Tag Archives: Joan Didion

April 2020 Viewing Diary

Posted on May 5, 2020 by sheila

Almost Love (2020; d. Mike Doyle) This movie really irritated me. I reviewed for Ebert. Lovesick. (original title Scrotal Recall) (2014/2016/2018; d. Tom Edge) Again. I finished it up last month and started a re-watch immediately. Johnny Flynn crush going … Continue reading →

Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television | Tagged Canada, comedy, documentary, drama, England, Germany, Hitler, Ireland, Joan Didion, Johnny Flynn, Leonardo DiCaprio, romantic drama, Slings & Arrows, Steven Spielberg, Supernatural, Sweden, Syria, Taiwan, Tuesday Weld, women directors | 2 Comments

2019 Books Read

Posted on December 31, 2019 by sheila

It’s been such a busy year for me as a writer. The busiest. I’ve had to “make time” for reading stuff that has nothing to do with anything writing-wise. I need to read for pleasure. Many of the books I … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, James Joyce | Tagged A.S. Byatt, After Henry, books about Hollywood, books read, Bruce Springsteen, children's books, Crime and Punishment, Dorothy Parker, Dubliners, Elementals, Elvis Presley, essays, F. Scott Fitzgerald, fiction, Frank O'Hara, Franny and Zooey, friends, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Gerard Manley Hopkins, H.L. Mencken, Hunter S. Thompson, Iran, Ireland, J.D. Salinger, Jack London, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, John Huston, John Sturges, Joshua Ferris, Little Black Book of Stories, Memoirs, Nine Stories, nonfiction, Patricia Bosworth, Pauline Kael, poetry, Robert Kaplan, Russia, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Sylvia Plath, Tana French, Ted Hughes, Terrence Malick, The Matisse Stories, The White Album, Then We Came To The End, true crime, Vladimir Nabokov, war | 10 Comments

2018 Books Read

Posted on December 31, 2018 by sheila

2018 Books Read 1. Tamburlaine, Part 1, by Christopher Marlowe I finished 2017 with Paradise Lost, in the mood to continue with rigorous challenging poetry. I decided to read the complete plays of Christopher Marlowe (re-read in most cases). The … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, James Joyce | Tagged Animal Farm, Annie Proulx, books read, Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Marlowe, Clifford Odets, Edgar Allan Poe, England, Evelyn Waugh, fiction, Finnegans Wake, friends, George Orwell, H.L. Mencken, Hunter S. Thompson, Ian McEwan, Ireland, Italy, Jack Kerouac, Joan Didion, nonfiction, Olivia Laing, Pauline Kael, poetry, Poland, politics, Robert Kaplan, Romania, Ron Chernow, Russia, Ryszard Kapuściński, Sergei Kirov, Stalin, The Soccer War, Tom Wolfe, true crime, Truman Capote, Victor Serge, Waiting for Lefty | 7 Comments

Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2018

Posted on December 29, 2018 by sheila

Thanks, everyone, who hangs out here, who likes what I do, whether you’re an Elvis fan, a Supernatural fan, a general cinephile, a book-lover, or just someone who’s been checking in periodically for almost 16 years – WHAT? – I … Continue reading →

Posted in James Joyce, Movies, Television | Tagged Anne V. Coates, Burt Reynolds, documentary, Doris Day, Dorothy Malone, Elvis Presley, England, Finnegans Wake, Frank Sinatra, Gena Rowlands, Germany, Gold Diggers of 1933, Grace Kelly, Hal Ashby, Howard Hughes, Ian McEwan, James Cagney, Joan Didion, Joaquin Phoenix, Julie Christie, Lynne Ramsay, Mexico, Minnie and Moskowitz, Natalie Portman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Play It As It Lays, Robert Altman, Russia, Sanaa Lathan, South Korea, Supernatural, Warren Beatty, women directors, Woody Allen, year in writing | 10 Comments

Flick Lit: August 2018 issue of Sight & Sound

Posted on July 10, 2018 by sheila

I’m very happy to make my “debut” in the new issue of Sight & Sound – available on newsstands now (or via digital subscription). In their cover feature, “Flick Lit,” 100 critics weigh in on 100 novels about the movies. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Movies | Tagged Joan Didion, Play It As It Lays | 2 Comments

2017 Books Read

Posted on December 31, 2017 by sheila

I got into a good rhythm with reading this year. I did a lot of re-reading, going back to books I haven’t read in 20 years or whatever. It was fun, like a reunion with an old friend. Much of … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged 1984, A.S. Byatt, Bette Davis, books read, Camille Paglia, Christopher Hitchens, Edgar Allan Poe, England, France, George Orwell, Hannah Arendt, Herman Melville, Hitler, Ireland, Jack London, Janet Malcolm, Jean Renoir, Jeanette Winterson, Joan Crawford, Joan Didion, John Milton, Kim Stanley, Mark Danielewski, Mary Astor, Mary Gaitskill, Olivia Laing, Poland, politics, Robert Altman, Robert Conquest, Robert Kaplan, Russia, S.E. Hinton, Shirley Jackson, Tana French, Tennessee Williams, The Great Terror, war | 4 Comments

