The chill is in the air. It's snowing somewhere, and I'm lingering indoors--gazing out at the clear blue sky and knowing that the cold will seep into my bones as soon as I step outside. On days like this, I long to curl up with a good book, letting the words pour over me. I imagine other times, places, loves, and a life that could never be my own. I'm inspired. I muse about the meaning of life--the interconnectedness of books (and of us all). And, then, I go on about my day.

Those moments of the pure bliss of being lost in a book are cherished. Do you dream of reading by the fire, or perhaps you'd rather curl up in a comfy chair by the window--in the warm rays of the sun--to devour the lines?

In Walden, Henry David Thoreau tells us:

"Like the wasps, before I finally went into winter quarters in November, I used to resort to the northeast side of Walden, which the sun, reflected from the pitch pine woods and the stony shore, made the fireside of the pond; it is so much pleasanter and wholesomer to be warmed by the sun while you can be, than by an artificial fire. I thus warmed myself by the still glowing embers which the summer, like a departed hunter, had left."

Join our discussions about Walden.

Cover Art © Cambridge University Press.

Circumstances in life so often take us in direction we could not have imagined. Who's to say where we could be (or the person we could become)--given an unfortunate series of events. What are we capable of? What would we do to survive?

I guess that's part of what fascinates me about Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders (review), one of the first English novels, published in 1722. We learn of her many misadventures, but we also find that hidden hope (or at least self-preservation). We don't ever really know our capabilities--strengths and weaknesses--until we face those grim, brutal realities.

In the novel, we read (Chapter 10): "All that hellish, hardened state and temper of soul, which I have said so much of before, is but a deprivation of thought; he that is restored to his power of thinking, is restored to himself."

Cover Art © Modern Library.

I love time-travel stories--the idea that time can fold, bend, and/or warp (. But, then, time takes on a different feel in everyday life. Some days feel as though they run together--so much to do and not enough time. It feels as though I'm outside of time, trying to figure out where all the moments are going.

Stories like Rip Van Winkle give us a glimpse into what can happen in a time-travel scenario. (Of course, there are those who say that who wouldn't want to run off and pretend to have been lost in time if one had a wife like that...) But, there are so many other famous tales. What about The Time Machine? What other novels have you enjoyed? Have you ever imagined yourself in a time-travel experience? Take a look at other time-traveling adventures.

How is the coming of dawn and daybreak associated with heartbreak (or joy)? There's love, love lost, and all the iterations of stress and life (and there's also all the flip-side emotions). The sun, moon and stars inculcate themselves into our everyday--sometimes seeming to offer commiseration and remembrance. Does all of nature seem to feel your pains and joys? So many writers have written about the phenomenon (and of course, in our imaginings, all sorts of representations of reality are possible).

A French writer, Arthur Rimbaud, is Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Boat) and for the short time he wrote--from 16 to 21. Born on October 20, 1854, he became an adventurer (Egypt, Ethiopia, Ogadain, and beyond). He wrote: "But, truly, I have wept too much! The Dawns are heartbreaking. Every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter." Take a look at more quotes.

Some works of literature seem to appear at the right moments--just when we need them, when we're ready to accept the universal messages of hope, life, and experience. The volumes present different meanings and messages through the years--often seeming to evolve with us, as we pick up experiences (love, laugh, pain and joys). That's we can't tell a book by its cover (the cover is not ALL)--the words are alive; they grow and change with us. Meaning often develops with our perceptions.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a novella first published in 1886. I first read it when I was taking Prof. M. for a World Literature overview course (it's often studied in high school and college classrooms). We read this work in a line with Joyce's "Araby," Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, Marge Piercy's work, Ursula Le Guin, and Oedipus Rex.

Some works seem to enmesh more in my mind as time spans. More works are added into the mix, and the brutal clarity of experience becomes more clear.

In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy addresses the universal questions--the meaning of life and the inevitability of death. He'd counted himself a success, but what does that even mean in those final moments? Here's a passage from The Death of Ivan Ilyich: "'Maybe I did not live as I ought to have done,' it suddenly occurred to him. 'But how could that be, when I did everything properly?' he replied, and immediately dismissed from his mind this, the sole solution of all the riddles of life and death, as something quite impossible."

