by Harper Lee “Mr. Stone set a watchman in church yesterday. He should have provided me with one. I need a watchman to lead me around and declare what he seeth every hour on the hour. I need a watchman to tell me this is what a man says but this is what he means, […]

People, we have some serious reading to get through! Below are 100 books that are being adapted to film. Some are already in theaters, some are forthcoming with set release dates, and others are still in the works. Any way you look at it, we have some work to do! Which books will you be […]

by Agatha Christie           “Trains are relentless things, aren’t they, Monsieur Poirot? People are murdered and die, but they go on just the same. I am talking nonsense, but you know what I mean.”           “Yes, yes, I know. Life is like a train, Mademoiselle. It goes on. And it is a good thing that […]

This week I’m excited to feature a three-part interview with my friend Karen Babine, author of Water and What We Know: Following the Roots of a Northern Life (University of Minnesota Press, 2015). Karen was born and raised in the lake country of Minnesota. She earned a B.A. from Concordia College, an M.F.A. from Eastern […]

by Mary Kelley Mary Kelley investigates the history of women writers and why she learned so little about their role in literature while seeking her bachelor’s degree. Private Woman, Public Stage discusses the literary careers of twelve female novelists against the cultural backdrop of nineteenth-century America: Mary Jane Holmes, Maria McIntosh, Mary Virginia Terhune, Maria […]

I am happy to share that I was recently selected as a recipient of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Women’s and Gender Studies Graduate Student Travel Award. These travel funds are based upon an application process and then reviewed and awarded by the Women’s and Gender Studies Advisory Board. Up to three students can receive the […]

I am happy to announce that I recently had a journal article accepted for publication. My essay, “George MacDonald’s Frightening Female: Menopause and Makemnoit in The Light Princess,” will appear in a forthcoming volume of North Wind: A Journal of George MacDonald Studies. The North Wind journal is edited by John Pennington and Fernando Soto […]

I recently returned from the 2014 Dickens Universe conference held at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dickens Universe is the annual conference put on by the Dickens Project, an organization that also hosts institutes, publications, and gatherings for the study of Victorian literature at secondary and post-secondary levels. The Dickens Project consortium consists of […]

by Laura Vanderkam In 168 Hours, Vanderkam presents a proposal designed to help readers define their life’s “core competencies” and make better use of their time each week, all 168 hours of them. While there are many helpful and practical tips within the book’s pages, Vanderkam’s blinders to crucial considerations like economic class are surprising. […]

This week I’m pleased to feature a three-part interview with my friends Chadd VanZanten and Russ Beck, authors of On Fly-Fishing the Northern Rockies: Essays and Dubious Advice (The History Press, 2015). Chadd is a professional editor in Logan, Utah. His essays appear in the online journal Eat Sleep Fish, the anthology Utah Reflections,  and […]

by E. Lockhart “We are liars. We are beautiful and privileged. We are cracked and broken.”  We Were Liars is a young adult novel written by E. Lockhart, the author of the Ruby Oliver series and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. Set in the present day on a private island near Martha’s Vineyard, the […]

Since graduating, I have enjoyed much more free time to read and select books off of the shelves at random. This has been both rewarding and a mixed bag: I encountered new books and authors I loved and others I did not. One of the great freedoms that comes with reading for pleasure as opposed […]

Once Upon an Alphabet: Short Stories for all the Letters by Oliver Jeffers “If words make up stories, and letters make up words, then stories are made of letters. In this menagerie we have stories, made of words, made for all the letters.” In Once Upon an Alphabet Oliver Jeffers, beloved illustrator of The Day the […]

by Princesse Camcam If you’ve never enjoyed a wordless picture book before, Princesse Camcam’s gorgeous book for children is a wonderful place to start. The cut-paper illustrations in this French artist’s story are stunning and beautiful. Fox’s Garden is the story of an expectant fox looking for a warm place to give birth to her […]