the blog of a bookish, nut-allergic girl
You read a lot of books as an English major in college. Some books are more enjoyable, interesting, and frankly more worthwhile to read than others. As someone who recently graduated with a degree in English lit, I've thought a lot about all those hours spent staring at pages at my desk or in the… Continue reading 5 Books Every Incoming English Major Should Read
Today I'll be discussing a particularly four-legged Classic Couple: Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945) and Watership Down by Richard Adams (1972). Although these books may both be considered "classics" at times, they are rarely considered alongside one another. While Animal Farm is known for being an allegory for the Russian Revolution of 1917, Adams wrote in his Introduction that he… Continue reading A Classic Couple: ANIMAL FARM and WATERSHIP DOWN
Today I'm here to discuss a rather unlikely Classic Couple (this one made of two classics!): The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1885) and The Wind in the Willows (1908). As most American students who have been assigned to read Huck Finn in English class will know, this classic novel is about a white boy and black slave… Continue reading A Classic Couple: THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN and THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS
"Wide Sargasso Sea, a masterpiece of modern fiction, was Jean Rhys’s return to the literary center stage. She had a startling early career and was known for her extraordinary prose and haunting women characters. With Wide Sargasso Sea, her last and best-selling novel, she ingeniously brings into light one of fiction’s most fascinating characters: the… Continue reading WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean Rhys | Review
When I realized recently that I have never made a Classic Couple pairing of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye (1951) and Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999), I vowed to remedy that situation immediately. This classic/contemporary duo always reminds me of the start of the school year, which makes this the… Continue reading A Classic Couple: The Catcher in the Rye and The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Sometimes it seems as though everyone is birthed from the womb with an inherent knowledge of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I have a feeling that a similar situation will happen with Suzanne Collins' novel The Hunger Games in a few generations. Just as the mention of Shakespeare's famous play immediately conjures up ideas of star-crossed lovers and family feuds, The… Continue reading A Classic Couple: Romeo & Juliet and The Hunger Games
A few months ago I discussed Tsitsi Dangarembga's 1988 novel Nervous Conditions in the context of feminist writing and postcolonial literature. Today, I'll like to talk about this remarkable novel in a slightly different context: coupled with George Eliot's classic 1871 novel Middlemarch. Published over a century apart and set against very different backdrops, these two novels are nevertheless tied… Continue reading A Classic Couple: Middlemarch and Nervous Conditions
Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel Jane Eyre is one of the books that first made me fall in love with classic literature. I remember reading it on a family road trip before my senior year of high school, captivated by Jane's independence and resilience. For years librarians, professors, and bookish friends who know that Jane Eyre is a favorite of… Continue reading A Classic Couple: Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea
Happy Tuesday! And for all of my fellow Americans, happy Fourth of July Eve! (That's a holiday, right?!?) Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is Fourth of July themed, which means it's time to break out those red, white, and blue book covers. This week I've set myself a little challenge… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Festive 4th Covers {Bookstagram Edition!}
I was thrilled that part of my postcolonial literature tutorial during my last term at Oxford was reading and writing about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Fifteen years after the publication of her debut novel Purple Hibiscus in 2003, Adichie continues to make headlines today. Not only is she known as a renowned Nigerian novelist, but she has also made… Continue reading Feminist Fridays: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
