Category: Literature

Five Reasons To Read The Classics

So here it is: the fourth and final post in my ‘Five Reasons To Read…’ series all about my favourite genres! If you’ve missed any, why not check out my posts on Historical Fiction, Fantasy and YA? In my last post I talked about why people of all ages should be reading YA, and touched on book snobbery, where certain supposedly ‘high-brow’ readers seem to think that reading genre or YA fiction doesn’t count as ‘real reading’. This is of course, absolute nonsense! However in this post I wanted to… Read more »

6 Fairytales Disney Cleaned Up

Disney’s classic fairytale retellings, many of which are now synonymous with the stories themselves (who doesn’t imagine Snow White in a yellow and blue dress after all?), are always bright, cutesy and charming, and so they should be. After all, these are films aimed at kids, however enjoyable they may be for adults as well. However, it’s fair to say that some of the stories weren’t always so sweet, with many having very dark beginnings stemming back from when fairytales were the only form of entertainment people had, and so were… Read more »

I opened an Etsy shop!

Today’s post is just a quick one to announce that I’ve opened an Etsy shop! Hooray! I’ll be selling a range of book-themed bookmarks I’ve made through my shop, Bookish Wonders, and hopefully I’ll have art print versions of all my designs up there soon too. I had a lot of fun making these, splashing around paint and messing about with pretty typography, so it will just be a nice bonus if I manage to sell a few. My designs are all printed onto card and laminated, and have quotes… Read more »

How does reading change you?

Recently I’ve seen quite a few ‘Books That Have Changed Me’ posts around the blogosphere, and I really love the idea that books and stories can change us in some way. I know that I personally have felt that certain stories and certain characters have really resonated with me, and in some small way have made me see the world a little differently. But this got me thinking – does reading itself change us? Being exposed to so many points of view and different types of people and places must… Read more »

My Trip To Grasmere

‘The loveliest spot that man hath ever found.’ – William Wordsworth about Grasmere The Lake District is undoubtedly one of the most scenic areas of Britain, and every time I go I can easily see why it provided the inspiration for so much of the Romantic Poets’ work, most notably that of William Wordsworth.

My Top Ten Classic Novels

10. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen Whilst Jane Austen’s most popular book tends to be Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey remains my favourite. Despite its largely unlikable characters, this mock Gothic tale is one that is still funny today, and is a great example of Austen’s classic wit and satire.

6 Christmas Gift Ideas For Bookworms

Picture Left: Keyring from hottopic.com, Scarf from amazon.co.uk, T-shirt by Out of Print, from truffleshuffle.com. In theory, buying a Christmas present for an avid reader should be easy – just buy them a book, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, unless they’ve told you exactly what they want! The problem with most bookworms is, that they usually already own a lot of books. So buying one they haven’t got is pretty hard unless you have a really good look at their current collection, and even then, you can never be… Read more »

My Trip to Haworth (Home of the Brontës)

Last week my family and I took a trip up to Haworth, which is a lovely little village in Yorkshire. It’s also where the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) lived and penned their famous novels, which include such greats as Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It was a cold, drizzly day, and so naturally, as soon as I got out of the car, the humidity sent my hair crazy (which is especially bad when your hair is pink – it starts to look like… Read more »

Wish List: Penguin Deluxe Edition Classics

Now, I know they say not to judge a book by its cover, but if you had the choice between the edition of Jane Eyre on the left, or the one on the right, which would you pick? Personally, I’d pick the one of the right! The other day in Waterstones, my eye was caught by a table of some rather quirky editions of some of the classics – called Penguin Deluxe Editions – amongst which was this amazing copy of Jane Eyre. I’ll admit I pretty much wanted to… Read more »

Why are famous quotes famous?

There are certain classic quotes from literature that everyone seems to know, whether they’ve read the source text or not. Shakespeare especially is a huge source of these: after all, who doesn’t know ‘O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo!’ and ‘To be or not to be, that is the question!’ By the same token, most people are familiar with the famous opening of Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities whether they have read it or not, and have heard ‘Call me Ishmael’ despite not having a clue who on… Read more »