November 2017 Viewing Diary

Posted on December 2, 2017 by sheila

This viewing diary may be tough going for those of you who are not Supernatural fans. But there’s a lot more mixed in there that is not that damn show. I was on a viewing tear, in general, to get … Continue reading →

Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television | Tagged Afghanistan, Agnes Varda, Cate Blanchett, Dennis Hopper, documentary, England, France, Isabelle Huppert, Israel, Joachim Trier, Joan Didion, Kentucker Audley, Kristen Stewart, Paul Thomas Anderson, Robert Altman, Russia, Sebastián Lelio, Steven Spielberg, Supernatural, Terrence Malick, Tiffany Haddish, women directors | 29 Comments

2015 Books Read

Posted on December 31, 2015 by sheila

Even I am impressed with how much I read this year. Along the course of the year, occasionally I’d think to myself, “Good job, Sheila, with your Self-Imposed Reading Plan!” I’ve read a lot of new novels (not really my … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged A.S. Byatt, Alexander Hamilton, Baseball A Literary Anthology, books read, Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Marlowe, Edvard Radzinsky, Elvis Presley, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Eliot, Hannah Arendt, Hunter S. Thompson, Ireland, J.D. Salinger, Jeanette Winterson, Jincy Willett, Joan Didion, John Banville, John Wayne, Joshua Ferris, Lorrie Moore, Machiavelli, Margaret Atwood, Norman Rush, Patricia Highsmith, Paul Zindel, Rasputin, Rebecca West, Ron Chernow, Russia, science, Seamus Heaney, Vietnam, W.H. Auden, William Shakespeare, William Styron | 22 Comments

Recommended Books: Fiction

Posted on July 26, 2015 by sheila

I’ve added to this list. I still want to do a Non-Fiction one, eventually, but … you know … time permitting. Some authors are represented multiple times here. Other authors aren’t represented at all. For no real reason. Don’t read … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, James Joyce | Tagged 1984, A Tale of Two Cities, A.S. Byatt, Amongst Women, Annie Proulx, Arthur Koestler, At Swim-Two-Birds, Austria, Bad Behavior, Birds of America, Bleak House, Canada, Cat's Eye, Catch-22, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Christine Falls, Close Range: Wyoming Stories, Crime and Punishment, Darkness at Noon, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Dublin, Dubliners, East of Eden, Edna O'Brien, Elinor Lipman, England, Evelyn Waugh, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flann O'Brien, Franny and Zooey, friends, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Geek Love, George Eliot, George Orwell, Going After Cacciato, Handmaid's Tale, Henry James, Herman Melville, Hopeful Monsters, House of Leaves, Huckleberry Finn, Hungary, Inherent Vice, Iran, Ireland, Italy, J.D. Salinger, James Salter, Jane Eyre, Jeanette Winterson, Jincy Willett, Joan Didion, John Banville, John Irving, John McGahern, John Steinbeck, Joseph Heller, Joshua Ferris, Joy Williams, Katherine Dunn, Keri Hulme, L.M. Montgomery, Lives of the Saints, Lorrie Moore, Margaret Atwood, Mark Danielewski, Mark Helprin, Mary Gaitskill, Master and Margarita, Mating, Michael Chabon, Middlemarch, Mikhail Bulgakov, Moby Dick, Nancy Lemann, New Zealand, Nicholas Mosley, Norman Rush, Patricia Highsmith, Patrick O'Brian, Philip K. Dick, Play It As It Lays, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Possession, Russia, Scoop, Sergei Kirov, Sexing the Cherry, Shirley Jackson, Stefan Zweig, Stephen King, Tana French, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Bone People, The Country Girls, The Dead, The Grass Harp, The Great Gatsby, The Passion, The Shipping News, Tim O'Brien, Truman Capote, Victor Serge, Villette, Winter's Tale | 103 Comments

2013 Books Read

Posted on December 30, 2013 by sheila

It’s been a hell of a year. Devastating as well as redemptive. I started it out in Memphis, and end it here in New Jersey. And now my new niece Pearl has arrived! It’s been both a busy year as … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged A.S. Byatt, Anne Fadiman, Annie Proulx, Arthur Koestler, Balkans, books read, Darkness at Noon, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Edvard Radzinsky, Elinor Lipman, England, friends, George Eliot, H.L. Mencken, Henry James, Herman Melville, Hungary, Ireland, J.D. Salinger, Jeanette Winterson, Joan Acocella, Joan Didion, John Banville, Joseph Heller, Joshua Ferris, Lester Bangs, Lorrie Moore, Patricia Highsmith, Philip K. Dick, Russia, Sam Cooke, Stalin, Tana French, The Netherlands, The Only Game In Town, Thomas Carlyle, Victor Serge, William Shakespeare, Yugoslavia | 33 Comments

Tag Archives: Joan Didion

April 2020 Viewing Diary

2019 Books Read

2018 Books Read

Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2018

Flick Lit: August 2018 issue of Sight & Sound

2017 Books Read

November 2017 Viewing Diary

2015 Books Read

Recommended Books: Fiction

2013 Books Read

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