I’ve been reading Cesare Beccaria’s “On Crimes and Punishments” for what feels like an eternity, but I’m not even halfway through it. Yet, somehow, his ideas have become a constant hum in the background of my mind. His thoughts on…
Dorothy L. Sayers: a name that has been swirling in my head for months now, ever since I stumbled upon her novels while browsing through a used bookstore. There was something about her writing style, the way she wove together…
I’ve always been fascinated by Herman Hesse’s inner turmoil. It’s like he took the complexities of human existence and poured them onto the page, leaving me to wrestle with his thoughts and emotions alongside him. As I read through his…
I’ve been reading about Rabindranath Tagore for weeks now, and I’m still not sure what draws me to him. Maybe it’s the way he writes about love – like it’s a river that can both soothe and drown you at…
Elizabeth Hardwick’s writing is like a sharp edge that cuts through the haze of my own thoughts. I’ve been reading her essays for months now, and every time I pick up “Sleepless Nights,” I feel like I’m confronting a part…
Ernst Mach’s name keeps popping up in my research for a paper on the philosophy of science. At first, I thought it was just because he was a prominent figure in the history of physics and psychology. But as I…
May Sarton – the writer who has been on my mind lately, like a gentle hum in the background of my thoughts. I first stumbled upon her poetry and prose in college, where we were assigned to read some of…
Edward Said. I’ve been reading his work for years, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon a collection of his essays that I felt like I was finally grasping what drew me to him. It’s not just the way he…
Anna Akhmatova’s poetry has been haunting me for months now, ever since I stumbled upon her work in a used bookstore. At first, it was just the words that caught my attention – the way she wove together disparate threads…
C.P. Snow – the man who coined the phrase “the two cultures,” a term that has stuck with me since I first stumbled upon it in my literature class. As I reflect on why he holds my attention, I find…
I’ve always been drawn to Christina Rossetti’s poetry, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon her collection “The World is Too Much With Us” that I really began to understand why. Her words seemed to capture the suffocating weight of…
I’ve found myself returning to Gaston Bachelard again and again, not because I’m reading a specific book of his, but because I keep finding him in my own thoughts. It started with “The Poetics of Space,” which a friend recommended…
Nella Larsen. Her name has been stuck in my head for months now, like a line from a poem I’ve yet to decipher. What draws me to her, really? Is it the way she defied convention, embracing her mixed heritage…
I’ve always been fascinated by Wilfred Owen’s words, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon his poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” that I truly began to grasp the depth of his emotion. The way he describes the horrors of war…
I’ve always been fascinated by A.S. Byatt’s writing, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon her essay collection “On Histories” that I felt a deep connection to her work. Her musings on the complexities of storytelling and the blurred lines…
Roman Jakobson’s work has been sitting on my shelf for years, collecting dust alongside a bunch of other unread books and half-finished projects. I picked it up again recently, feeling drawn to the title “Language in Relation to Other Communication…
Rebecca West’s words keep coming back to me, like a refrain that I can’t shake. I first read her memoir, “A Train of Powder,” a few years ago, and since then, I’ve found myself returning to it again and again.…
Yasunari Kawabata’s writing has been a constant companion throughout my college years. I remember stumbling upon his short story, “The One-Armed Swordsman,” in a literature class and being struck by the quiet beauty of his prose. The way he described…
I’ve been reading about Alfred North Whitehead, and I’m stuck on his concept of “eternal objects.” It’s this idea that there are abstract entities that exist independently of the physical world, and they’re what give rise to the diversity we…
Isak Dinesen’s writing has been a constant companion for me over the past year, ever since I stumbled upon her stories and essays while rummaging through my mother’s old bookshelf. There was something about her words that resonated deeply with…
