Questioning the Canon: Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mary Prince

Questioning the Canon is a new feature in which I hope to bring to light lesser-known books about a certain issue, which can be read alongside or instead of infamous 'classics'. People are starting to discuss whether the authors we hold up as cultural icons - Shakespeare, Dickens, Wordsworth - should be accompanied by previously marginalised writers. Our idea of what constitutes 'great literature' is becoming broader.  This can only be a good thing, as it means more diversity and social representation in what we read!

Reblog: Dogs, Man’s Best Friend, as Illustrated by Art — Patricia Furstenberg, a Writer’s Blog

I am a proud member of the Better World Books affiliate network – the ethical online bookshop. Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If books are my first love, dogs are a close second! Unfortunately, I can't have my own because my little brother is allergic - I make up for it by spending as…

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin: Intense, Rhetorically Charged Love Story

Rating: 5 stars Category: Romance Synopsis: For childhood best friends Tish and Fonny, becoming a couple in adulthood seems like the easiest, most natural thing in the world. Until Fonny is jailed for a rape he never committed, just before Tish announces she is pregnant with his baby. Two families must cling to each other in the turbulent struggle for justice that ensues against the institutional racism of America.

Archive Nostalgia: The Red and the Green by Iris Murdoch

This week, it would have been the 100th birthday of inimitable author Iris Murdoch. What better time to bring back this review of her novel, The Red and the Green? Andrew: a slightly reluctant soldier in the First World War. Pat: a member of the militant Irish Volunteers. Millie: an eccentric and passionate woman whose home is being used to store weaponry. The Red and the Green interrogates the lives of this troubled family as events escalate towards the Easter Rising, a pivotal moment that would change the course of Irish History.

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley: Thought-Provoking Romance

Rating: 4 stars Category: Romance Synopsis: Sarah and her sister Ruth are among the first. The first black students to attend formerly all-white Jefferson High School. The first to endure protests by white students against integration. The first to read bitter articles in the school magazine denying them their right to be there. When the author of these articles, Linda Hairston, steps between Ruth and a group of bullies, Sarah is one of the only witnesses. Both Sarah and Linda find something has changed in them, as everything they thought they knew about each other is overturned...

Questioning the Canon: William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe

Questioning the Canon is a new feature in which I hope to bring to light lesser-known books about a certain issue, which can be read alongside or instead of infamous 'classics'. People are starting to discuss whether the authors we hold up as cultural icons - Shakespeare, Dickens, Wordsworth - should be accompanied by previously marginalised writers. Our idea of what constitutes 'great literature' is becoming broader.  This can only be a good thing, as it means more diversity and social representation in what we read!

Archive Nostalgia: Fulfil your Summer Reading Goals – Tailored Recommendations!

With many people embarking on summer reading challenges this year, such as the 20 Books of Summer hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books, I thought I would bring back this feature from the archives. If you're looking to reach some reading goals over summer, hopefully, this will provide you with some inspiration! The weather is getting warmer, the evenings lighter, the trees are blossoming – summer is definitely on its way! I don’t know about you, but whether I’m on holiday or just relaxing in the garden, summer is the time when I get to read most out of any time of year. But have you thought about what you’re aiming to achieve with your reading this summer? Do you want to feel more well-read by perusing some classics, or do you fancy something a little lighter to help you relax on the beach? The tailored recommendations below will help you to fulfil your summer reading goals, whatever they may be!

Top 10 Powerful Quotes from 1930s Poetry

Have you heard of W.H. Auden? How about Stephen Spender, Louis MacNeice or George Barker? If your first reaction is 'who?', you're not alone. I did not recognise a single name from the collection of 1930s poetry when I began studying it this semester. The unique voices of these poets encapsulate the disillusion and hope of an entire generation, yet, sandwiched between the two World Wars, they are often overlooked. I thought about how I could champion the power of these poems, but nobody could do so better than the poets themselves. With that in mind, here are my top 10 quotes from the poetry of the 30s...

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: Fantasy World to Sink Into and Savour

Les Cirque des Reves, or Circus of Dreams, can only be entered between sunset and sunrise. Until one evening when it will disappear as suddenly as it arrived, only to reappear in another city, another country. The acts are familiar - acrobats, fortune tellers, mirror mazes, illusionists - but not as they have been seen before. The performers seem to belong to another world, one where the boundaries of reality widen. When dark occurrences begin to blight the circus, an unprecedented force at its centre is finally revealed to them. Because the circus is not the event - it is only the venue...

Questioning the Canon: Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea

Questioning the Canon is a new feature in which I hope to bring to light lesser-known books about a certain issue, which can be read alongside or instead of infamous 'classics'. People are starting to discuss whether the authors we hold up as cultural icons - Shakespeare, Dickens, Wordsworth - should be accompanied by previously marginalised writers. Our idea of what constitutes 'great literature' is becoming broader.  This can only be a good thing, as it means more diversity and social representation in what we read!