Writing lessons we can learn from Vincent Van Gogh — Writing, for some, for those who do a lot of it, may seem like a mechanical process. A formulaic procedure, a technical exercise. But for those who do it not as a profession, but a pleasurable pursuit, writing takes time, inspiration, and great thought. Writing, for those who truly love…

It is within human nature to look to things greater than ourselves for answers. Some turn to religion, some turn to mathematics and/or philosophy. Some worship God(s) and pray they will provide us with guidance. Religion is unknowing, but it is a way of knowing in a world in which…

The night before, when I still had 100 pages left, I was beginning to form a perverse, disturbing awareness of the tenor of the novel that I had before only understood through aesthetics and the absurd. Shrieking, out-of-tune violin strings, Escher sketches and their vertiginous spirals, and the hands of…

When I was in my third year of undergrad in 2019, I took a history class on the Anthropocene. At the end of the class, our professor confessed that he wanted to end on a hopeful note, but didn't know how. Just like the young men in the Young Farmers…

I think this is the only book I’ve ever read where I didn’t have a single clue what was going on at all times and yet it still pops back into my consciousness to disturb me. As David Thomson puts it in his introduction, I don’t mean that it was…

On the romantic master and her revered works — I’ve written before on how I’ve struggled to enjoy the genre of romance: it being predigested, safe, unabashedly normal. Of course, the next natural course of action is to take an entire course of Jane Austen; to read four of the most venerated love stories of all time. Jane Austen…

Understanding why Tartt’s novels are revisited, re-read, and renowned — Other than Harry Potter, I know of few fanbases as prodigiously dedicated as Donna Tartt’s. An even more harrowing experience is trying to understand why. Could it be her enigmatic nature? Notoriously reclusive, a mien of a character she would write about? Her writing style? …

How to put apple cinnamon, acorn squash, and green beans to good use — As you can probably tell from the publish date of this article, I live in Canada — but it is never too early to start thinking about Thanksgiving. The heavy breath of apples and cinnamon, turkey cooking in the oven for hours, autumn leaves dancing outside the windows. …

Amy March has always been great: Little Women (2019) shows us why — When I first read Little Women two years ago, Amy March was the character I loved to hate. She seemed to be Jo’s antithesis: wanting to marry and marry well, as well as a menace to Jo’s aspirations and love interest. …