Reel & Read
Reviews of film, music, literature, and travel — plus reflections on teaching and creativity, by William Edward Villano.
recent posts
- Rip Van Winkle Short Story Review — Washington Irving’s Magical Tale of Time and Change | by William Edward Villano
- Lateralus (2001) Album Review — Tool’s Otherworldly Journey Through Sound | by William Edward Villano
- Spirited Away (2001) Review — Studio Ghibli’s Masterpiece of Music, Magic, and Memory | by William Edward Villano
- Denali National Park Review — Grizzlies, Fragility, and the Call to Preserve | by William Edward Villano
- The Charge of the Light Brigade Poem Review — Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Reflection on Valor and Tragedy | by William Edward Villano
about
Category: Literature Reviews
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I first read Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle“ in my 11th-grade English class, and it quickly became my favorite story of the school year. While many of the works we studied felt distant — stories from other continents, centuries, or worlds — this one felt close to home. The Catskill Mountains, where Rip wanders before his…
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Alfred Lord Tennyson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade is one of the most famous war poems in English literature. Written in 1854 after the disastrous cavalry charge at the Battle of Balaclava, it memorializes both the bravery and the futility of soldiers who rode straight into near-certain death. What has always struck me about…
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I first read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes at a point in my life when I was looking for stories that could draw me in and challenge me at the same time. The twelve short stories in that collection did exactly that. They were my entry point into the wider world of Sherlock Holmes, and…
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Some works of art do not simply impress us; they fortify us. William Ernest Henley’s poem Invictus has always been that for me. Whenever I have faced uncertainty, whenever I have felt the weight of circumstance pressing in, I return to those words as if they were a compass. The poem is a declaration of…
Reel & Read 