Z... is for Zen

When I read, it takes me to a beautiful meditative state. Even when I'm studying, rather than reading, I still don't need to make too much of an effort. I'm trying to achieve that with writing too. Sometimes, it works, I get engrossed in what I'm writing and the result is always close to my heart - special. It is this state of calm, quiet, serene peace that draws me to literature.
Every book is like a new friend that takes me on a journey through time, through emotions, and introduces me to feelings I never felt before. This feeling is like an addiction, the more I learn to lose myself, the more I'm drawn into it, with no intention of coming back. When I read Orkney, it was as if someone had been dunking my head in cold water. But even that was pleasurable. Zen, as I have have learnt, is never too far away.
With this, the A-to-Z Challenge comes to an end and I have only one wish for you, may you find your Zen.

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This is the twenty-sixth post for the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge 2014.
Previously, Archaism, British literature, Critical Analysis, Drama, Edinburgh, Faust, Gothic Fiction, Humour, Interpretation, Journalling, Keats, Language, Metaphysical Poetry, Narration, Ode, Papillion(ed), Quatrain, Romanticism, Shakespeare, Tone, University, Victorian Literature, Wilde's Wit, Xenophobia, Yeats

W... is for Wilde's Wit

I believe sarcasm and wit make for excellent reading. I'm not much of a fan of humour, but I make up for that by reading wit. Oscar Wilde is my absolute favourite in this domain. I read The Picture of Dorian Gray first when I was fourteen and then again at twenty and it remains, to this day, one of my favourite books. With a very dark, Faust-esque theme, it is very hard to pick which side is correct and which wrong.
A cousin passed on The Complete Works of Wilde to me because it was an unwanted present and I have revisited many of his brilliant works over the years. Unfortunately, I'm not reading any of him for my course because he's from The Republic of Ireland and so, technically, not British. Here are 40 of his best quotes! 

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This is the twenty-third post for the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge 2014.
Previously, Archaism, British literature, Critical Analysis, Drama, Edinburgh, Faust, Gothic Fiction, Humour, Interpretation, Journalling, Keats, Language, Metaphysical Poetry, Narration, Ode, Papillion(ed), Quatrain, Romanticism, Shakespeare, Tone, University, Victorian Literature