Lodges of the National Parks	Christine Barnes

Favorite Books of 2021
Egg Marks The Spot	Amy Timberlake
Mr. Nicholas	Christopher de Vinck
Gods At Play	Tom Callahan
The Francis Effect	John Gehring
Hope For Judas	Christoph Wrembeck, S.J.
Under the Whispering Door	TJ Klune
The Game	George Howe Colt
The Beatryce Prophecy	Kate DiCamillo
Pappyland	Wright Thompson
The Sirens of Mars	Sarah Stewart Johnson
The End of Everything	Katie Mack
Breath	James Nestor
The Game That Was	Richard Cahan and Mark Jacob
The Hummingbirds’ Gift	Sy Montgomery
Dog Songs	Mary Oliver
Golfing With God	Roland Merullo
Never Settle	Marty Smith
Disney’s Land	Richard Snow
The Planets	Nirmala Nataraj
Subpar Parks	Amber Share
The Garden Is Open	Pamela Pease
Lobster Is The Best Medicine and Best Bear Ever!	Liz Climo

Favorite Books of 2020
Lessons From Lucy	Dave Barry
The House in the Cerulean Sea	TJ Klune
Finding Heaven and Only the Heart Knows How To Find Them	Christopher de Vinck
The One and Only Bob	Katherine Applegate
Skunk And Badger	Amy Timberlake
They Called Us Enemy	George Takei
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	Jean-Dominique Bauby
Dream Park	Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
The Way I Heard It	Mike Rowe
The Club	Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg
Elevation	Stephen King
All Systems Red	Martha Wells
Help, Thanks, Wow and Almost Everything	Anne Lamott
The Inside Game	Keith Law
Son Of Havana	Luis Tiant
Death Wins A Goldfish	Brian Rea
The Trial of Lizzie Borden	Cara Robertson
Sailing Alone Around The Room and Ballistics and Aimless Love and The Rain in Portugal and The Trouble With Poetry	Billy Collins
The Answer Is …	Alex Trebek
Laugh Lines	Alan Zweibel

Favorite Books of 2019
How To Be A Good Creature	Sy Montgomery
The Gift Of Years	Joan Chittister
The Our Father: A New Reading	Gerhard Lohfink
The Library Book	Susan Orlean
The Cloudbuster Nine	Anne R. Keene
Golden Days	Jack McCallum
The Cost Of These Dreams	Wright Thompson
Louise’s Crossing	Sarah Shaber
The Vagabonds	Jeff Guinn
Sputnik’s Guide To Life On Earth	Frank Cottrell Boyce
Medallion Status	John Hodgman
Beverly, Right Here	Kate DiCamillo
The Man Who Invented Christmas	Les Standiford
Live From Cape Canaveral	Jay Barbree
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More Favorite Books (2007-2018)

It never gets old …

When it comes to athletic success, I have nothing to complain about in the 21st century:

2001	Boston College Eagles – NCAA Hockey champions (52 year wait)
2002	New England Patriots – Super Bowl XXXVI champions (42 year wait) Carolina Courage – WUSA champions Carolina Hurricanes – Stanley Cup finals Durham Bulls – International League champions
2003	Bulls – International League champions Carolina Mudcats – Southern League champions Boston Red Sox – ALCS
2004	Patriots – Super Bowl XXXVIII champions Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – NCAA Final Four finals Eagles – Frozen Four semifinals Red Sox – World Series champions (86 year wait)
2005	Patriots – Super Bowl XXXIX champions
2006	Eagles – Frozen Four finals Hurricanes – Stanley Cup champions (35 year wait)
2007	Eagles – Frozen Four finals Bulls – International League finals Red Sox – World Series champions
2008	Patriots – Super Bowl XLII Eagles – NCAA Hockey champions Boston Celtics – 17th NBA Championship (22 year wait) Bulls – International League finals Red Sox – ALCS
2009	Bulls – International League & AAA champions
2010	Eagles – NCAA Hockey champions Celtics – NBA Finals Bulls – International League finals
2011	Boston Bruins – Stanley Cup champions (39 year wait)
2012	Patriots – Super Bowl XLVI Eagles – NCAA Hockey champions
2013	Bruins – Stanley Cup Finals Bulls – International League champions Red Sox – World Series champions
2014	Bulls – International League finals
2015	Patriots – Super Bowl XLIX champions
2016	Eagles – Frozen Four semifinals
2017	Patriots – Super Bowl LI champions Bulls – International League & AAA champions
2018	Patriots – Super Bowl LII Bulls – International League champions NC Courage – NWSL champions Red Sox – World Series champions
2019	Patriots – Super Bowl LIII champions NC Courage – NWSL champions
2021	Bulls – International League & AAA champions
2022	Celtics – NBA Finals Bulls – International League & AAA champions
2024	Boston College – Frozen Four championship Celtics – NBA champions

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