Recently, I have been reading Book 1 of The Republic by Plato and have come across some interesting philosophical comments regarding how the perception of justice varies depending on an individual’s own thoughts, opinions, and life experiences. What one might see as good can be seen as evil by the other person and vice versa,…
During the summer, I have some time where I have the ability to explore some new interests, such as reading. Unlike others, I don’t particularly like reading as I usually only like certain genres or get bored easily. However, this summer, I thought it would be beneficial to get out of my comfort zone and…
The month of June marks the end of the school year and the beginning of yet another summer vacation for many of us. While I believe that I have a strong passion for reading, I have not found enough time for this hobby. In fact, throughout the course of the school year, I have spent…
“I use emotion for a few, and reason for many.” – Adolf Hitler Hitler is one of the cruellest men known to mankind. He and his Nazis killed approximately 16.3 million people. Although events today have thankfully not reached the extent of the deeds of dictators like Hitler or Stalin, it’s important to consider that…
Calling all writers, readers, TV-watchers, serial binge-watchers, gamers, etc! Do you ever feel like your shiny screens just aren’t distracting enough? Are you bored and/or embarrassed enough of your fictional obsessions to claim that you have ‘no discernible hobbies?’ Worse still, do your favourite pastimes happen to involve the creation and consumption of fiction and/or…
For this February, here are two novel recommendations, each with its own distinctive qualities and characters, each compelling in its own way. First is a twentieth-century classic: Invisible Man Set roughly in the 1930s, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man follows an unnamed African-American narrator as he recounts his early years—from growing up in the American South…
In the month of January, I picked up a novel by Nicola Yoon called Instructions for Dancing. After reading and thoroughly enjoying both of her previous novels (Everything, Everything and The Sun is Also A Star), I had nothing but high expectations for this one. Now, I have to say, this is one of the…
Being an avid bookworm for most of my life, I have already explored a spectrum of genres in young adult literature. However, today I will be focussing on the modern craze—science fiction. Science fiction has been on the rise since the mid-nineteenth century due to rapid developments in science and technology. The imaginations of many…
As a teenager, online shopping is a past time that I frequent. Of course there’s other things that I do, such as: reading, playing video games, and such and such. But I would like to just highlight the reading part. The number one thing I did as a child was read. Books upon books (especially…
There’s something characteristic about Russian literature that I love. I can’t fully describe it. But I feel it has a lot to do with the nation’s complex history and—in my mind, at least—some stereotyped notion of its culture. Regardless, there are four authors I want to highlight here. They have produced some of the most…
I am awake at eleven in the evening holding Woolf’s To the Lighthouse open in my left hand as I sit with my right leg crossed over my left, uncomfortable, still staring down at the pages mindlessly—what a strange book this is, I wonder. Words glide before my eyes and what is the point of…
Towering and intrepid… Like most literary imagining of the future, [Atwood’s] vision is mournful, bleak, and infernal, and is punctuated, in Atwood style, with the occasional macabre joke– Perhaps not unlike Dante’s own literary vision – The New Yorker I will not spoil the story for Oryx and Crake. All the information about this book…
England, 1956. An old butler by the name of Stevens sets off alone on a summer holiday. As he unhurriedly drives through the English countryside, he reflects on his decades of service to Lord Darlington and his wish to serve humanity by serving “a great gentleman.” Yet now, near the end of his career, Stevens…
July’s blogs have largely been focused on book lists already. Though I am a little late to the show, I’d nonetheless love to feature the series that I have been reading this summer: Throne of Glass. There are eight books in total, and I am currently on the seventh one. I am not usually the…
A continuation of yesterday’s post on scratching your summer reading itch! As I said yesterday, let me know if there’re any particular inclinations you have—I’ll do my best to come up with some top tier recommendations. You’re in the mood for a sprawling, epic fantasy with metric tonnes of worldbuilding: Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard…