books
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MEMORIAL by Alice Oswald | Review
In this daring new work, the poet Alice Oswald strips away the narrative of the Iliad—the anger of Achilles, the story of Helen—in favor of attending to its atmospheres: the extended similes that bring so much of the natural order into the poem and the corresponding litany of the war-dead, most of whom are little… Continue reading
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MRS. DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf | Review
Virginia Woolf’s classic 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway is one of this prolific writer’s best known works. It tells the story of a single day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, who struggles with the fact that she is no longer the young woman she used to be once upon a time. Set in the urban tumult of… Continue reading
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THE QUARTET by Joseph J. Ellis | Review
The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 is a comprehensive, cohesive, carefully crafted analysis of the transition from distinctly powerful states in America under the Articles of Confederation to a nation of united states under the newly ratified Constitution. By focusing on the brilliant men who made this shift possible– George Washington, John Jay, Alexander… Continue reading
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UNCLE TOM’S CABIN by Harriet Beecher Stowe | Review
“The narrative drive of Stowe’s classic novel is often overlooked in the heat of the controversies surrounding its anti-slavery sentiments. In fact, it is a compelling adventure story with richly drawn characters and has earned a place in both literary and American history. Stowe’s puritanical religious beliefs show up in the novel’s final, overarching theme—the… Continue reading
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WHITE TEETH by Zadie Smith | Review
“Zadie Smith’s dazzling first novel plays out its bounding, vibrant course in a Jamaican hair salon in North London, an Indian restaurant in Leicester Square, an Irish poolroom turned immigrant café, a liberal public school, a sleek science institute. A winning debut in every respect, White Teeth marks the arrival of a wondrously talented writer… Continue reading
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THE HAMLET by William Faulkner | Review
The Hamlet (1940), the first novel in William Faulkner’s Snopes trilogy, tells the story of Flem Snopes’ rise to relative power and influence in Frenchman’s Bend. Yoknapatawpha County is the iconic backdrop to this slow burn of a novel, one that sets the stage for future books and stories to be written about the Snopes clan. The… Continue reading
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OLIVER TWIST by Charles Dickens | Review
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens is one of those classic stories that everyone thinks they know– that is, until they actually sit down to read the novel in its entirety. Prior to starting this book in the middle of a flight from England back to the States, I thought this would be the simple story of… Continue reading
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BLINK by Malcolm Gladwell | Review
“We live in a world that assumes that the quality of a decision is directly related to the time and effort that went into making it…We believe that we are always better off gathering as much information as possible an depending as much time as possible in deliberation. We really only trust conscious decision making.… Continue reading
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TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN by John Green | Review
How do I even begin this review of John Green’s long-awaited novel Turtles All the Way Down? If ever a book was at risk to be threatened by high expectations and hype, then this would certainly be the one. Like many avid readers of Green’s works, I was both eager and anxious to read this latest release.… Continue reading
About ME //
i’m holly — former english major, current twenty-something book lover, allergic to nuts. drop me a line at nutfreenerd@gmail.com or on instagram.
nut free nerd 