Tag Archives: nonfiction

“I don’t care what anybody says about me as long as it isn’t true.” — Truman Capote

Posted on September 30, 2025 by sheila

It’s his birthday today. In Cold Blood put him on the map for all time. His journalism/literature hybrid told the terrifying story of a random murder in Holcomb, Kansas, where an entire family was annihilated in their own home, for … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , | 18 Comments

“Paper, tobacco, food, and a little whiskey.” — William Faulkner on his writing requirements

Posted on September 25, 2025 by sheila

“The writer’s only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much he must get rid of it. He has no peace until then. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Movies, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” — H.L. Mencken

Posted on September 12, 2025 by sheila

“You know what H.L. Mencken said one time about religious people? He said he’d been greatly misunderstood. He said he didn’t hate them. He simply found them comical.” – Kurt Vonnegut Today is the birthday of one of the greatest … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

“You can understand a lot about yourself by working out which fairytale you use to present your world to yourself in.” — A.S. Byatt

Posted on August 24, 2025 by sheila

I didn’t mark the passing of A.S. Byatt last year when it happened. I was overwhelmed with work at the time. But I did take a moment … a very still and silent moment … to reflect on her, on … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“Free Enterprise. The American Dream. Horatio Alger gone mad on drugs in Las Vegas. Do it now. Pure Gonzo journalism.” — Hunter S. Thompson

Posted on July 18, 2025 by sheila

One of my favorite writers of all time. It’s his birthday today. Here he is on his favorite meal of the day: “I like to eat breakfast alone, and almost never before noon; anybody with a terminally jangled lifestyle needs … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

“The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.” –Robert Conquest

Posted on July 15, 2025 by sheila

“I think once you accept that you have the answer to everything, you can do anything to bring it about because your enemies are trying to stop you, are enemies of reason, of truth of everything – enemies of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

“When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.” — Dorothy Thompson

Posted on July 9, 2025 by sheila

Dorothy Thompson, 1939: testifying in Congress to repeal the Neutrality Act. “They are holding every Jew in Germany as a hostage. Therefore, we who are not Jews must speak, speak our sorrow and indignation and disgust in so many voices … Continue reading →

Posted in On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , | 20 Comments

“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 , , , | Leave a comment

“But man has always succeeded in rising again.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Posted on June 29, 2025 by sheila

Today is the birthday of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Here is an extraordinary excerpt from Wind, Sand and Stars – a book I last read in high school, when I was in my Richard Bach-airplane-writing-soulmate-search phase. Listen to this prose. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

“I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts.” — George Orwell

Posted on June 25, 2025 by sheila

Orwell was born on this day. When Animal Farm was released in a new edition, Christopher Hitchens wrote specifically about the quote from Orwell shown in the title above. Very few people can “face unpleasant facts”. Hitchens: A commissar who … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, On This Day, writers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments