Tag Archives: Stephen King

J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Secret Vice” and My Secret Love: Thoughts on Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins’ Critical Edition of A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Language (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

At A Pilgrim in Narnia, we have an occasional feature called “Throwback Thursday.” By raiding either my own blog-hoard or someone else’s, I find a blog post from the past and throw it back out into the digital world. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged A Secret Vice, Andrew Higgins, conlangs, Constructed Languages, David J. Peterson, Dimitra Fimi, George R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien, owen barfield, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, The Art of Language Invention, The Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings | 6 Comments

2021: A Year of Reading: The Nerd Bit, with Charts

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

“… in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in the Greek poem, I see with a myriad eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Goodreads, Hugo Awards, J.R.R. Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, Marilynne Robinson, N.K. Jemisin, Narnia, Reading, Stephen King, Susanna Clarke, Ursula K. Le Guin | 1 Comment

2021: My Year in Books: The Infographic

Posted on December 31, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Happy New Year Eve everyone! I will have some fun putting together the “nerd data” in an upcoming post–including more charts! Gotta have charts. And behind every chart is a great spreadsheet! Stay tuned for 01/10/22. Meanwhile, I wanted to … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links | Tagged Anne Rice, C.S. Lewis, Goodreads, Harry Potter, Hugo Awards, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, L.M. Montgomery, Octavia Butler, Reading, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin | 6 Comments

Reading J.R.R. Tolkien by Audiobook and Adaptation: Thoughts on a Portland Discovery

Posted on March 25, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

It was pouring rain in Portland as Nicolas and I wove our way through the artisan-filled streets of this renewed East Coast City. I love Portland, though we were not visiting on the best of circumstances. Just a couple of … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughtful Essays | Tagged Andy Serkis, Beren and Lúthien, J.R.R. Tolkien, Mr. Bliss, Nicol Williamson, Peter Jackson, Philip K. Dick, Portland Maine, Stephen King, The Children of Húrin, The Fall of Gondolin, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, Tolkien Reading Day, Unfinished Tales | 21 Comments

Ann Radcliffe’s Absolutely Essential “The Mysteries of Udolpho” (1794) and the Books I’d Rather Read

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho: A Romance Interspersed With Some Pieces of Poetry (1794) has been one of those books that I have been wanting to read for some time—wanting to read in one way, but hesitant in another. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged Ann Radcliffe, Becoming Jane, Bleak House, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, feminism, Jane Austen, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, mary shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, Michael Lewis, Northanger Abbey, Pamela, Samuel Richardson, Stephen King, Susanna Clarke, The Brothers Karamazov, The Green Mile, The Monk, The Mysteries of Udolpho | 19 Comments

Share with Me a Woman’s Voice on Shakespeare, with Thoughts on The Merchant of Venice

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Yes, I know, it is kind of a strange request: Share with Me a Woman’s Voice on Shakespeare. Moreover, it is one that I cannot necessarily follow up on fully. But let me explain. The other day, I finished up … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, feminism, Goethe, Hamlet, Harry Potter, Helena Kelly, Inklings, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, Joanna Russ, Octavia Butler, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Shakespeare, Stephen King, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest | 16 Comments

2020: A Year of Reading: The Nerd Bit, with Charts

Posted on January 13, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.”~ C.S. Lewis “On Stories” 2020 was my first full year … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Flannery O'Connor, Goodreads, Harry Potter, J.R.R. Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, Marilynne Robinson, Narnia, Neil Gaiman, Nnedi Okorafor, Reading, Sorina Higgins, Stephen King | 2 Comments

2020: My Year in Books: The Infographic

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Brenton Dickieson

Happy New Year everyone! I will have some fun putting together the data in an upcoming post, including some new charts. I love charts. Meanwhile, I wanted to share the Goodreads “My Year in Books” infographic. I’m pleased to say … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links | Tagged Anne Rice, C.S. Lewis, Chaim Potok, Charlotte Brontë, Flannery O'Connor, Frederick Buechner, Goodreads, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jane Austen, L.M. Montgomery, Madeleine L'Engle, Marilynne Robinson, Octavia Butler, Reading, Shūsaku Endō, Stephen King | 2 Comments

Tolkien’s “I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size)” in Context: A Note on Books and Their Authors (#hobbitday)

Posted on September 22, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

I don’t know that there is any more famous J.R.R. Tolkien quote than his claim to, in fact, be a hobbit. It’s really quite a delightful statement and worth quoting more fully: I am in fact a Hobbit (in all … Continue reading →

Posted in Memorable Quotes | Tagged Charles Williams, Franz Kafka, Harry Potter, Hobbit Day, I.A. Richards, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, literary criticism, literature, Lord of the Rings, new criticism, practical criticism, Stephen King, The Hobbit, Ursula K. LeGuin | 25 Comments

The Great Commandments Which All Vampires Must Obey, by Anne Rice

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

Richard Matheson’s 1954 novella, I Am Legend–a brilliant story that I am rereading now–is an important vampire tale that follows the great classic film interpretations, but it really is the earnest literary beginning of the zombie genre. And there are … Continue reading →