** SPOILER ALERT for A Tale of Two Cities, The Awakening, The Sorrows of Young Werther, and Death of a Salesman. Lately, the topic of suicide, or more accurately, the story of suicide, has unintentionally permeated my reading. It has been cast in many forms from the not so suicidal yet still self-inflicted death of... Continue Reading →
Harry Potter and the Hope of Resurrection
*Spoiler Alert! Major spoiler for the last Harry Potter novel ahead. The theme of resurrection is dominant in the last of the seven original Harry Potter books. One of the three great “hallows” is literally called the resurrection stone. Harry himself undergoes a physical resurrection of sorts after sacrificing himself for those he loves. The... Continue Reading →
The Masks We Wear: Paul Laurence Dunbar and the Human Condition
Recently, I posted a blog with one of my favorite quotes about literature which states that, “Literature [is] the laboratory of the human condition.”1 How often I’m reminded of just how true that is! Last night I was reading some selected poems from three late American poets who each reflected various "experiments" into what it... Continue Reading →
A Tale of Two Loves
**Warning! Massive spoilers for the two novels: A Tale of Two Cities and The Sorrows of Young Werther Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness,... Continue Reading →
Chillin’ in FairyLand with Chesterton and Friends
Perhaps nothing should capture the imagination as powerfully as the wonder of Creation. Even the simplest things, when humbly observed, should kindle a sense of the extraordinary. In our highly scientific and technological age we so easily lose sight of how marvelous, how strange, how captivating, our little blue dot really is. Anyone familiar with... Continue Reading →
Why You Should Read “Moby Dick”
One of the main reasons that I started this blog was to help me slow down and process the wide variety of books I was reading. I find that writing is an essential part of the learning process and have found many times where my views have changed as I write about a topic that... Continue Reading →