Rachel Kovaciny's Blog, page 110

Mailbox Monday -- Birthday Edition

My birthday was a little over a week ago, and Cowboy couldn't figure out what to get me for a long time, so I said, "Oh, just find something on my Amazon wish list, it's bursting with ideas."  

So he checked out my Amazon list and decided to get me ten different books off it, focusing on the out-of-print ones we could only get used, but putting a few new ones in the mix too.  He wanted me to get a package or two in the mail every day for a whole week, and it pretty well worked! &nbsp...

Poetry Month Celebration 2016 -- The End

Well, instead of doing a recap post for this final week, I'm just posting ALL the links from the whole month here.  I'll be deleting the official page later this month to make room for my Jane Eyre read-along's page, so this way, all these links will not be lost!  


Thanks so much to everyone who participated!  This event was a much bigger success than I ever hoped.  I'm happy there are so many people who dig poetry and wanted to celebrate it with me.  Whether you...

"Anne of Windy Poplars" by L. M. Montgomery

When I was a teen, this was my favorite Anne book.  I think Anne of Green Gables may have edged it out for me now, but it's almost too close to call.  I do know this book is the main reason why I have such a fondness for epistolary novels.  However, I was surprised to discover that it's not entirely written in long, chatty letters from Anne to Gilbert -- there are several chapters sprinkled throughout that are entirely written in the third person by a narrator like the fir...

Women's Classic Literature Event: Group Check-In 2

Here's the question for the second Group Check-In, and my answer.

Q: Share an interesting fact about the life of the author you’re currently reading for this event.

A: I'm currently reading Anne of Windy Poplars by L. M. Montgomery. She was born on Prince Edward Island in Canada, where she later set her most beloved book, Anne of Green Gables, and her early life was hard, much like Anne Shirley's. Her mother died when she was just a toddler, and her father didn't want to raise her, so she was r...

Poetry Month Tag -- My Own Answers

I've suddenly realized that I never filled out my own tag for my own Poetry Month Celebration!  Well, I've got a few days to spare, so I guess I'm not exactly late.  Here goes.



What are some poems you like?

"Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams" by Kenneth Koch (which is funnier if you have read WCW's "This is Just to Say"), "Acquainted with the Night" by Robert Frost, "Fog" by Carl Sandburg, "Hush'd be the Camps Today" by Walt Whitman, "The Hollow Men" by T. S. Eliot, "Mo...

"The High Window" by Raymond Chandler

The first year after I had graduated college, I got a two-volume collection of Raymond Chandler's complete works out of the library and inhaled them.  It was a wonderful couple of weeks.  I'd read The Big Sleep back in high school, and The Lady in the Lake one summer between college years, so I knew I liked his writing style.  But it wasn't until that post-college binge that I realized I'd found my favorite author.

The only trouble was, I read all his novels and...

Poetry Celebration Recap -- Week 3

I can't believe how well this celebration is going!  I was hoping I'd get 5 or 6 other people to participate, maybe have a dozen posts total, including my own.  Instead, we're up to two dozen posts already!  You can find links to all of them on the Poetry Month Celebration page, but here are the new posts from this week:

3 Reasons Why You Should Go to a Poetry Reading -- Suzanne
A Pride and Prejudice Poem (original poem) -- Naomi
"Ode to Dr. Seuss" (original po...

Poetry and Prose in Shakespeare's Plays

So today is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.  And this is also the day we traditionally observe his birthday on, because we know he was baptized on April 26, and babies were usually baptized 3 days after they were born back then, so though we don't have a record of his birthday for certain, it's the day we celebrate it because it's our best guess.

It's also my birthday.  Yes, I seem to have been fated to love Shakespeare, right from birth, hee.  We are going to be...

"All You Who Sleep Tonight"

I wrote this the year after I graduated from college and got married.  My husband was a year behind me, so while he did his senior year of college, we lived on campus, and though I did have a full-time job, I got to participate in a lot of stuff at the college with my friends who hadn't graduated yet.  I still attended the writing group when I could, and took part in some events like "poetry jams" they hosted.  They let me compete even though I was no longer a student, and I wo...

Gearing up for the "Jane Eyre" read-along

I've set a date!  We'll begin the Jane Eyre read-along on May 29, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.


If you've never seen how one of my read-alongs works and are curious, you can visit this page, which has links to the master posts for each of my previous events.  Basically, I do a post for each individual chapter, sharing my thoughts about it and some discussion questions if I can think any up.  Participants then comment on that post with their own thoughts, and discus...