Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Adaptations
If you've been reading my blog posts long enough, you'll know that I enjoy a good scary story, a good folktale, and a good classic. So, I guess it's a…
Author Spotlight: John Steinbeck
When I was in high school, if you were to ask me who my favorite author was, hands down I would have told you John Steinbeck. It was no question.…
Seeing Double: Twenty-Two “Twos” Books for Tuesday, 2/22/2022
Today is February 22, 2022. It is also Tuesday. Which means, today is an excellent day for anyone whose favorite number is two, as it's two-two-two-two-two-two...you get the idea. So,…
Author Spotlight: Toni Morrison
Today is Toni Morrison's birthday, so let's celebrate this amazing Ohio author with an Author Spotlight! Toni's books skillfully blend elements of fantasy and magical realism with the brutal realities…
Saturday Night with the Duke: A John Wayne Movie Marathon
My dad has always been a big fan of Westerns, so I saw a lot of them growing up. And even now, I'm more than happy to sit down and…
Please, Sir, I Want Some More: Oliver Twist Retellings
Oliver Twist is one of those classic novels that I always meant to read, but for some reason have not. The story of a young orphan who becomes mixed up…
Sailing on the Wine-Dark Sea: Odyssey Retellings
I minored in Classical Studies in college. This didn't exactly mean that I read classic books with a little "c" (although, I read a ton of those as an English…
Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On: The Tempest Retellings
I've read a fair share of Shakespeare in school, which means I've read Hamlet for at least three classes, and Romeo and Juliet for four. But, you can imagine my…
31 Scary Short Stories for Halloween Month
I love a good scary short story! And even though I don't need an excuse to read them year-round, October (or, Halloween Month) is always a great opportunity to sit…
Lost at Sea: Classic Tales of Shipwrecks and Survival
When I was a kid, the thought of being stranded on a desert island was kind of exciting. There would be jungles and caves to explore, maybe even buried treasure!…
Even More Lesser Known Works by Classic Authors
If you liked The Scarlet Pimpernel, then try The Old Man in the Corner by Emmuska Orczy I've mentioned The Scarlet Pimpernel in a few of my previous posts (you can…
More Lesser Known Works by Classic Authors
There are some writers who are almost universally acknowledged as "classic". Arthur Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton Jane Austen, Mary Shelley...When you hear these names, you automatically associate them with the…
Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver: Readings on Treasure Island
Few tales of adventure quite compare to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic swashbuckling story, Treasure Island. I was introduced to Long John Silver, Jim Hawkins, and Billy Bones as a child,…
Classics Meets Comics with ComicsPlus
It should come as little surprise to all of you that I love the classics. But, I also know the struggles and roadblocks that readers often find concerning these texts.…
A Summer at Sea: My Three-Month Reading List
Now that summer is upon us, it's time to start thinking about summer reading. This is the time of year when I get the most reading done. I'm not necessarily…
Lesser Known Works by Classic Authors
I'm always on the hunt for a new classic. And of course what I mean by that is a classic that I've not heard of before (or at least one…
A Whale of a Book: Reading Moby-Dick
When I was in college, I met up with a friend and her cousin for coffee, and while we enjoyed our lattes, he waxed lyrical about how Moby-Dick was the…
All for One and One for All: Three Musketeers Retellings
I read The Three Musketeers with my grandpa back in January, and we had a great time. Even though it was a really long book (we both prefer books in…
A Single Man in Possession of a Good Fortune: Pride and Prejudice Retellings
I was an English major in college, and if there was one book that was more popular than all the others, one title that most of the English majors absolutely…
Reading Beyond the Raven: A Poe Sampler
It should come as no surprise to readers here that I'm a bit of a horror fan. Whether it's scary short stories, Christmas ghost stories, Frankenstein picture books, or fictional…
More Chilling Tales for Sleepless Nights
I don't know about you, but as the weather gets warmer, I start thinking about scary stories. Not because summer is a scary time, but because I have more leisure…
Reader, I Married Him: Jane Eyre Retellings
Jane Eyre is a classic of high school reading lists across the country. I still remember the first time I was captivated by this blend of mystery, Gothic atmosphere, and…
Star-Crossed Lovers: Romeo and Juliet Retellings
When I was in high school, my classmates and I all thought that Romeo and Juliet was terribly romantic. After all, you have this couple that falls so deeply in…
Chilling Tales for Sleepless Nights
Who says that you need to wait until October to bust out the horror stories? Not me! Today, I'd like to share with you a list of spooky or ghostly…