Some Monday Readings

“Recuerdo” by Edna St. Vincent Millay – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern. 

The Tragedy and Triumph of The Killing Fields – Bradley Birzer at Law & Liberty.

 

Turbulence After the Trump Verdict – Charles Lipson at The Spectator.

 

What Lowry saw in the sea – William Cook at The Critic Magazine on the philosophical side of the British painter.

 

How Hadrian’s Wall is revealing a hidden side of Roman history – Julia Buckey, CNN.

 

A Confederate Buried at Mount Vernon? – Evan Portman at Emerging Civil War.

 

AI, Poetry, and Prayer – Dwight Longenecker at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Comps and Circumstance – Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft.

 

Daniel Defoe: The first futurist – Jeremy Black at The Critic Magazine.

 

London Maps in Books – A London Inheritance.

 

Photograph: Hadrian’s Wall near Waltown Crags,by Ray Harrington via Unsplash. Used with permission.

 

Run with endurance

After Hebrews 12:1-17 

We are to run

with endurance,

this race set

before us, keeping

our eyes on the prize,

the founder and

perfecter of our faith,

our belief, our hope,

the one who kept

his eyes on the prize

and endured,

endured the cross,

enduring the pouring

of the sins of all

upon himself, endured

the hostility and hatred,

so that we, too, could

run the race, and

run with endurance.

 

Photograph by Isaac Wendland via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

A Son’s Journey to His Father – Art Kusserow at Front Porch Republic.

 

Making Good Return – Tim Challies reviews the book on caring for aging parents by Kathleen Nelson.

 

Seven Things Good Days Say – Chap Bettis at The Disciple-Making Parent.

 

The Getting of Wisdom – Andy Farmer at Biblical Coalition.

 

The Least of My Brethren: Sally Thomas’ Works of Mercy – Abigail Wilkinson Miller at The European Conservative.

My Dad Gave Me Books - and More Besides - Joel Miller at Miller's Book Review.

Saturday Good Reads - June 15, 2024

If you visit New Orleans, a must-see is the D-Day Museum, expanded into the World War II Museum. You can watch movies about the war in Europe and the Pacific (part of the admission fee) produced by Steven Spielberg. And the exhibits are incredible. The reason the museum ended up in New Orleans has to do with a man named Andrew Jackson Higgins, whose New Orleans firm designed and manufactured the D-Day landing boats. Higgins has been called “the man who won the war for us.” 

Charles Dickens was a major writer (some say the major writer) of the 19^th century, but he wasn’t a poet. And yet. Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern considers a poem he wrote and placed in The Pickwick Papers. It’s about a dying frog, of all things. 

 

This is what passes for journalism today. Concerning the rescue of the four Israeli hostages, CNN reported they’d been “freed” and Reuter’s sad they’d been “released.” And the BBC asked an Israeli interviewee if the residents of the apartment building where three of the hostages were imprisoned should have been warned first. (Not to mention that three of four rescued were being held in the apartment of a journalist for Al-Jazeera.) Seth Mandel at Commentaryexplains the truth about the war in Gaza.

 

Quote of the Week: “The New York Times, which will delete its own website before admitting they got anything wrong about Biden, Russia, or Covid, is still saying the Hunter Biden laptop could all be fake: ‘Many claims about the laptop’s contents have not been proved, but it played a role in the prosecution of Mr. Biden over a firearm purchase.’ Hmmm. Claims. Not been proved.” – Nellie Bowles, The Free Press.

 

More Good Reads

 

Israel

 

Why We Shouldn’t Trust ‘The Facts’ Coming Out of Gaza – Eli Lake at The Free Press.

 

Israel Killed 31 of My Family Members in Gaza. The Pro-Palestine Movement Isn’t Helping – Ahmed Fouad Alkatahib at The Free Press.

 

I Went to Cover a Protest. I Was Surrounded by a Mob – Olivia Reingold at The Free Press.

 

Iron Dome: Israel’s Double-Edged Sword, Part 1 – Michael Oren at Clarity with Michael Oren. 

 

Activism Uncensored: Thousands surround White House with two-mile long “red line” banner for Palestine – Ford Fischer and Matt Taibbi at Racket News.

