A Cineaste’s Bookshelf
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A New Slate for A New Year
Occasionally I sift through the half-read books I have been sent to read and review. These are the ones that didn’t get dragged around town with me, or passed along to a friend. These are the ones that I kept by the bedside, promising myself I would go back to finish. But I haven’t, for… Read More »
READ-ALONG: THE PASSING BELLS by Phillip Rock
If you are as anxious for the series premiere of Downton Abbey as I am, then you know what it is to be captivated by good writing. Fill those dreary hours, waiting for the return of the Grantham household and the Dowager Countess’s quips by joining the Passing Bells trilogy read-along, hosted by bookclubgirl. And… Read More »
REVIEW: STRONG POISON by Dorothy L. Sayers
I’m ashamed to say this was the first Sayers novel I have read. I can’t imagine why, other than I assumed them to be like Agatha Christie and there were already so many of hers to read. And I don’t remember my childhood library having any of her books, (they may have) but there was… Read More »
TINY REVIEW: TINY BOOK OF TINY STORIES, Vol. 2
The hijinks are back and the result is another heart-breaking and wonderful compilation of thoughts and images. Hosted by HitRecord, artists and dreamers post bits of artistic ephemera. The result is an open-source collaboration space. People can grab, alter, add and repost, creating never-before-imagined works. This book is a selection of the best of the… Read More »
REVIEW: EXTRAORDINARY THEORY OF OBJECTS by Stephanie Lacava
I have a love/hate relationship with Paris. Like many people, I expect, I had a romanticized notion of Paris, which I was quite aware was unreal. But I still wanted to see the storied place of Latrec, Ilse Bing, Cocteau, Hugo, Doisneau, and Brassaï. There must be something that drew them, inspired them all. If… Read More »
REVIEW: THE GRAND TOUR - AROUND THE WORLD WITH THE QUEEN OF MYSTERY by Agatha Christie
Perhaps it comes as no surprise that this book is a wonderful window into an era past. Like Agatha Christie’s autobiography, the book is comprised of her life in her own words. Her grandson Mathew Prichard has painstakingly gathered her letters and postcards from her trip to a countries in the Dominion. She and… Read More »
REVIEW: THE ENTERTAINER by Margaret Talbot
Anyone who has read my blog knows that I am no stranger to classic film. What with a Masters degree under my belt and an insatiable desire to fill up my DVR with obscure films playing on TCM, I’ve seen more than is probably healthy. And I’m certain I’ve seen at least one with… Read More »
REVIEW: GOODBYE TO BERLIN by Christopher Isherwood
I had the great fortune to see Caberet at Studio 54 in NYC about 10 years ago. I also had the great fortune to not have known very much about it. The impact of the show was overwhelming. Years later, I began my work in a cinema studies masters program and I learned about Ufa… Read More »
REVIEW: OBJECT LESSONS - Stories from the Paris Review
Let me start by saying that this is not your typical collection. It is not a juried contest or an annual anthology, edited by an acclaimed professor. This is about writers, and what speaks to them. Pulled from the archives of The Paris Review, writers of today gush, er, introduce each selection. The intros range from… Read More »
REVIEW: LUCKY JIM by Kingsley Amis
Despite my penchant for British literature, I must admit that this was my first foray into Amis. A complicated person in his own life, he seems to have attempted to shed some of his anxieties on his characters. Indeed, the title character James Dixon is dissatisfied professor of medievalism. He was surely drawing on some… Read More »
REVIEW: NOT MY BAG by Sina Grace
I am almost embarrassed to admit that this the first time I have read a graphic novel. Not out of any sense of superiority — quite the opposite. I’d admired them from afar but always thought they were for people much more hip than me. That and there is just so much reading to be… Read More »
REVIEW: YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE, YOUR CHILDREN ALL GONE by Stefan Kiesbye
This book nearly defies description, but here goes. The novel is a spider web of small tales, each with an allegorical twist. Somewhere vaguely Germanic, or possibly in eastern European, is the small town of Hemmersmoor. These people live a simple, happy life. There are still stores on the main street – bakeries, hardware stores… Read More »
GIVEAWAY: YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE, YOUR CHILDREN ALL GONE
Just in time for Halloween, the kind folks at Penguin have sent me a giveaway copy of the new creepy book by Stefan Kiesbye, author of Next Door Lived A Girl. Here is what others are saying: “Creepy in a way that actually made me quite nervous.” —Ben Loory, author of Stories for Nighttime and Some for… Read More »
REVIEW: THE CUTTING SEASON by Attica Locke
Caren Gray has returned to her knotted, complicated roots ont he plantation of Belle Vie. Generations of her family have lived on this land, some under the heavy oppression of slavery. Now Caren is the caretaker and manager of the estate that is no loner inhabited. It is rented for parties and weddings and… Read More »
GIVEAWAY: JASPER FFORDE'S "THE WOMAN WHO DIED A LOT"
I have adored Thursday Next ever since she burst onto bookshelves everywhere (and in every dimension). For me, there was finally a heroine for nerdy, literary, smart young women – like me. Or, like I want to be. Thanks to the generous people at Viking, I am happy to announce I have copy of… Read More »