Tag Archives: literature

Home and Family in Literature and Life

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”

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”

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”

For the love of books

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”  – Cicero I think I’ve read more books in the last 10 months than I have in the last three or four years. I suppose that’s what being on a part-sabbatical while working from home in the country does for you – it’s givenContinue reading “For the love of books”