The Comet's Flame

It was late, and I was in a weird mood.  So I wrote this. We shared a silent moment. You smiled, but You were looking past me Into an ever-present mirror, A self-consciousness grown into Self-adoration. You say you need someone, but I say Look no further… You have already found her. May your love [...]

I just read a beautiful bittersweet article by one of my favorite bloggers.  It’s probably the best thing that I’ve read on the internet this year.  Check it out.

I have a list of novels that I would like to read this summer. There are a few of these (Mansfield Park being one of them) that I started a while back, but haven’t had time to finish until now. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [...]

Perhaps you already know about the site Project Gutenberg. If not, you need to check it out, because it is one of the coolest ideas on the internet. Basically, it is an immense digital library containing the full texts of many literary works whose copyrights have expired (which includes the majority of classic novels). I [...]

I’m staring out my window, watching the fluffy snowflakes Floating slowly down from the gray skies. The ground is quickly being blanketed in a layer of white, And although I’ve seen this scene countless times before, I can’t help but be amazed at how beautiful it is. Too beautiful for me to really fully grasp [...]

My brother and I visited the Half Price Books store in Cedar Rapids for the first time today. When we walked in the door, the sight that greeted us took my breath away. I have never seen so many used books, vinyl records, CD’s, and DVD’s in one place. It’s a veritable treasure trove of [...]

A while ago, I checked out Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park from the Cedar Rapids Public Library (which is one of my favorite places). As I handed the books to the librarian, she smiled and said, “I bet this is for a class project, right?” When I told her no, to the contrary, it [...]

I recently read Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Published in 1969, this is one of Vonnegut’s most well-known works (Cat’s Cradle being another one). First of all, a note of warning… this is not a family-friendly book. Vonnegut typically has an extremely vulgar/crude writing style, and this novel is no exception. However, negative aspects aside, I [...]

I recently read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It’s a beautiful novel, and I must confess that certain passages brought tears to my eyes (even though I already knew the story from watching the 1995 BBC film version, which I highly recommend, by the way). The story chronicles the development of a very interesting [...]

I recently read This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald (published in 1920, this was Fitzgerald’s first novel. He later went on to write The Great Gatsby, etc.). This is a beautifully-written story of a boy whose immense ego led him down some rather unfortunate paths. The book’s protagonist Amory Blaine was born into [...]