The November/December issue of Books & Culture will be its last.

The loss is symptomatic of a decline in serious reading by Christians, and that’s worth a lot of time and thought. But today I’m thinking happy thoughts, being reminded again of my gratitude for the world-class editor behind it all, John Wilson.

In 2011 Wilson invited me into a blog conversation with Dr. Karen Swallow Prior, the Chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages at Liberty University. It was the first time we met.

As a first-time author the invitation was immediately intimidating because, first, it’s Books & Culture(!), and second, I was certain then, as I am certain today, that Karen can intellectually roundhouse kick me back and forth across the literary mat without breaking a sweat, if she wanted to. I was assured she didn’t want to, this was no debate, and I would be left unharmed, so I agreed. It turned out to be a brief but very enjoyable dialogue about books and reading.

Karen quickly became, and remains, a friend.

I’m certain others will have more profound stories to tell, but I wanted to tell mine, and to say it in public: Thank you, John Wilson, for your decades of service to book readers and authors and for networking us all together like you have!

And in case you want to read it for yourself, the four-part conversation is online:

• Lit! Why & How We Read (Karen)
• Lit! The Taste of Honey (Tony)
• Lit! Reading as Discipline (Karen)
• Lit! God’s Generosity (Tony)