Author: Elyssa Brezel

I just finished reading “House of Leaves” and….I don’t know how to feel. This has been a book that has: put me sleep, kept me up at night, given me an arm workout from turning it upside down every other page, led me to download a Piano app on my phone, and generally, has been … Continue reading A “House of Leaves” Survivor Read more →

  What is it about children in scary movies and books? In House of Leaves, the children transform the story of the house from a concerning tale to a realistic nightmare. Without the story, the house appears as an inconvenience. The house has strange noises and impossible measurements, but overall, I was not frantically turning the pages of … Continue reading House of Children Read more →

House of Leaves is a breath of fresh air for me. I didn’t start the book with any high expectations. I actually thought the book was a little sketchy. I was put off by the different fonts, the excessively long introduction, and the book’s leading note that “this is not for you.” But then I … Continue reading The Relief of a Contemporary Novel Read more →

Group members: Nancy, Abby, Justine, Brandon, and Elyssa  In our group, using the tool of Microsearch, we noticed several trends throughout the writing of Carol Ann Duffy in her books Selling Manhattan and The World’s Wife. When closely reading, language stands out as a recurring theme in Duffy’s Selling Manhattan but seems hardly as prevalent in The World’s Wife. … Continue reading Distant Reading Duffy: Group 2 Read more →

On my second visit to MARBL, I looked at the journals Duffy used for her poem “Delilah”. My appointment coincidentally fell very close to the date she composed her last journal entry on the poem: March 1st, 1998. I decided to look at this poem because I enjoyed the allegorical component. On my first read, the … Continue reading Duffy’s Manuscripts: Delilah Read more →

I had the chance to look at Carol Ann Duffy’s personal journals she used in her poetry writing. Specifically, I examined her drafts for “Mouth, with Soap”. For someone who only writes on the computer, I found the visible writing process really interesting. I also found it to humanize Duffy. Her notebook pages were filled … Continue reading Mapping Mrs. Dalloway: “Mouth, with Soap” Read more →

Reading Duffy’s poem “Stealing”, I imagined myself sitting in the corner of the jailhouse cafeteria from Orange is the New Black, listening to the speaker’s secrets. I was particularly taken by this speaker: her voice is chilling enough to deserve another read-through. On the surface, she appears malicious: stealing cars and guitars and breaking into houses. Yet, … Continue reading An Angry Loner Read more →

  I read Anna Karenina on my own a couple of years ago. Would I have read this classic if it lacked the (well-deserved) fanfare it posses today? No, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to find it. Reading “Graphs, Maps, and Trees”, I became intrigued by the following statement regarding the attempt to quantify … Continue reading The Problem with the Popular Books Read more →

Finishing any book is grounds for reflection. For days after reading the final page of any book, I find myself returning to the characters and their stories, debating the ending. Mrs. Dalloway is no exception. While I can’t say Septimus’s suicide was a surprise, it wasn’t an easy addition either. No death is ever welcomed … Continue reading Final Thoughts on Mrs. Dalloway Read more →