Blog
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The Duino Elegies – Through Christian Eyes
The Swan: Finding Rilke In this year of personal joy and public tragedy, a little poem called “The Swan” crossed my path. The Austrian poet Rainier Maria Rilke was not unknown to me by name, but it was the first time I had read anything of his. Geoffrey Lehmann’s translation (to be released in a Continue reading
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
My main exposure to Sleepy Hollow has been through the Disney animation, a yearly viewing tradition in my family. Bing Crosby—my favorite old-time crooner and Washingtonian celebrity—narrates and sings the whimsical musical version of Washington Irving’s stately tale. In it, the hapless schoolmaster Ichabod Crane is thwarted in love and money by his archrival Brom Continue reading
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Sharpe’s Eagle (1993) – and some unnecessary yet unrestrainable comparisons to Hornblower…
Recently I found myself in a hotel room with nothing to do and a modestly sized TV playing lots of oldies. I was tickled to see that the Richard Sharpe series was on (all evening, at that). Being a Horatio Hornblower fan—which exists more or less in the same cinematic universe, i.e. the Napoleonic Wars Continue reading
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The Ice Palace: Tarjei Vesaas’s Peculiar Parable on Grief
The Ice Palace first crossed my path in 2023, and I was instantly reminded of it after reading Anna Kavan’s Ice a year ago. This Norwegian novel was absent from my American libraries, but fortuitously, I was able to find it after moving to the UK. In The Ice Palace, we meet Sissi, a young Continue reading
About Me
Hi, I’m Marian—I talk about classics, history, and other books on this blog, as well as on YouTube.
Currently Reading
Recent Posts
- What I’m Reading – Morning Coffee Edition
- Oddly Specific Things I Love in Books (and a Few Movies)
- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – A Long Overdue Review
- My Favorite Films and Music of 2025
- Ten Books I’d Like to Read (and Possibly Own)
Classics Considered 