About stories of all kinds
Ann Radcliffe, then Ann Ward, was born 260 years ago today: July 9, 1764. First published at age twenty-five, within the next ten years she became the most highly paid professional writer of the 1790s and her works had an incredible influence on popular culture, novels, and writers of that time and for many years… Continue reading ‘I can see as if in a glass’
No, the title isn't a typo for "memory," though perhaps that would also be appropriate: I have for you today a Bloomsday Meme/Quote. June 16, 1904 is the setting for all 265,222 words of James Joyce's Ulysses: 120 years ago today. As a milestone anniversary, I can't very well let it go by without posting… Continue reading Bloomsday Memery: 120th Anniversary of the Events of Ulysses
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
Perhaps it is ill-advised for me to participate in this spin, as I have several lengthy books on the go and several absorbing life changes on the go as well. On the bright side, I filed my taxes today so maybe I'm not as behind in life as I feel I am. We take the… Continue reading Classics Club Spin #37
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”
On this day, March 28, in 1944, Stephen Leacock, humorist and professor of Political Economics at McGill, died. One day last summer, I was possessed of the need to determine where the phrase “he rode off in all directions” originated. A quick Google search introduced me to Stephen Leacock, writer and economist of the last… Continue reading “rode madly off in all directions”
136 years ago this week, author Louisa May Alcott died. Born November 29, 1832, Alcott wrote the beloved Little Women, sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys, as well as numerous other novels and short stories. Among these, a dramatic Faustian tale titled A Modern Mephistopheles, which was her inspiration for another book with similar themes,… Continue reading “being what he was”
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
...a mysterious history is put forth by the lawyer Lightwood about the Harmon family and its fortune... No sooner has the tale been told than Lightwood is called upon to attend a body... identified as the long lost heir to that very same family's fortune.
In my absence from the blog for the better part of three months, I missed the last Classics Club Spin (#35) and don't want to let another one go by without participating. I have worked through a few titles on my list in the meantime and their reviews are on the docket... if I can… Continue reading Classics Club Spin #36
Fictitiously Yours 