Books

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Most “Lit” Halloween Costume Party (Rochester vs. Holmes)

A genie shows up to your Halloween party and grants you a wish to attend any *lit* Halloween costume party of your choosing. (And by lit of course I mean literary.)

But which party should you choose?

For the first time in the history of the entire universe, this post outlines the key information you will need to make this incredibly difficult decision. It will not be easy choosing between the parties of Mr. Rochester and Sherlock Holmes (since after multiple years of extensive and careful research it is clear that the best Halloween costume party must be hosted by one of them), but we are now ready to present our preliminary findings. Without further ado, here is what our highest-level academic researchers have brought to the table:  Continue reading “The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Most “Lit” Halloween Costume Party (Rochester vs. Holmes)”

Classical Music Stories

A Choose Your Own Adventure Story with Classical Music

Jane Eyre book music

A large part of this blog is imagining books and characters in different pieces of classical music. But for any one Classical Music Story there are so many others that could be imagined within the music, even using the same book or characters!

And so Classical Music Stories: Choose Your Own Adventure Remix was born.

How it works: each segment of this approximately 4-minute piece of music is imagined to relate to a different part of the story (in this case, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre). Start reading at the very beginning (0:00) and on until the first juncture where you can choose what Rochester does next. Then it’s as simple as continuing to make choices and following the story and music until the end! You can either listen to the music while reading, pause the music in between sections when you have to make a decision, or listen to the music first all the way through and follow the story in a second listen-through. The choice (once again) is yours!

Enjoy! Continue reading “A Choose Your Own Adventure Story with Classical Music”

Books, Music

The Weirdness of Time in Classical Music (And Books, Too)

Time is what you might call capricious. It can crawl at an agonizing pace or it can pass in the blink of an eye. It can steal an hour of your sleep in the spring or graciously bestow it in the fall. If you’re the Mad Hatter and tried to murder it, it can even freeze. And of course memories and hopes allow you to dwell in the past and future, respectively. Continue reading “The Weirdness of Time in Classical Music (And Books, Too)”

Songs For Every Book

A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure (…with Accordion Music)

Because this song reminds me of two different characters I decided to present both. You can choose which one appeals to you more, turning the music into a “choose your own adventure” of sorts. As always, I love hearing about what other characters the music reminds you of in the comments section so please feel free to share!

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Jane Eyre (Option 1)
and Anna Karenina (Option 2)

Continue reading “A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure (…with Accordion Music)”

Books

Creative Book Photography (Plus Four Quick Book Recommendations)

Why recommend books the normal way when you can recommend them with pictures? (Confession: I really just wanted to share these pictures I took.  But I also love each of these stories!)

Batman Tally
My Batman mask fits her face scarily well… In any case, I can’t help but feel that a Batman version of Tally Youngblood would be phenomenal.  Dystopia + Batman = YES.

Continue reading “Creative Book Photography (Plus Four Quick Book Recommendations)”

Books

What If Werewolves Were In Jane Eyre?

Jane Eyre bw vintage

(SPOILERS for Jane Eyre)

What if instead of being mentally insane, Rochester’s secret wife was actually a werewolf?

Just imagine: Jane hears strange noises in the night that sound like a mix between human and beast (so far, so consistent with the actual novel).  But then it turns out the creature, Rochester’s wife, is a werewolf.  Would the story really change from the standpoint of plot??

It might change how we perceive Rochester’s character.  Hiding Continue reading “What If Werewolves Were In Jane Eyre?”