Saturday Good Reads - July 17, 2020

Barry Meier, a reporter for The New York Times, has written a book entitled Spooked, in which he describes the mischief (and the wreckage) when the news media get caught up in the world of private spies – like they did with the Steele dossier. T.A. Frank at New York Magazine interviews Meier: “The Steele Dossier was a case study in how reporters get manipulated.” 

Way back in the Dark Ages, aka the 1970s and 1980s, I was a fan of the mystery novels of Dick Francis. His books invariable were set in hors- racing venues with horse-racing plots – and I was no fan of horse racing. But I was a fan of his books. John Fram at CrimeReads “discovered” the Francis mysteries, and he describes how they became the answer to a personal crisis and a mysterious illness.

 

Father Jonathan Tobias at Second Terrace loves the novel Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry, and he thinks you should read it, too (for the record, I agree with him).

 

More Good Reads

 

Poetry

 

Hiding – Sonja Benskin Mesher.

 

Sonnet to William Wilberforce, Esq. – William Cowper at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

The Falcon’s Eyes – Joe Spring at Hoe Spring Writes.

 

A Girl in Her Own Words – Eustache Deschamps (1346-1406), translated by Margaret Coats at Society of Classical Poets. 

 

Faith

 

Standing with the Little Guys – Barry York at Gentle Reformation. 

 

Let’s Examine Our Motivations for Work – Hugh Whelchel at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics.

 

There’s Too Much Christian Content – Samuel D. James at Insights.

 

American Stuff

 

Don’t Take My Photograph! Incidents at the Dedication of the 44th New York Monument at Gettysburg – Sarah Kay Bierle at Emerging Civil War.

 

Making Missouri: Carving Out a State – Christopher Alan Gordon at Missouri History Museum.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Take a virtual tour of Walden Pond – Walker Caplan at Literary Hub.

 

Art Nourishes Community and Community Nourishes Art – Kyra Hinton at The Rabbit Room.

 

Writing as a Spiritual Discipline – Daniel Eaton at The Fight of Faith.

 

Life and Culture

 

China: Empire: What is China to us, anyway? – N.S. Lyons at The Upheaval.

 

The Inevitable Capitulation of Conservatism – Samuel D. James at Insights.

 

Travel

 

Intermission: The Green Martyrdom – Paul Kingsnorth at The Abbey of Misrule.

 

Those Were the Days – Mary Hopkin

Painting: Portrait of a Man Reading, oil on canvas by Jacek Malczewski (1854-1929).