Welcome to Litsy!

Daisy the Ever-Dignified helped me finish this 1953 publication earlier. On the plus side, it‘s a strong call for readers to consider what words actually MEAN and the effect they produce. On the downside, Coombes often presents subjective responses as The One Great Truth—with, of course, a slew of white British dudes as exemplars. (To be fair, his dud examples are also white British dudes.) Basically, it‘s interesting, if biased and limited.

Outdoor breakfast with book. I took LITERATURE AND CRITICISM from a Little Free Library because I‘m a sucker for a Pelican (or a Penguin, or a Puffin), and it‘s proven an unexpected delight. It‘s a great book to argue with in terms of whose writing this mid-20th-century critic values and how he gauges a piece‘s worth, but he also makes a lot of interesting points in a clear, expressive style. I‘m enjoying myself over here.