by Lee Cross In the wars littered throughout history, there are no Saints... well, actually, there are, real ones, and loads of them, anointed by one faith or another (isn’t that weird – but I’m not going to touch that). Of all those bad guys though, no one group appears more in books than the … Continue reading Nazi’s… the Ultimate Bad Guys in Writing

10 great quotes about Music from literature. [Gathered by Regina Kenney] “Without music, life would be a mistake.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent” ― Victor Hugo “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes … Continue reading 10 Great Literature Quotes About Music

by Simon Critchlow  The baroque period is generally considered as being from around 1650-1750 and the classical period from around 1750-1830. To illustrate the changes in style between these two periods, I’ve chosen two pieces by the titans of each era: J.S. Bach in the Baroque corner and Mozart in the Classical corner. The two … Continue reading What is the difference between Baroque and Classical Music?

by Lee Cross Broadly speaking we, as bookworms, should be willing to attempt to read any book once. Realistically, that’s just not possible, we only have so much time and we’re always going to make value judgments on how to spend our most precious commodity – reading time. Back when I was a teenager and … Continue reading What it Takes to Read a Book Twice

by Lee Cross What does Groundhog Day mean to you? To me, it’s the day that a self-obsessed weather-man, has to live over and over again, until he comes to realize the flaws within himself, and ultimately finds a form of redemption. Apparently though, Groundhog Day is a real thing (something I’m not entirely sure … Continue reading The Morning After Groundhog’s Day

by Lee Cross So, I’m currently in the middle of sitting a load of professional qualifications [don’t worry I’m not going to blog about that; trust me when I say, that the only person who cares less about them, than you do; is me], which is thrilling – well as thrilling as Oliver Stone’s DVD … Continue reading Leopold Broom Investigates: Why I Hate Textbooks

by Regina Kenney I want to share my favourite literature smackdowns of all time. William Butler Yeats was hopelessly in love with a phenomenal woman named Maud Gonne. He pursued her relentlessly and asked to marry her many times. Many of Yeats' poems were inspired by Gonne including, "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven", … Continue reading Best Literature Smackdown: Maud Gonne’s Response to William Butler Yeats

by Lee Cross Once upon a time, there was a modestly budgeted movie (well relatively, it’s pretty messed up that tens of millions of dollars isn’t considered to be that much… but it isn’t) called Ironman. It was a movie about a self-obsessed billionaire, acting like a self-obsessed billionaire. Well, that’s one way of looking … Continue reading 4 Literature Gems Just Waiting to Become Shared-Universe Movie Franchises