Tag Archives: Janet Malcolm

“Art is theft, art is armed robbery, art is not pleasing your mother.” — Janet Malcolm

Posted on July 8, 2025 by sheila

It’s her birthday today. She died in 2021. I started out with The Silent Woman, many years ago, her book on the challenges of writing about Sylvia Plath, particularly in lieu of the draconian Plath estate, run – Shakespearean-ly – … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged Janet Malcolm, Sylvia Plath | Leave a comment

For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love

Posted on March 8, 2025 by sheila

I post edited versions of this every year. I add names. I take names off if I feel like it. I enjoy compiling it. It’s not just about enjoyment. As women’s rights are up for grabs more than ever, like … Continue reading →

Posted in Actors, Art/Photography, Directors, Personal, writers | Tagged A.S. Byatt, Abigail Adams, Agnes Varda, Aline MacMahon, Amy Heckerling, Ann Savage, Anna Karina, Anne Frank, Anne V. Coates, Annie Proulx, art, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Austria, Barbara Bel Geddes, Barbara Stanwyck, Barbra Streisand, Bette Davis, Bibi Andersson, Brazil, Britney Spears, Busby Berkeley, Camille Paglia, Canada, Carole Lombard, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Bronte, Charlotte Rampling, China, Croatia, Diane Keaton, Dolly Parton, Drew Barrymore, Dubravka Ugrešić, Edie Sedgwick, Ellen von Unwerth, England, Etta James, Eve Babitz, France, Frances Farmer, Gena Rowlands, George Eliot, Georgia, Germany, Gloria Grahame, Golshifteh Farahani, Greta Garbo, Greta Gerwig, Harriet Andersson, Hediyeh Tehrani, Hong Kong, Ida Lupino, Ingrid Thulin, Iran, Ireland, Isabelle Adjani, Isabelle Huppert, Italy, Janet Malcolm, Japan, Jean Arthur, Jeanette Winterson, Jill Clayburgh, Joan Crawford, Joan Didion, Joanna Hogg, Josephine Decker, Judy Garland, Julie Christie, Kate Lyn Sheil, Kay Francis, Keri Hulme, Kristen Stewart, Kristen Wiig, L.M. Montgomery, Laura Dern, Laurette Taylor, Leila Hatami, Lily Tomlin, Liv Ullmann, Louise Glück, Madeleine L'Engle, Madeline Kahn, Maggie Cheung, Maggie Smith, Marianne Moore, Marilyn Monroe, Martha Graham, Mary Oliver, Maud Gonne, Mélanie Laurent, Mia Hansen-Løve, Nancy Savoca, Natalie Portman, Nina Hoss, Nina Simone, Olivia Laing, Olympia Dukakis, Patricia Highsmith, Pauline Kael, photography, Poland, Rebecca West, Romania, Rosalind Russell, Russia, Sandrine Bonnaire, Shabnam Toloui, Shirley Jackson, Sophia Takal, South Korea, Spain, Supernatural, Sweden, Tana French, Taraneh Alidoosti, The Netherlands, Tiffany Haddish, Tina Turner, Tuesday Weld, Wanda Jackson, women directors | 106 Comments

“let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences.” — Sylvia Plath

Posted on October 27, 2024 by sheila

It’s her birthday today. She always hated her birthdays, “looked forward” to them with grim white-knuckling determination. I have “had a relationship” with her my whole life. I discovered her at 15, like a lot of girls do, and took … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Music, On This Day, writers | Tagged Janet Malcolm, poetry, Sylvia Plath | 4 Comments

2022 Books Read

Posted on January 6, 2023 by sheila

Some re-reads this year, but a lot of new-to-me authors as well. New novels written by faves. Been a year of upheaval and transitions. I’ve managed to keep up my regular reading schedule. I just don’t feel right if I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged A.S. Byatt, Alfred Hitchcock, Anne Fadiman, art, Australia, Biography, books read, Canada, Christopher Hitchens, Edmund Burke, Elinor Lipman, England, entertainment biography, essays, Eve Babitz, friends, Germany, Greece, Hitler, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Joseph Cornell, Lorrie Moore, Machiavelli, Master and Margarita, Memoirs, Michael Curtiz, Mikhail Bulgakov, Mitford sisters, nonfiction, Paul Zindel, politics, Quentin Tarantino, Robert De Niro, Russia, Ryszard Kapuściński, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Shakespeare, The Beatles, Tom Wolfe, true crime, Victor Klemperer, Victor Serge, war, William Hazlitt, William Wordsworth, WWII, YA fiction | 10 Comments

R.I.P. Janet Malcolm

Posted on June 23, 2021 by sheila

It took me a while to get to this one. It’s been a really busy month. But I had to take a second to pay tribute to a writer whose work has meant so much to me, whose style, outlook, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, RIP, writers | Tagged Janet Malcolm, Sylvia Plath | 2 Comments

Recommended Books: Non-Fiction

Posted on March 29, 2020 by sheila

I have been meaning to do a Part 2 to my Recommended Books: Fiction list – put together years ago. I wanted to recommend non-fiction, from history books to biographies to essays to whatever. Here is the Non-Fiction list. I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Founding Fathers, Theatre | Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Afghanistan, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Hamilton, Austria, Balkan Ghosts, Balkans, baseball, Belfast, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Catherine Drinker-Bowen, Central Asia, China, Crowds and Power, Dava Sobel, David McCullough, Edmund Burke, Edvard Radzinsky, Elias Canetti, Elvis Presley, England, Federalist Papers, Founding Brothers, France, Germany, Group Theatre, Gulag Archipelago, Hitler, Hunter S. Thompson, Imperium, Ireland, Iris Chang, Isaac Newton, James Madison, Janet Malcolm, Japan, Joseph Ellis, Michael Schmidt, Miracle at Philadelphia, nonfiction, Olivia Laing, Philip Gourevitch, poetry, Primo Levi, Rasputin, Rebecca West, Red Sox, Robert Conquest, Robert Kaplan, Roman empire, Russia, Rwanda, Ryszard Kapuściński, science, Serbia, Shakespeare, Stalin, The Great Terror, The Soccer War, Tom Wolfe, true crime, Ukraine, Vincent Bugliosi, WWI, WWII, Yugoslavia | 19 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

Stuff I’ve Been Reading

Posted on June 9, 2019 by sheila

— “The Secret Oral History of Bennington: The 1980s’ Most Decadent College” is so freakin’ lit. I don’t even know what else to say. — Nick Pinkteron and C. Spencer Yeh have a lengthy conversation about the Marvel movies. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged Dorothy Parker, Hannah Arendt, Janet Malcolm, Pauline Kael, Rebecca West, stuff I've been reading | Leave a comment

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

2012 Books Read

Posted on December 31, 2012 by sheila

Live from Memphis. Here are the books I read in 2012. 1. My Life with Elvis – by Becky Yancey. The first book published after Elvis’ death from one of the insiders on his team. She worked in the office … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged Afghanistan, books read, Christopher Hitchens, Diane Keaton, Elvis Presley, Iran, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Rebecca West, Stephen King, Vladimir Nabokov | 22 Comments

Tag Archives: Janet Malcolm

“Art is theft, art is armed robbery, art is not pleasing your mother.” — Janet Malcolm

For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love

“let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences.” — Sylvia Plath

2022 Books Read

R.I.P. Janet Malcolm

2019 Books Read

Stuff I’ve Been Reading

2017 Books Read

2012 Books Read

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