Author Archive | Mary C.M. Phillips

Edith_Wharton_with_Chihuahuas_1890

Edith Wharton’s Kerfol

“My little dog – a heartbeat at my feet.” – Edith Wharton I’ve always loved that quote. Wharton had a passion for small “toy” dogs as many of her photographs prove. Although I’m partial to my darling Shih-Tzus, Wharton loved other toy breeds.  She owned several Pekingese (as was her favorite dog, “Linky”), as well […]

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The Gift of Discernment

Sometimes you know.  You just know.  Instinctively and naturally, you avoid certain people. It’s usually because of something they’ve done; some past act that makes you uncomfortable or something they’ve said (perhaps even in jest). Whatever the case, something just doesn’t sit quite right with you. They show up and instinctively an internal sensor goes […]

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Peculiar Language

While reading Hollow City this month — with all its peculiar language — I could not help but think of J. R. R. Tolkien’s work for several reasons:  the battle between good and evil (obviously), the talking animals, the invisibility of particular characters, and the fictitious — yet somehow acceptable – language. For instance: ymbryne:  […]

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Ann Radcliffe & John Muir: Authors & Naturalists

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid. I have read all Mrs. Radcliffe’s works, and most of them with great pleasure. The Mysteries of Udolpho, when I had once begun it, I could not lay down again; — I remember finishing it in […]

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