Book Diversity in Canadian Literature
Traditionally Canadian Literature, or CanLit, has highlighted voices of European settlers, been divided along English versus French...
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Marisa
- May 13, 2021
A Jane Austen-inspired Cocktail Recipe from Toronto’s Famous Last Words Bar
I am so thrilled to bring you a cocktail from the amazing literary-themed bar in Toronto, Ontario, Famous Last Words (FLW)! Over the past...
Marisa
- May 10, 2021
Could she have meant that?! Sexual Innuendos in Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’
Academic research has a way of opening up the subtext of a work, where the reader can gain a deeper understanding of a reference or turn...
Marisa
- Apr 21, 2021
Charlotte Brontë's Rejected Novel 'The Professor'
On this day in 1816, Charlotte Brontë was born! So, it is only fitting that I recently completed my reading of the first novel she ever...
Marisa
- Apr 11, 2021
School Textbooks Reflect our Societal Values
I recently wrote a post about What Makes a Literary Classic in which I was thinking about what we culturally consider a ‘classic’ and how...
Marisa
- Mar 18, 2021
Literary Cocktail: Miss Cathy's Whip
"Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff's dwelling, 'wuthering' being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the...
Marisa
- Mar 8, 2021
Filling the Literary Gaps: English Female Writers 1750 - 1915
Not Just Jane: Rediscovering Seven Amazing Women Writers Who Transformed British Literature (2016) by Shelley DeWees is a delightful...
Marisa
- Feb 24, 2021
Reviewing One of the First English Novels
How do you review a book that is 300 years old? The grammar, punctuation, and narrative structure are not like anything we see in today's...
Marisa
- Feb 11, 2021
The French Kiss Cocktail and a Romance Novel: A Perfect Match!
'Tis the season to read steamy romance novels and clink a glass (or two) with a valentine! This month Le Salon is diving into a close...
Marisa
- Feb 9, 2021
Classic F#@*ing Literature
Not typical classroom vocabulary, but a historical lesson nonetheless! That oft used F word can be a noun, an adjective, a verb, an...
Marisa
- Jan 31, 2021
What Makes a Literary Classic?
Is it the amount of time that has passed? A wide readership? Originating from an ancient civilization? Defining a 'Classic' There is an...
Marisa
- Jan 20, 2021
25 Books to Help with your Lockdown Wanderlust
Usually with the flip of the calendar to the New Year, we all begin looking ahead, planning for new adventures. But this year is so...
Marisa
- Jan 14, 2021
Literary Cocktail: Pairing The Clover Club with 'Anne of Green Gables'
"...so I won't tell you what [Marilla] said we could have to drink. Only it begins with an r and a c and it's bright red colour. I love...
Marisa
- Jan 3, 2021
Finding Their Voice: The Female Bildungsroman
"Bildungsroman" is a German word meaning novel of education or formation. The term has become a literary category for written works whose...
Marisa
- Dec 14, 2020
Creating Christmas Traditions with Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843) continues to be read, watched and performed after more than 175 years, and is enjoyed by all...
Marisa
- Dec 10, 2020
Literary Cocktail: A Christmas Carol's Smoking Bishop
“A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your...
Marisa
- Nov 25, 2020
Tipple in a Teacup: The Lady and Leaf Cocktail
Today I have a cocktail recipe that will be both your after-dinner dessert and your cup of tea (pun intended)! I have the absolute...
Marisa
- Nov 13, 2020
Holiday Giving 2020: A Gift Guide for Avid Readers (that doesn't include another tote bag!)
Love bookish gifts, but don’t need another blanket, mug, or candle? Prefer people didn't add to your presonalized TBR pile? I’ve got you...
Marisa
- Nov 11, 2020
Remembrance Day 2020 #CanadaRemembers
You may be familiar with his words, but do you know the man who wrote ‘In Flanders Fields’? John McCrae was a Canadian military surgeon...
Marisa
- Nov 2, 2020
Reader-Response Theory: Putting the "You" Back into Literary Criticism!
When diving into literary criticism, I always encourage people to start with reader-response theory because it is something most people...