Saturday Good Reads

When I was a child, family vacation invariable meant we stayed at motels at our destination and along the way. In fact, one of my earliest memories was going to Biloxi, Mississippi, and staying at a motel that had water with a high sulfur content (that rotten egg smell). The Smithsonian has a story about the rise and fall of great American hotel.

From around the turn of the 19^th century comes The Stranger’s Guide to London – beware of the duffers and the jilts.

What are some of the things we can learn from reading Dickens? The Imaginative Conservative found quite a few. And here’s something you won’t learn from reading Henry Adams – he left a big, gaping 20-year hole in his autobiography.

James K.A. Smith went on the road with St. Augustine, while Thomas Kidd looked into the religious life of Benjamin Franklin. Both found surprises.

A considerable amount of Arabic poetry disappeared when the moors were kicked out of Spain. Some survived – in Hebrew manuscripts.

And from 2009 – Fernando Ortega recorded a wonderful tribute to Ruth Bell Graham.

British Stuff

Austerity and the British Library – Corinne Purtill at The Millions.

Lollipop People and The Stranger’s Guide to London – Spitalfields Life.

The headstones with unusual stories to tell – Bethan Bell at BBC (Hat Tip: J of India).

American Stuff

The Rise and Fall of the Great American Motel – Andrew Wood at The Smithsonian.

A Conversation on the Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin – Thomas Kidd at The Gospel Coalition.

For Independence Day: Our Greatest Speech, Our Greatest Need – Michael Mercer (and Abraham Lincoln) at Internet Monk

Poetry

I love the color red – Barbara MacKenzie at Signed…BKM.

The 1000-year-old Arab poetry that lives on in Hebrew – Benjamin Ramm at BBC (Hat Tip: J of India).

Castles – Jared Gilbert at Frivolous Quill.

Faith

Lloyd-Jones: Make Room for the Cross – Tommy Clayton at The Cripplegate.

Hope – Baylee Molloy at The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation & Culture.

Restless: On the Road with Augustine – James K.A. Smith at Calvin University’s Spark.

Heavenites: Our True Citizenship – Clint Archer at The Cripplegate.

Hey, Church, Stop Sad-Shaming Me – Jason Ramsey at Amity Coalition.

What Church Is – Jay Cookingham at Soulfari.

Writing and Literature

Charles Dickens and an Incomplete Deal – Elizabeth Baruzzini at The Imaginative Conservative.

The Miseducation of Henry Adams – Michael Lindgren at The Millions.

8 Reader Questions – 8 Parts of Speech – Mick Silva.

Art and Photography

Nature Inside – Tim Good.

Peri Parkes, Painter – Spitalfields Life.

Illumination – Susan Etole.

Life and Culture

What We Cannot Take a Vacation From – Jon Mertz at Thin Difference.

Fernando Ortega’s Tribute to Ruth Bell Graham (2009)

Painting: Man with a Book, oil on panel (1525-1526) by Parmigianino.