Category: Bookish Thoughts
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Freedom to Fail
It’s been a long time since I shared a “Quotables” post. But I came across a quote this week that reminded me of another quotable I wrote on years ago, about failure. That old post was about the incisive power of “what would you do if you knew you could not fail?” to clarify what…
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My Frustrations Upon Rereading Sense and Sensibility
I was rereading Sense and Sensibility the other day, and suddenly realized it’s not my favourite Jane Austen novel. Any Jane Austen novel is a novel of the highest quality, so to say “not my favourite Austen novel” still means I love this book. But in the past I’ve found I keep forgetting to mention…
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Three Posts (and Books) Worth Reading
Blogs are supposed to end the year with a top-ten list. Looking back over my year, I realized there are a few posts whose messages really are worthwhile, but I don’t feel the necessity to list ten of them. Here are three, in the order of popularity: You Might Relate to Mary Bennett, but You’re…
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The Books You Fight With
Jane Austen’s been in the news a lot lately, due to her death happening two hundred years ago. As with most occasions Austen is mentioned, discussion turns to ranking her books. Pride and Prejudice is apparently preferred by the popular vote, while Emma is lauded by the critical vote. And I have no argument with…
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Let the Children Grow Up–They Do in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
‘Neglectful’ was the word tossed around by one reviewer of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Apparently the Professor was neglectful of the children he’d taken into his house during the bombings of WWII, letting them run through his house on their own and not over-scheduling every minute of their day with dance class,…
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You Might Relate to Mary Bennett, but You’re Not Supposed to Imitate Her
Mary Bennett gets a lot of good press. In Pride and Prejudice, she’s one of heroine Elizabeth Bennett’s three younger sisters, and she’s described as the bookish one. Maybe because readers of Pride and Prejudice tend to be bookish as well, we tend to feel the story overlooks her, and write multiple blog posts and…
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Out of the Silent Planet Awoke My Imagination – Let It Awake Yours Too
I’ve been meaning to read Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis for a long time, ever since I discovered Lewis really did write fiction besides the Chronicles of Narnia. Now that I have I can’t resist blogging about it, because it excited me so much to find out how good it was. I…
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A Few Classics That Are Not Hard to Read
Classics are usually heavy reading. Even if they’re short, the language is unfamiliar enough that they take a long time to get through. But every once in a while you find one that surprises you, and here are three that surprised me. Note: I’m not including any classics described as ‘children’s literature’ in this list.…
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Do People Fall in Love Out of Gratitude?
What’s going on here? A romance novel is seriously making the hero fall for a girl simply because she adored him first? “[T]hough Henry was now sincerely attached to her, though he felt and delighted in all the excellencies of her character and truly loved her society, I must confess that his affection originated in…
Hmm... 