Controversial Opinion About LOTR: The Movies are Better??…
Disclaimer: I watched the movies before I read the series, so that may have influenced my opinion and biased my perspective. My brother must have introduced me to the film series The Lord of the Rings when I was in middle school, and I have watched them multiple times since. Along with a beautiful soundtrack, […]
Book Review: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is not the type of book to stay with me, but it is rather thought provoking. It’s an extremely quick read, and I think it helps readers gain self-awareness, whether they are Christian like Lewis or not. Lewis presents a really interesting take on temptation; he did a good […]
Reacting to One-Star Reviews of My Favorite Books
The beautiful thing about literature, and art in general, is that people can connect to artwork in different ways—or not connect to it at all. I actually really enjoy it when other people have different opinions about literature than I do. Sure, it’s nice to have people agree with you, but it’s so boring when […]
Review: Cul-de-sac Angels by Michelle Emily Garcia
“But, like all writers, I am an archaeologist. I can’t help but excavate, never capturing enough.” Cul-de-sac Angels is an anthology of poems and short stories written by the lovely Michelle Emily Garcia, one of my fellow classmates at Virginia Tech. It is an entirely different experience to read a book written by someone you […]
Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Apparently, when William Faulkner was asked to list the three greatest novels of all time, he replied, “Anna Karenina, Anna Karenina, Anna Karenina.” I’m not sure I would go that far, but there is a reason why people call it a masterpiece. Tolstoy’s ability to delve into his characters is absolutely exquisite. Every single character […]
Anti-TBR Tag: Books I Have No Interest in Reading
This tag has been going around on booktube for a while now, and I thought it’d be fun to answer the questions myself. I believe the creator is Nicole & Her Books, so check her out. In lieu of an irrelevant and lengthy intro, let’s get into the books that I’m not interested in ever […]
My Complicated Relationship with Poetry
For the longest time, I’ve dreaded the inevitable poetry unit in classes. Since that was my only exposure to poetry, I suppose I’ve dreaded reading poetry in general. But over the past two years, poetry has started to creep into my life to the point where I’m reading and writing it almost daily. Despite this […]
Catullus: An Ancient Poet You Need to Read *with caution*
What comes to mind when you think of ancient literature? Stuffy poets? Propagandic epics? Characterless nationalism? I personally think of works like The Aeneid, The Iliad, and The Odyssey. If any of you read my review on The Aeneid, you know that this genre is, well, not my favorite. And if you are anything like […]
Book Review: The Aeneid
A part of me thinks it’s silly to rank a book so unquestionably influential, so bound to the context of the time it was written. But alas, I have opinions, tempered with all due respect to the great fathers of literature. Just as a disclaimer, I have read The Aeneid before, and I probably would […]
The Giver of Stars: A Magnificent Blend of Informational and Entertaining
A historical fiction novel that portrays the power of books and is filled with an intellectually diverse cast of independent women? Yes please! The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes follows Alice and Margery, two women who belong to the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky—an initiative between 1935-1943 that focused on delivering books to those in […]