 

American Stuff

 

The Foundation of American Folly – N.S. Lyons at The Upheaval.

 

Lincoln’s Grief – David Bannon at Front Porch Republic.

 

Faith

 

Dickens, Diabetes, and Positive-Sum Games – Dr. Anne Bradley at Acton Institute.

 

Does Bach’s Music Prove the Existence of God? – Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition.

 

1994 and All That, 30 Years On – Matthew Hosier at Think Theology.

 

Culture

 

A Doctor Told the Truth. The Feds Showed Up at His Door – Emily Yoffe at The Free Press.

 

FBI Asked Co-Workers of Bureau Employee About Trump Support, Vaccine Beliefs – Matt Taibbi at Racket News.

 

We are not Users: The Hidden Impact of Digital Labels – Brent Lucia at Far From Equilibrium. 

 

How Public Schools Became Ideological Boot Camps – Robert Pondiscio at The Free Press.

 

Ukraine

 

War and (A Just) Peace in Ukraine – Yury Avvakumov at Church Life Journal.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Good (and Bad) Fathers: Six Perspectives on Fictional Fathers, for Father’s Day – Dixie Dillon Labe at The Hollow.

 

The Problems Posed by AI and Flannery O’Connor’s Unfinished Novel – Jessica Hooten Wilson at Church Life Journal.

 

Poetry

 

The Inaugural First Things Poetry Prize – First Things Magazine.

 

Longfellow’s Bridge – Gunny Markefka at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Looking – poem by David Whyte.

 

British Stuff

 

‘I wouldn’t call it a victory’: Fossil Free Book Organizers on Baillie Gifford’s exit from literary festival funding – Lucy Knight at The Guardian.

 

J.S. Bach’s “Chaconne” – Marc Bouchkov and the Frankfort Radio Symphony

 Painting: An old man reading by candlelight, oil on canvas by Godfried Schalcken (1643-1706).

She found the field

After Ruth 2:1-18 

Without knowing

any better she

found the field

owned by the man

who would show

favor, the man

who heard about

her, her story,

the man who knew

what she had given

up and why, the man

who repaid her 

kindness with one

of his own.

His kindness is

a picture, a type

of the unimaginable

kindness of God.

 

Photograph by Matteo Raimondi via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

The Pains of Sleep – poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

Another Doubting Sonnet – Renee Emerson at Rabbit Room Poetry. 

 

‘I Talk to God in Public’ – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review talks with Wheaton professor and writer Esau McCaulley. 

 

One Day Leads to Another – Seth Lewis.

 

Who Was the ‘Black Spurgeon’? – Kelvin Washington at The Gospel Coalition.

"In the Key of Death" by Scott Hunter

DCI Brendan Moran is actually retiring from the Thames Valley Police. Nobody, including Moran, can quite believe it, but it’s his retirement party and everyone is celebrating. His love interest Alice is there, too, and things have moved well beyond serious. 

The phone rings early the next morning. It’s Moran boss. The police officer taking Moran’s place had a bit too much to drink and was in an accident on the way home. He’s now in the hospital, and the prognosis is grim. And the boss wouldn’t be calling except there’s been a murder and there’s no senior investigating officer to take charge. Might Moran consider coming back to lead the investigation?

 

Moran does, much to Alice’s anger. The case is a disturbing one. An elderly woman has been found with her hands nailed to her piano. The official cause of death will be determined to be a heart attack brought on by the trauma. Her sister, who discovered the body, the victim’s piano students, and everyone who knew her are shocked; she didn’t have an enemy in the world and was universally loved. And she has been a master pianist.

 

It would be a Brendan Moran stories without side stories, usually involving the police. There’s Moran’s rapidly deteriorating love life. One of his team witnesses an accidental death and agrees, at least initially, to help cover it up. An old nemesis, a vicious MI-6 agent protected by the government despite her killing two innocent people, makes an unexpected and unwelcome return. And his Number 2 on the team is rather furious at Moran’s return and is doing what he can to undermine him.

