Saturday Good Reads

Tom Darin Liskey is a Houston-based photographer who travels all over the world. Yet in his own hometown, he found people whose faces tell stories. 

Julia Albu drove through Africa from South Africa to Egypt, making it through dangerous terrain (not to mention civil unrest) by explaining she was driving to London to have tea with the Queen. Ms. Albu is 80 years old.

Students at Manchester University painted over a poem by Rudyard Kipling because he was imperialist, racist, etc., etc., and they felt offended. The university, like universities tend to do these days, agreed. Carl Trueman at First Things Magazineasks if anyone bothered to read the poem first. 

Scrolls buried by ash during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D. are being read for the first time, and the Smithsonian has a fascinating story on the work of the scientist (an evangelical Christian, no less) who helped that to happen. Miles Russell at the BBC asks why we’re so mesmerized with King Arthur. Many of the surviving members of the Romanov family turned to art to help cope with dynastic tragedy. Bradley Birzer on C.S. Lewis in wartime. And a 1909 recording of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, singing “Sweet Low, Sweet Chariot” – the earliest known recording of the hymn. And more.

Poetry

Star Dust Lilies - 2 poems – Michael Dykel at Meta/ Phor(e) /Play. 

The edges of the earth rush in – Joe Spring.

How to Write a Poem, Part I and Part II - Kelly Belmonte at All Nine.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats - recited by Sandra Heska King.

Writing

The Guilt of the Hustle – Aaron Earls at The Wardrobe Door.

What Do You Do with Story Ideas? – Ann Kroeker.

Art and Photography

The Romanovs’ Art of Survival – Anastasia Edel at The New York Review of Books.

Post No. 601: Sugar Creek Preserve – Tim Good at Photography by Tiwago.

Wings of Angels? – Susan Etole.

Unrehearsed (Portraits) – Tom Darin Liskey via Facebook.

Life and Culture

Two Nations, Revisited – Mary Eberstadt at National Affairs.

From Africa to tea with the Queen – BBC (Hat Tip: J of India).

If…Only They Would Read the Poem – Carl Trueman at Manchester University.

History

Buried by the Ash of Vesuvius, These Scrolls Are Being Read for the First Time in Millennia – Jo Marchant at Smithsonian.

British Stuff

Sudeley Castle and the People Who Lived There – Judith Arnopp at English Historical Fiction Authors. 

The real King Arthur: why are we so obsessed with trying to solve the mystery? – Miles Russell at BBC History Extra.

C.S. Lewis in Wartime: Patriot & Prophet - Bradley Birzer at The Imaginative Conservative.

Faith

How Are We to Pray? – Lynn Mosher.

Jesus Is like topsoil – Dan King at Bibledude.

A Prayer for Those in Need of Goodness and Mercy – Diana Trautwein at Just Wondering.

Ben Franklin’s Kite and the Providence of God – Thomas Kidd at The Gospel Coalition.

Film

Black & White, But Gray All Over: Two Films by Graham Greene – Dwight Longenecker at The Imaginative Conservative.

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot – Fisk Jubilee Singers (1909)

Photograph by Kyle Wagner via Unsplash. Used with permission.