A Poe Compendium for the 175th Anniversary of His Death

Poe has quickly become one of my favourite authors (if not the favourite judging by how often I reference him or his writings) and as such must have an extra special dedicated post for once rather than simply popping up throughout everything else I write like a macabre jack-in-the-box.

Other People’s Glass Houses: Uncle Tom’s Cabin Review

The Story Through the catalyst of the Shelbys, a Kentucky family, falling into debt, the fate of their slaves changes forever. At the prospect of her young son being sold away from her, Eliza takes him and runs for Canada without fully understanding the distance or difficulties involved, trusting that her husband will come after… Continue reading Other People’s Glass Houses: Uncle Tom’s Cabin Review

‘that I did not die then’

Today 160 years ago, Nathaniel Hawthorne died. Born in Salem in 1804, he was a writer of short stories and novels, American consul, and friend to contemporary writers of fiction and non-fiction alike. Among these contemporaries were Herman Melville, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His style is characteristic of what might now be… Continue reading ‘that I did not die then’

“the one charge you cannot deny”

160 years ago this week, Richard Harding Davis was born. He became an American war correspondent for over three significant wars in his lifetime, also writing short stories and championing Theodore Roosevelt's campaign for the United States presidency. I stumbled upon his work accidentally, finding a copy of Once Upon a Time in a thrift… Continue reading “the one charge you cannot deny”

One-Shot Finch: To Kill a Mockingbird

A well-known novel of the American south, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a challenging look at the history of race-relations and the process of a child coming to terms with another side of her familiar, safe community of Maycomb. Scout, her older brother Jem, and their friend Dill play around at constructing a… Continue reading One-Shot Finch: To Kill a Mockingbird

Trading on Social Currency: The House of Mirth Review

The House of Mirth is a multi-faceted, in-depth novelization of the difficulty of unmarried young women without a fortune who are nevertheless members of a certain upper-class social circle, and the lengths they must go to maintain their position...

This Land Is Your Land: House of Earth Review

I don't really know why I picked this up beyond a sense of curiosity and being in the mood for a bit of folksy literature. I knew of Woody Guthrie as a singer-songwriter... but I had no idea he was also a writer of prose and somewhat of an artist.

‘Let us take to ourselves no shame’

Therefore, if we built splendid castles... and pictured beautiful scenes, among the fervid coals of the hearth round which we were clustering, and if all went to rack with the crumbling embers, and have never since arisen out of the ashes, let us take to ourselves no shame. In my own behalf, I rejoice that… Continue reading ‘Let us take to ourselves no shame’