About stories of all kinds
The truth was, he thought that what newspapers and books referred to as ‘the horrors of solitary confinement’ were grossly exaggerated. He would rather have too little company than too much of the wrong sort. Arthur & George by Julian Barnes Arthur & George by Julian Barnes, Vintage Books 2006, p. 211 There are times… Continue reading ‘Too little company’
“[W]e... care not what you set up, so you pull merrily down what stands in our way... for it is our profession to turn the world upside down, and we live ever the blithest life when the downer side is uppermost.”The Monastery by Sir Walter Scott The Monastery by Sir Walter Scott Some days the… Continue reading “To turn the world upside down”
One night as they lay lurking in the fireless dark, Túrin looked on his life, and it seemed to him that it might well be bettered. The Children of Húrin The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien I just adore the dry understatement of this epiphany. Although I would deny charges of lurking, I too… Continue reading ‘It seemed to him’
The wrong words. They were true a hundred times over, yet they sounded like a lie. Hadn’t he always known it? Words were useless. At times they might sound wonderful, but they let you down the moment you really needed them. You could never find the right words, never, and where would you look for… Continue reading The Wrong Words
Besides, you are bound to bear yourself as agreeably as you can toward those whom nature or chance or your own choice has made the companions of your life. Utopia by Sir Thomas More The world’s still not utopian, and neither are the people within it perfect—including myself. Others put up with me as much… Continue reading ‘Nature or chance or your own choice’
Little is left to us but the air we breathe, and that appears to have been reserved with much hesitation. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott I won’t pretend to equate current pandemic restrictions with the condition of serfs under feudalism, but the sentiment is surprisingly relevant nonetheless. Here’s to the (slow) lifting of the embargo… Continue reading ‘The air we breathe’
As a rule, I am impatient with the gaggle of quirky, silly sidekicks that populate many books and movies for the sole function of comic relief. Fantasy books are particularly egregious offenders in this regard because there is an abundance of lesser creatures that can be employed as throwaway comic characters with funny speech patterns… Continue reading Twilight: So Sparkling Bright
I can’t believe this fall is coming without it being associated with school starting for me. It’s the first time in four years that’s happened! Woo-woo, 2020 university graduate! But even before that, in the years I was finishing highschool, fall was not exclusively school time, nor was it quite the same as anticipating going… Continue reading Elsa, I think
So I was reading along in The Nest of the Sparrowhawk, and in one scene a paragraph of narration caught my attention and reminded me of something else. In the scene, some Cavaliers have been cornered in the upper room of an illegal gambling house by Cromwell's guards. They draw their swords initially, taking umbrage… Continue reading Enjolras, Cromwell, and Counter-Revolutionary Dictates of Common Sense
I'm re-reading the Raven Cycle by Maggie Steifvater right now. For a long time, I've had this comparison in my head between the second book, The Dream Thieves, and this scene from Inception. In The Dream Thieves, Ronan has the ability to pull objects and creatures out of his dreams and give them form in… Continue reading Inception’s alternate title: The Dream Thieves
Fictitiously Yours 