Saturday Good Reads

The short story as a literary genre has a long and distinguished history. I can remember reading short stories in high school for assignments; they were always popular because they were short and didn’t demand the attention a novel did. Or did they? Emily Temple at Literary Hub has a list of 43 iconic short stories in the English language. And realizing that the list was heavily white and mail, she also includes a list of other worthy stories at the end. Without her necessarily realizing it, her list shows one characteristic of “iconic” – staying power.

One of those stories in “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, published in 1892. Writer Sara Barkat has turned it into a graphic novel.

Can you guess the name of the oldest continuously occupied town in England? Would you guess Abingdon? Oxford professor Eleanor Parker has an article about Abingdon, in which she says it should never be called ordinary.

Father Junipero Serra is not especially popular among protesters and their allies in California; a few statues of the Catholic missionary have met the fate of unpopular figures. Robert Senkewicz at Church Life Journal has a thoughtful, balanced essay about the man and his missions.

More Good Reads

Poetry

The window cleaner – Sonja Benskin Mesher.

Qush – Ashley Bryan at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

Aseity 2 – Joe Spring at Joe Spring Writes.

Listening for Ms. Lucille – Aracelis Girmay at The Paris Review.

Writing and Literature

Living Through Turbulent Times with Jane Austen – Rachel Cohen at The New Yorker.

My Writing Journey – Glenn McGoldrick. 

Can the Essay Still Surprise Us? - Suzanne Conklin Akbari at Literary Hub.

Faith

Study: Churches Gathering Again but with Precautions – Aaron Earls at Lifeway Facts & Trends.  

The War of Words – Collin Campbell at For the Church.

Pursuing Scholarship in a Pandemic: Reflections on Lewis’s “Learning in War-Time” – Brian Tabb at The Gospel Coalition’s Themelios.

Are Daniel and Ezra models of corporate repentance for historic sins? – Jesse Johnson at The Cripplegate.

A #2020 Confession – Molly Montana at Carried Along.

British Stuff

The Bookshops of Old London – Spitalfields Life.

American Stuff

The Innocent Patriotism of Mount Rushmore – Bradley Birzer at The Imaginative Conservative.

Engaging the 1619 Project – Real Clear Politics.

Culture

Conservatism, Out of Decadence – Jake Meador at Mere Orthodoxy.

Psalms: Singing the Whole Text - Alastair Roberts at The Theopolis Institute.

Painting: Old Man Reading, oil on canvas, 18^th century, French School; York Art Gallery.