I just finished J. K. Rowling’s latest novel, The Casual Vacancy, yesterday. It was very different from Harry Potter, but that was a lot of the point. Here I begin to unravel some of my thoughts on the subject of the book, which I hope to expand in further posts. **** SPOILER ALERT – DO NOT CONTINUE UNLESS YOU’VE FINISHED… Read more →
Category: Literature
The Joy of Books
If you’re anything of a bibliophile like myself, you will adore this wonderful video about the magic of physical books. Just marvelous. In a world of Kindles and e-books, it’s nice to recall the greatness of the printed page. As I’ve said before, the printed book will never fully disappear, though it will become more of a niche market. Read more →
Character Typology: Katsa and Bitterblue
Having been meditating on Graceling for a few weeks, I have a few offers of a literary structural nature about the book, which was generally very good. I have a post on the alchemical symbolism of Graceling coming down the pipeline at some point, whenever I get around to actually finishing it. This time, though, I want to focus on… Read more →
Alchemical Symbolism in Enclave
I just finished reading Enclave, by Ann Aguirre, and found it to be a very good book. It is thrilling to realize, more and more, that the prose quality of Twilight is not entirely the standard fare for YA fiction these days. Some folks can construct a real story with good characters and solid prose. Anyway, I’ll be reviewing the… Read more →
Passing By the Dragon
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in instructing catechumens, wrote: “The dragon sits by the side of the road, watching those who pass. Beware lest he devour you. We go to the Father of Souls, but it is necessary to pass by the dragon.” No matter what form the dragon may take, it is of this mysterious passage past him, or into… Read more →