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Recent Posts
- “I heard Ruth Brown, and I just found my kind of music,” — Janis Martin
- “Attention equals Life.” — Frank O’Hara
- “Make voyages! — Attempt them! — there’s nothing else …” Happy Birthday, Tennessee Williams
- “Too many poets delude themselves by thinking the mind is dangerous and must be left out. Well, the mind is dangerous, and must be left in.” — Robert Frost
- “I did not begin to write poetry in earnest until the really emotional part of my life was over.” — poet A.E. Housman
- On This Day: March 25, 1911: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in the Berkshires
- “We just always did what we fucking wanted to.” — Kevin Seconds
- “If you want to see the girl next door, go next door.” – Joan Crawford
- Dynamic Duo #39
Recent Comments
- Valentina Ferrante on The Books: “Italian American Reconciliation” (John Patrick Shanley)
- Randolph Merritt on Diary Friday: “OK, it wasn’t just a normal assembly. It was a CONCERT from a rock group – Freedom Jam.”
- Randolph Merritt on Diary Friday: “OK, it wasn’t just a normal assembly. It was a CONCERT from a rock group – Freedom Jam.”
- Mike Molloy on Dynamic Duo #39
- mutecypher on Review: You’ll Never Find Me (2024)
- Sheila on Review: You’ll Never Find Me (2024)
- mutecypher on Review: You’ll Never Find Me (2024)
- sheila on “I’ve never thought of my characters as being sad. On the contrary, they are full of life. They didn’t choose tragedy. Tragedy chose them.” — Juliette Binoche
- sheila on “The Greeks already understood that there was more interest in portraying an unusual character than a usual character – that is the purpose of films and theatre.” — Isabelle Huppert
- sheila on December 2023/January-February 2024 Viewing Diary
- sheila on December 2023/January-February 2024 Viewing Diary
- sheila on December 2023/January-February 2024 Viewing Diary
- Peter on R.I.P. Sam Schacht
- Peter on R.I.P. Sam Schacht
- Lyrie on “The Greeks already understood that there was more interest in portraying an unusual character than a usual character – that is the purpose of films and theatre.” — Isabelle Huppert
- Jack on “I’ve never thought of my characters as being sad. On the contrary, they are full of life. They didn’t choose tragedy. Tragedy chose them.” — Juliette Binoche
- Todd Restler on December 2023/January-February 2024 Viewing Diary
- Todd Restler on December 2023/January-February 2024 Viewing Diary
- Todd Restler on December 2023/January-February 2024 Viewing Diary
- sheila on December 2023/January-February 2024 Viewing Diary
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Tag Archives: Joan Acocella
“Attention equals Life.” — Frank O’Hara
“I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love.” – poet Frank O’Hara It’s his birthday today. First up: I launched my column at Film Comment with a piece about American poet Frank O’Hara’s love of … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Camille Paglia, Elizabeth Bishop, Frank O'Hara, Joan Acocella, Lana Turner, Michael Schmidt
18 Comments
“[I wish] to trace the gradual action of ordinary causes rather than exceptional.” — George Eliot
“What do I think of Middlemarch? What do I think of glory?” — Emily Dickinson I came to George Eliot late. As in, during the lifespan of this blog. I read Middlemarch (more like devoured it) in 2005, and wrote … Continue reading
Bookshelf Tour #10
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
2013 Books Read
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, Edvard Radzinsky, Elinor Lipman, George Eliot, H.L. Mencken, Henry James, Herman Melville, 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, Shakespeare, Tana French, Thomas Carlyle, Victor Serge
33 Comments
The Books: Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, ‘Perfectly Frank’, by Joan Acocella
On the essays shelf: Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella. Unlike a lot of poets, I feel that I know everything I need to know about Frank O’Hara by reading his work. He emerges, there, on the … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged essays, Frank O'Hara, Joan Acocella, Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints
3 Comments
The Books: Twenty-Eight Artist and Two Saints, ‘Finding Augie March’, by Joan Acocella
On the essays shelf: Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella. I have some huge gaps in my reading history – and one of them is mid-late 20th century American authors. I have read Joseph Heller, J.D. Salinger, … Continue reading
The Books: Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, ‘Feasting on Life’, by Joan Acocella
On the essays shelf: Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella. I’m not that much of a foodie, and so I am not familiar with M.F.K. Fisher’s food writing, although everything I have heard makes me want to … Continue reading
The Books: Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, ‘After the Laughs’, by Joan Acocella
On the essays shelf: Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella. Known for her wit, one-liners, and caustic attitude, Dorothy Parker is one of those rare writers who didn’t write all that much during her lifetime (her last … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Dorothy Parker, essays, Joan Acocella, Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints
2 Comments
The Books: Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, ‘On the Contrary’, by Joan Acocella
On the essays shelf: Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella. Oh, Mencken. Along with Alexander Hamilton, I have been known to refer to him as “my dead boyfriend”. I have not read all of his stuff (that … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged essays, H.L. Mencken, Joan Acocella, politics, Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints
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The Books: Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints, ‘Dancing and the Dark’, by Joan Acocella
On the essays shelf: Twenty-eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella. I am not a dancer but I recognize Bob Fosse’s choregraphy when I see it. It is instantly identifiable. He has a personal stamp, more so than … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Bob Fosse, essays, Joan Acocella, Twenty-Eight Artists and Two Saints
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