books

September 5, 2014

Grave con Brio: On Pianos in Literature

I feel a bit guilty admitting this, but I love writing essays. Really. My classmates- if any of them actually are reading this- are probably rolling their eyes and groaning, but call me a nerd, I don’t care and I’ll say it again: I love writing essays. I especially love writing them when they are… Continue reading

Literature, Musings

analyzing, AP Lit, AP Literature, author, beethoven, books, booworm, chopin, composer, essay, fitzgerald, Jane Austen, lit, literature, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, motif, Music, musical passion, musician, nerd, performer, phantom of the opera, pianist, pianisti, piano, sense and sensibility, the great gatsby, writer
August 30, 2014

The Importance of Being Literate

We live in a world of hashtags and texting abbreviations; gleeful laughter has been replaced by “LOL”, “carpe diem” has been killed by “YOLO”, words are being replaced by numbers 4 heaven’s sake! (That was painful, but consider my point made.) It seems I cannot go through one day without being confronted by enough grammatical atrocities to… Continue reading

Musings

american illiteracy, books, crime, Do Something, frederick douglass, grammar, history, illiteracy, literacy, literacy problem, literature, poverty, Reading, speeches, words, writing
August 12, 2014

Return to the Garden

What qualifies a book as a classic? This is the question my classmates and I were faced with in English today and I am probably way more emotionally invested in this subject than I should be, but my answer to this question has taken years to discover! And, after all, isn’t most literature… Continue reading

A Bit of Light Reading, Literature, Musings

AP Literature, books, C.S. Lewis, Children’s Books, classic, classic literature, fairy tales, literature, Narnia, Secret Garden
July 31, 2014

Book Cravings

Have you ever just needed to reread a book? I mean, have you ever just felt so overwhelmed with the real world that you long to escape once more into “fairylands forlorn” with Lucy Pevensie or Bilbo Baggins? Or maybe you prefer dances and romance with Scarlett O’Hara or Elizabeth Bennett? Or perhaps even chilling… Continue reading

Literature, Musings

adventure books, AP Literature, Book, books, classic books, classic literature, comfort books, favorite books, frankenstein, literature, love books, rereading, the mysterious benedict society
May 19, 2014

Writer’s Despair, the discouraging cousin of Writer’s Block

Have you ever been filled with despair because a book is too amazing to be true? Because the author’s wit flows effortlessly? Because the imagery bubbles from the pen as naturally as water from a spring? Because you just know that no matter how hard you try, nothing as profoundly simple, as beautifully tragic, or… Continue reading

Literature, Musings

Alcott, author, books, Jo, literature, little men, Little Women, write, writer’s block
April 22, 2014

A Dash of Color

When we think about books, especially about what type of books we prefer, we tend to categorize them into genres, time periods, literary movements, etc. Today, during a visit to the library, my school librarian commented that The Maze Runner and Divergent are silver. This seemed a completely logical statement to me and I added that I needed… Continue reading

Musings

Art, authors, beauty, books, bookworm, Color, Composition, creativity, Fantasy, Imagery, imagination, librarian, library, literature, Music, Musing, painting, Reading, whimsy, words, writing