Some days, you just need to turn off social media, avoid the news, and get lost in a good novel. I find that reading fiction by someone long gone from this life helps with perspective. Librivox.org is my go-to for free audiobooks. They have most of the classics. Right now I’m in the middle of 20 Years After, the sequel to Alexandre Dumas’ Three Musketeers. Like most sequels, it’s not as good as the original, but I was in France last summer and I love a good destination novel (for francophiles dreaming of the streets of Paris, you'd be better off with Les Miserables or The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

You’ll find a few more suggestions here. You can also download the app for iOS and Android.


If you're a Librivox user (or if you're just into classic fiction), what's your favorite book? I'm looking for recommendations for my next read.

In an emotional gathering July 12th, President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush delivered challenging speeches, calling for unity and progress in light of the Dallas police shootings. Below is a collection of highlights from the speeches of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Some of these remarks are long and sermonic, but are well worth the read. I recommend listening to at least portions of each speech to get a sense of the gravitas with which they spoke.

George Bush:
“Most of us imagine if the moment called for it, we would risk our lives to protect a spouse or a child. Those wearing the uniform, assume that risk for the safety of strangers. They and their family share the unspoken knowledge that each new day brings new dangers.” 
 
“Too often we judge other groups by their worst examples, while judging ourselves by our best intentions.” 
 
“To renew our unity we only need to remember our values. We have never been held together by blood or background. We are bound by things of the Spirit, by shared commitments to the common ideas. At our best, we practice empathy, imagining ourselves in the lives and circumstances of others. This is the bridge across our nation’s deepest divisions.” 
 
“It’s not merely a matter of tolerance, but of learning from the stories of our fellow citizens and finding our better selves in the process.”
 
“At our best, we honor the image of God we see in one another. We recognize that we are bothers and sisters sharing the same brief moment on earth and owing each other the loyalty of our shared humanity.” 
 
“We do not want the unity of grief or the unity of fear. We want the unity of hope, affection and high purpose.”

----------------
Barack Obama:
"Scripture tells us that in our sufferings, there is glory, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Sometimes the truths of these words are hard to see. Right now, those words test us because the people of Dallas, people across the country are suffering."
 
"Like police officers across the country, these men and their families shared a commitment to something larger than themselves. They weren’t looking for their names to be up in lights. They’d tell you the pay was decent, but wouldn’t make you rich. They could have told you about the stress and long shifts. And they’d probably agree with Chief Brown when he said that cops don’t expect to hear the words “thank you” very often, especially from those who need them the most. No. The reward comes in knowing that our entire way of life in America depends on the rule of law, that the maintenance of that law is a hard and daily labor, that in this country we don’t have soldiers in the streets or militias setting the rules.
Instead, we have public servants, police officers, like the men who were taken away from us."
 
"Despite the fact that police conduct was the subject of the protest, despite the fact that there must have been signs or slogans or chants with which they profoundly disagreed, these men and this department did their jobs like the professionals that they were."