Joan Didion wasn't trying to inspire us. She was saying beware.

Introducing my new Mockingbird essay.

In praise of “amateurs.”

What more can be said?

It has to be costly to mean something.

Robert Farrar Capon on the goodness of creation.

What does a poem see?

Optimism ain't no substitute for resurrection hope.

Martin Laird's strange little book on the path of contemplation.

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the gift of meaning-making friendships.

Painting on leather, and other strategies for resisting dehumanization.

Detractors wanted more useful poems. Seamus Heaney knew better.

A poet on the mutually inciting forces of solidarity and joy.

A “conversation in poetry,” briefly noted.

Jimmy Carter took the long view. It cost him.

Reflections on Marilynne Robinson’s early essay collection.

A winsome, grounded collection of “good news” sermons.

Learning to notice when things look bleak.

Here they are, friends, my favorite books of the year.

A many-sided novel, briefly considered.