 

Scott Hunter

The investigation will take Moran and his team into the past and ultimately depend upon chemical analyses, a bust fragment, and an old woman’s memory to finally piece the puzzle together.

 

In the Key of Death is the 10^th and hopefully not the final in the Irish Detectives series by British author Scott Hunter. With all of the characters and sub-plots, it requires a close reading, but it is a richly rewarding one. Hunter spins a good tale, often keeping the reader biting his nails and telling himself “It’s just a story; it’s just a story.”

And I'm putting in my plea for there to be an eleventh in the series.

The Irish Detective series includes Black December, Creatures of Dust, Death Walks Behind You, A Crime for All Seasons, Silent as the Dead, Gone Too Soon, The Enemy Inside, When Stars Grow Dark, The Cold Light of Death and Closer to the Dead. Hunter has also published the novels The Trespass, The Ley Lines of Lushbury, Long Goodbyes, and The Serpent & the Slave, and the memoir Rattle and Drum.  In addition to writing fiction, Hunter is an IT consultant and musician. He lives with his family in England.

 

Related:

 

My review of Black December by Scott Hunter.

 

My review of Creatures of Dust by Scott Hunter.

 

My review of Death Walks Behind You by Scott Hunter.

 

My review of Silent as the Dead by Scott Hunter.

 

My review of Gone Too Soon and A Crime for All Seasons by Scott Hunter.

 

The Enemy Inside by Scott Hunter.

 

When Starts Grow Dark by Scott Hunter.

 

The Cold Light of Death by Scott Hunter.

 

Closer to the Dead by Scott Hunter.

 

The Fragile Cage by Scott Hunter.

 

Some Thursday Readings

 

On Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher” – Allen Tate at The Imaginative Conservative. 

 

The Backlist: Joe R. Lonsdale on a Forgotten Classic of Southern Noir – Polly Stewart at CrimeReads.

 

Historical Society Confirms Supreme Court Justices Were Secretly Recorded at Event – Zachary Stieber at The Epoch Times. 

 

Following the Greek Cross and the Overland Campaign – Samuel Flowers at Emerging Civil War.

Some Wednesday Readings

Studying the Midwest Just Became Cool – Caitlin Evans at Midstory. 

Stratford Caldecott & the Secret Fire: Understanding Tolkien’s Works – Robert Lazu Kmita at The Imaginative Conservative. 

 

“To Celia,” by Ben Jonson – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

In Europe, Chaos is the New Normal – Yascha Mounk at Persuasion.

 

Scenes from a Stolen Childhood: A Review of Kinderszenen – Nadya Williams at Front Porch Republic.

 

Leisure, Work, and the Writer’s Life – Michael De Sapio at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

At Fulham Palace – Spitalfields Life. 

 

Illustration: Ben Jonson (1572-1637), engraving by Edward Scriven (1775-1841). 

“Poems (1930)” – The First Published Collection by W.H. Auden

Wystan Hugh (W.H.) Auden (1907-1973) is considered one of the finest, if not the finest, poet of the mid-20^th century. He had a large influence on poetry, including American poetry. Born in Britain, he emigrated to the United States in his 30s and became a U.S. citizen, and he eventually managed to win both a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue) and a National Book Award for Poetry (The Shield of Achilles).  

Auden exercised considerable influence in literary circles. He was first a poet, yes, but he was also a critic, a lecturer, a playwright, and a librettist for opera. Many have pointed out that no one since Auden has had such a literary influence on writing in English, an influence that was global. His style and his intellect had a significant influence on such poets as Robert Lowell, John Ashbery, James Merrill, the New Formalists, Maxine Kumin, and many others. His influence could also work the opposite way – it was so pervasive that the Beat Generation poets were said to be writing like they did in reaction to Auden.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

Legends of Liberty Volume II by Andrew Benson Brown – review by Theresa Werba at Society of Classical Poets.

 

I fly, too, or in my mind I do – poem by Mark Kraushaar at 32 Poems.

 

My Papa’s Waltz – poem by Theodore Roethke at Rabbit Room Poetry.

 

“God’s Grandeur,” poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern. 

Bearing – poem by Will Willingham at Every Day Poems.