Tag Archives: F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

Posted on September 24, 2025 by sheila

So you see that old libel that we were cynics and skeptics was nonsense from the beginning. On the contrary we were the great believers. — F. Scott Fitzgerald, “My Generation” It’s his birthday today. First off, here’s a piece … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged Baz Luhrmann, essays, F. Scott Fitzgerald, fiction, The Great Gatsby | 21 Comments

“Literature is the written expression of revolt against expected things.” Happy Birthday to the least happy man ever, Thomas Hardy

Posted on June 2, 2025 by sheila

“A certain provincialism of feeling is invaluable. It is the essence of individuality, and is largely made up of that crude enthusiasm without which no great thoughts are thought, no great deeds done.” — Thomas Hardy That quote above from … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged Camille Paglia, D.H. Lawrence, England, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, fiction, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Harold Bloom, Lord Tennyson, Michael Schmidt, Philip Larkin, poetry, Seamus Heaney, Stephen King, T.S. Eliot, Thomas Hardy, W.H. Auden | 4 Comments

April 2022 Viewing Diary

Posted on May 7, 2022 by sheila

When I first got the Raging Bull gig, I began a re-watch of all the Scorsese-De Niro movies – at least the ones clustered around that period. I grew up on these films. These movies were huge to me as … Continue reading →

Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television | Tagged Anjelica Huston, biopic, Brian De Palma, Canada, Christopher Walken, comedy, Dana Andrews, documentary, drama, Elia Kazan, F. Scott Fitzgerald, France, historical drama, Italy, Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, Joan Didion, John Cazale, Liza Minnelli, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Mickey Rourke, musicals, Ray Milland, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Robert Mitchum, romantic drama, Russia, sci-fi, Tuesday Weld, Ukraine, Vietnam, women directors, WWII | 12 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

Bookshelf Tour #10

Posted on March 9, 2018 by sheila

An extremely dog-eared section of my library. These books are rarely on the shelf since I dip into them so often. — The mighty Joan Acocella, dance critic for The New Yorker, but also so much more. Her dance writing … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged bookshelves, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell, H.L. Mencken, Joan Acocella, Lester Bangs, William Hazlitt | 4 Comments

2016 Books Read

Posted on December 30, 2016 by sheila

I’ve enjoyed myself this year with reading. I have finally bounced back from 2009 and 2010, when I was so out of my mind that I could barely read anymore. (Larry McMurtry describes a similar thing happening to him post-heart … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged Baz Luhrmann, books read, Camille Paglia, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, David Thomson, East of Eden, Elia Kazan, Elvis Presley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Horton Foote, James Agee, James Salter, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Steinbeck, Katherine Dunn, Mark Danielewski, Nick Tosches, Pauline Kael, Robert Kaplan, Shane Leslie, Stephen King, Tana French, Tennessee Williams, The Great Gatsby, William Faulkner | 19 Comments

Riotous Excursions: Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby

Posted on August 9, 2016 by sheila

I contributed a piece to Bright Wall Dark Room’s August “Literary Adaptations” issue, and I wrote on a film I’ve been wanting to write about – and celebrate – for a long time (or, ever since it came out): Baz … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged Baz Luhrmann, drama, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Leonardo DiCaprio, reviews, The Great Gatsby | 21 Comments

June 2016 Viewing Diary

Posted on July 1, 2016 by sheila

Homeland Season 3, Episode 4 “Game On” (2013; d. David Nutter) Hey, Nutter, what’s up? Thanks for the Supernatural pilot. Going on 12 seasons now, you set it up real good. I have now watched up until Season 5 of … Continue reading →

Posted in Actors, Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television | Tagged Alain Delon, Alfred Hitchcock, Dennis Hopper, documentary, England, F. Scott Fitzgerald, family, France, Frank Capra, friends, Germany, Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, Jack Nicholson, Jimmy Stewart, July and Half of August, Nicholas Ray, Nina Hoss, Olivia de Havilland, Patricia Highsmith, Raoul Walsh, Robert Redford, Stanley Kubrick, Supernatural, Wim Wenders | 96 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, Beware of Pity, Birds of America, Bleak House, Canada, Cat's Eye, Catch-22, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, Christine Falls, Close Range: Wyoming Stories, Crime and Punishment, Curtis Sittenfeld, 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, Prep, 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

Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2013

Posted on December 31, 2013 by sheila

Some of the things I’ve written in 2013, for my own site, and also other outlets. Thoughts on Memphis. “Memphis is wounded, and Memphis is obviously depressed. There are a lot of sad ghosts here. But Memphis does not forget. … Continue reading →

Posted in Actors, Books, Movies, Music | Tagged Akira Kurosawa, Alain Delon, Andrzej Wajda, Arthur Miller, Bela Tarr, Bill Murray, Bob Dylan, Cary Grant, Christian Petzold, Coen brothers, Cristian Mungiu, Cuba, Dana Andrews, documentary, Elvis Presley, Eminem, F. Scott Fitzgerald, France, Franny and Zooey, Fredric March, friends, George Cukor, Germany, Greta Gerwig, H.L. Mencken, Haskell Wexler, His Girl Friday, Howard Hawks, Hungary, Iran, Iranian film, J.D. Salinger, Jacques Tati, James Dean, James Gandolfini, Japan, Jean Cocteau, Jean Renoir, Jerry Lewis, Joan Blondell, Joan Fontaine, Julie Harris, Katharine Hepburn, Lester Bangs, Marlon Brando, Martin Scorsese, Metallica, Mildred Dunnock, Nicholas Ray, Otto Preminger, Owen Wilson, Poland, Ralph Bellamy, Rebel Without a Cause, Red Sox, Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Roger Angell, Romania, Rudolph Valentino, Sal Mineo, Scarlett Johansson, Seamus Heaney, Sofia Coppola, Supernatural, Taiwan, The Crack-Up, Truman Capote, William Hazlitt, William Shakespeare, year in writing | 2 Comments

Tag Archives: F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Literature is the written expression of revolt against expected things.” Happy Birthday to the least happy man ever, Thomas Hardy

April 2022 Viewing Diary

2019 Books Read

Bookshelf Tour #10

2016 Books Read

Riotous Excursions: Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby

June 2016 Viewing Diary

Recommended Books: Fiction

Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2013

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