Saturday Good Reads

It’s funny, but only up to a point: Donald Trump is running rings around our mainstream media. While we might want to think it couldn’t happen to a better bunch of people, the fact is that we need an intelligent press, not one that goes nuclear every time Trump tweets something. They should step back, stop trying to blame fake news, take a deep breath, and do their jobs. And perhaps read Megan McArdle’s post at Bloomberg.

And it isn’t a waste of anyone’s time to read the blog post on Trump by Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams (it was Adams who predicted Trump would win – back in June, and Adams who consistently read what was happening in the election exactly right). This post is about understanding Trump as CEO – and I realized as I read it that I had worked for a CEO almost exactly like Trump, one who turned his corporate world upside down.

The auction house Christie’s turned 250 years old. Poet Philip Larkin received a memorial in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey. Christmas for Charles Dickens wasn’t exactly like we know it from A Christmas Carol; in fact, he might have been influenced by Washington Irving.

Some good poetry (including one about an airline flight). New music introduced by Chris Yokel. A moving study of why Jesus chose the bread at Passover. How a broken car window led to a discovery about a girl from Oman. And a wonderful time lapse of how the main reading room at the New York Public Library was restocked.

British Stuff

Antony Gormley’s iron men come alive for A Winter’s Tale (video) – The Guardian.

Beckery Chapel near Glastonbury 'earliest known UK monastic life' – BBC.

Christie’s marks 250 years of auctions – BBC.

Writing

Spanish author Mendoza wins 2016 Cervantes literature prize – Washington Post.

How True Crime and Fiction Intersect – Jessica Treadway at Strand Magazine.

Chimneys Dark & Spirits Bright – Rebecca Martin at Curator Magazine.

What Was Christmas Like for Charles Dickens? – Stephen Jarvis at Penguin Books.

When Our Heroes Go Astray – Chris Galford.

Life and Culture

#noDAPL – Why It Matters to Me Personally – Time Good at Pics, Poems, and Ponderings.

Authority, Power, and Responsibility and Destroying at Institution from Within – Rod Dreher at American Conservative.

The Left’s Doomed Effort to Coerce the Right – Megan McArdle at Bloomberg.

The New CEO’s First Moves (and Trump) – Scott Adams.

Faith

He didn’t choose the lamb – Mark Loughridge at Gentle Reformation.

We waited (Christmas memories) – Jerry Barrett at Gerald the Writer.

Jesus, a Broken Car Window, and a Girl from Oman – Stephen McAlpine.

Poetry

Abbey Honours Philip Larkin with Poets Corner Memorial – Westminster Abbey and Philip Larkin didn’t need a place in Poets’ Corner – but he deserves it – The Guardian.

“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden – read by Malcolm Guite.

Southwest Flight 1371: Finding Night – David Murray at Writing Boots.

So Much Noise – Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.

The Sun’s Empty Darkness – Brandan MacOdrum at Oran’s Well.

Music

Peter Mayer’s “Midwinter” – Chris Yokel at The Rabbit Room.

Art and Photography

Syndicate Trust Building, Mid-November, Sunset – Chris Naffziger at St. Louis Patina.

Restocking the Main Rose Reading Room at the New York Public Library

Painting: Portrait of a Young Man, oil on canvas by Lorenzo Lotto (1530). Venice Accademia.