About stories of all kinds
What makes great literature great? What comprises great literature? Why are some works still relevant, while others have been relegated to the studies of period specialists or the perusal of those who enjoy archaic culture? Why do we even study literature? Coming to the end of the material from my first year English on-line literature… Continue reading On-Line English Literature Discussion: Great Literature
“I never thought, when I used to read books, what work it was to write them.” [She said.] “It’s work enough to read them sometimes,” I returned. David Copperfield I've been slowly coming to terms with the fact that I will not be able to read every book in the world (along with Jesse… Continue reading Books: The Beautiful and DNF’d
Once Upon a Time--The Inimitable Jeeves A week ago I read Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse, delighted to be once again immersed in the carefree, devilishly hare-brained world of Bertram Wooster. So I thought now would be as good a time as any to post a picture I made aligning the Wicked Witch… Continue reading The Inimitable Wicked Witch
Long before I started this blog, I had ideas for posts about books I've read. And here we are three years later and I'm finally finishing this review of two books I read back-to-back in the summer of 2016: Black Rabbit Summer and Black Rabbit Hall. I wanted to do this review/comparison because I thought,… Continue reading Chasing Rabbits: Black Rabbit Summer and Black Rabbit Hall
Ah, time travel: creator of paradoxes, destroyer of timelines, and conveniencer of plots. I like a good time travel story, whether it be the new Who (Moffat loops and all) or the good old Back to the Future. Time travel tends to frequent science fiction, but is also exploited for its potential in the historical… Continue reading Time in Flux (Capacitor): Ruby Red and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
"Will the real John Donne please stand up?" This was the question that greeted the class on the forum during our study of the works of John Donne. If you know anything about John Donne, it's probably that his Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions: Meditation 17 is the text from which Ernest Hemingway got the title… Continue reading On-Line English Literature Discussion: John, I’m Donne
This is a book blogging deal hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words which I am participating in. My version of this today is going to be narrowed to my re-reading activity (which has been extensive of late). I'm re-reading many books from my shelves in order to remind myself of why… Continue reading WWW Wednesday: Re-reading Edition
Star Trek--Shakespeare's Star Wars I recently made a post about how drama compares to narrative and poetry. (Link here.) Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher is a good example of narrative (film) converted to drama employing poetry (verse). And I couldn't help but think the line "To boldly go where none hath gone" was a… Continue reading Bold Bones
What makes drama different from narrative and poetry? It's not a trick question. It is, however, a rather broad question, posed by my first-year English teacher. I attempted to answer it, addressing a few of the most apparent considerations, without by any means giving a comprehensive analysis: A narrative, especially one with an omniscient voice… Continue reading On-Line English Literature Discussion: Being Dramatic
As a kid, most of what I read was part of a series. And did it ever suck when the library was missing some of the books. Now, for whatever reason, I don't read as many series. There are extensive series--particularly in the fantasy genre, it seems--yet most of the books that appeal to me… Continue reading Serial Killers: The Pros and Cons of Book Series
Fictitiously Yours 