Author: Fictitiously Yours, Gail

"'Who are you?' said the Caterpillar. "This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied rather shyly, 'I--I hardly know, Sir, just at present--at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have changed several times since then.'" -Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll It takes some effort to pin down who in entirety we actually are because we are constantly changing--not perhaps several times a day like Alice, but I can see how different I was in my past compared to now. One thing that hasn't changed in years and probably never will is that I am a writer and bibliophile. Throughout stressful changes and evolutions of my mind, I hash it out in writing so that life carries on for me to read another book.

Rye, Rabble, and Roulette: The Gambler Review

Fictitiously Yours, Gail9 Comments

By all accounts, Dostoevsky wrote The Gambler on a deadline, ironically, to pay gambling debts. No better way to prove invention's parentage is necessity. I recently missed another Classics Club spin, only to realise I still haven't performed the function of reviewing my last Classics Club read for Spin #39. Hence the necessity of my… Continue reading Rye, Rabble, and Roulette: The Gambler Review

“pretended to be deeply absorbed”

Fictitiously Yours, Gail9 Comments

Two-hundred and five years ago today, January 17, 1820, the third Brontë sister was born. Named Anne, she, like her older sisters, first published under a male pseudonym: Acton Bell. She worked as a governess as well as writing poetry and novels. She wrote two novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, the… Continue reading “pretended to be deeply absorbed”

The Ninth Daughter: A Lady of Quality Review

Fictitiously Yours, Gail5 Comments

Frances Hodgson Burnett was born Frances Eliza Hodgson in Manchester, England on this day, November 24, in 1849. If you thought Francis Hodgson Burnett exclusively wrote heartwarming children's stories, that was me not long ago. The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy... even if you haven't read the books, you've likely seen one… Continue reading The Ninth Daughter: A Lady of Quality Review

“The man you’re looking for is a poet”: Edgar Allan Poe in Film

Fictitiously Yours, Gail1 Comment

Ten years apart, set in two very different periods of Poe's life, the films The Raven (2012) and The Pale Blue Eye (2022) may not seem very similar portrayals of the American poet. Yet, when I rewatched them recently in anticipation of the 175th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's death, I found more correlation than… Continue reading “The man you’re looking for is a poet”: Edgar Allan Poe in Film

Classics Club Spin #39

Fictitiously Yours, Gail8 Comments

It has come round again! What is it, you may ask? The Classics Club is a voluntary commitment to read 50 classics of your choice in 5 years from the time you join. Every so often, the Classics Club site hosts a "spin" to motivate participants to keep at their list, and maybe relieve some… Continue reading Classics Club Spin #39