Take a look at other great quotes from The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and also read a review. What does it all mean after all? Is it worth examining through the lens of literature? Which works have you used for that purpose?

You've probably celebrated Halloween for years--with the stock parties and get-togethers. But, what about making this year different for you and your friends? Why not throw a Literary Halloween Party? Invite all your bookish friends, and you'll have a real blast! Or take a look at some of these other ideas.

How are you planning to celebrate your Halloween? What do writers say about Halloween (and those ghostly beasties that haunt our wakings)? Discover Halloween like never before--through the pages of a book!

The 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature goes to Herta Müller, German-Romanian. The won the prize from the Swedish Academy for being someone "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed" She is the 12th woman writer to receive the Nobel Prize.

Every year, I eagerly await the announcement of the award. Of course, the discussions leading up to the award are always fascinating. What better way to add to my already unrealistically immense list of books to read? And, everyone puts forward their guesses with such passion and fervor. That, too is why I love books and literature! We all have such strong opinions on authors (who's great and who's not--based on personal experience, taste and exposure).

Of course, the Nobel Lit Prize recipient is rarely on the list of authors most critics would expected to receive the award. Some of the greatest writers in world literature have not received the Nobel Prize for Literature (and that appears to be something of a goal of the Swedish Academy--to select those writers who are really voicing the angst of the voiceless, the nitty-gritty realities of humanity. The chosen few are often under-appreciated (or largely unknown). Interestingly enough, many of the Nobel Lit Prize recipients could also be recognized for their associations with banned or censored literature--through the controversies of their lives and literature. The current literature Nobel laureate is no exception--Niederungen, her collection of short stories, was censored in its original publication; and she was prohibited from publishing in her own country. It's yet another mark of a literary classic. She seeks to speak the controversial truths, unafraid of the consequences; she touches that vein of universality, tapping into a vein that touches us all to the core of our beings...

In his review of Müller's work, Brian Budzynski once wrote: "Müller creates a singular voice that is both brutally honest and dreadfully sad. The observations are made with fearless simplicity, making the acrimonious verbal assaults of the adult family members conspicuous and as painful to the reader as they would be to a child." Have you read the works of Herta Müller? What do you think about this prize? Take a look at the Nobel laureates in literature.

I love the flowers in winter--frost on the ground, and the brisk bite of the air. Have you gathered up your apples? Have you revisited the legend of Demeter and Persephone?

Which works have you read that made you think about fall, as the fall season progress and the end of the year approaches?

Have you read these works?

• Frost at Midnight
• When the Frost is on the Punkin
• Feathertop: A Moralized Legend
• Legend of Sleepy Hollow
• Frost at Midnight
• Flowers in Winter
• The Encantadas
• A Winter Night

Where does literature take you? Does literature affect your mood?

The Bell Jar is the only novel by Sylvia Plath, and it is famous not only because it offers shocking insight into her mind and art, but also because it is a coming-of-age story--told in the first person by Esther Greenwood, who struggles with her mental illness. Her suicide attempts made the book a target for book censors. (The book has been repeatedly banned and challenged for its controversial content.)

In The Bell Jar, we read from Esther Greenwood's point of view: "The sickness rolled through me in great waves. After each wave it would fade away and leave me limp as a wet leaf and shivering all over and then I would feel it rising up in me again, and the glittering white torture chamber tiles under my feet and over my head and all four sides closed in and squeezed me to pieces."

Take a look at a review of The Bell Jar. Also, here are more quotes from the novel.

Cover Art © HarperCollins.

It's October--time for Halloween, and also for ghosts, goblins, werewolves, witches, monsters, and the like. It's also a great time to experience the great classics in horror and scary literature.

If you've never had the opportunity to read the greatest Halloween scares and terrors in classic literature, these books are a great introduction! Read more about the history of Halloween, read the scary classic, and enjoy those monsters all year round.

• Halloween Books
• Ghost Stories - Collections
• Vampire Books
• Werewolf Books
• Frankenstein Books
• Dracula Books

Experience all the scare...