Do we ever really think about what first piques our interest in a particular subject? Whether it’s history or science or literature or society or food, we tend to generalize our initial interest in a topic or hobby – “it was in my early 20s” or “sometime in my youth” or “when I heard aboutContinue reading “Home and Family in Literature and Life”
Tag Archives: books
Whom do you love? Virtue vs. villainy in literature
In last weekend’s New York Times book review, Bookends asked, “Can a virtuous character be interesting?” Two writers, Thomas Mallon and Alice Gregory, present their case for which type of literary character makes for more interesting reading: a good person, or a villainous one? Mallon begins his argument for the “villain” with classic examples: Scarlett overContinue reading “Whom do you love? Virtue vs. villainy in literature”
Go Set a Watchman: Time To Reevaluate Our Heroes — and Our Conscience?
As I started Go Set a Watchman, Harper’s Lee’s highly anticipated sequel that is now being labeled as a first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, I tried to manage my expectations.
From Laura Ingalls and Alicia Florrick to Elizabeth II: literary and historical women as role models
The more time I spend reading, writing, volunteering at the library, and exploring what I want to do with my life, the more I’ve learned that what I read and who I read about has influenced who I am and who I want to be. While I love Dickens, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, and Shakespeare, my heartContinue reading “From Laura Ingalls and Alicia Florrick to Elizabeth II: literary and historical women as role models”
Things I’ve Learned While Volunteering at the Library
I began volunteering at the local library last August. I’m in the circulation department, and once a week for about an hour and a half, I shelf-read and clean books. I also help shelve some paperbacks and organize carts ready to be shelved, things like that. And contrary to belief, it’s not only elderly peopleContinue reading “Things I’ve Learned While Volunteering at the Library”
Jenna Sauber 