Categories
Archives
-
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- Review: Honey Bunch (2026)
- “I have already been accused of trying to drown a boatload of wild Irishmen on Aran!” — Robert Flaherty
- Substack: Interview with author Julia Cooke
- X Marks the Spot
- Valentine’s Day Story #2: The Spitball Valentine
- Valentine’s Day Story #1: An Eyeball and a Dozen Roses
- “I looked like a bad girl. But I wasn’t a bad girl, really. I was a very nice little girl, until I found out what life was.”– Harriet Andersson
- Happy Birthday, Burt Reynolds: “My love is unironic.”
- “Listen, I never meant to make money. I never wanted it. I’m a singer, man.” — Gene Vincent
- “Each of us have a gift, you see, given us freely by the universe. And each of us with every breath gives something back” — Kim Stanley
Recent Comments
- sheila on 2025 Books Read
- sheila on 2025 Books Read
- sheila on Valentine’s Day Story #2: The Spitball Valentine
- James on 2025 Books Read
- Kelly C Sedinger on Valentine’s Day Story #2: The Spitball Valentine
- Jim Burrows on “Milk Cow Blues Boogie”: From Estes to Elvis to Eddie
- sheila on January 2026 Viewing Diary
- sheila on January 2026 Viewing Diary
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Titus Andronicus
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: The Taming of the Shrew
- Maddy on January 2026 Viewing Diary
- Daniel V on January 2026 Viewing Diary
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Titus Andronicus
- Krsten Westergaard on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: The Taming of the Shrew
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: The Taming of the Shrew
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Titus Andronicus
- Gemstone on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: The Taming of the Shrew
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Titus Andronicus
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: The Taming of the Shrew
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: The Taming of the Shrew
-
Tag Archives: stuff I’ve been reading
Stuff I’ve Been Reading
— Unacknowledged Legislation: Writers in the Public Sphere, by Christopher Hitchens There are a couple of his collections of older pieces – pre 9/11 – I haven’t read before. Many of these pieces were put in later collections (Arguably, and … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Christopher Hitchens, England, essays, Ireland, Oscar Wilde, stuff I've been reading
2 Comments
Stuff I’ve been reading
Still thinking about what I want to do with my Substack. I’ve put together a preliminary list of subjects and a tentative editorial calendar. I just got a big writing gig which might push some things back until I pass … Continue reading
Stuff I’ve Been Reading
— My good friend Charlie Taylor is on fire in the LA Review of Books, reviewing Steve Erickson’s American Stutter. — Conversations with Friends, by Sally Rooney. Like everybody else on the planet, I read and loved Rooney’s Normal People … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged fiction, friends, Ireland, John Wayne, politics, stuff I've been reading, Victor Serge
2 Comments
Stuff I’ve been reading
— This L.A. Times essay about Covid brain fog – and so much more – by Mary McNamara is a WILD ride, but it said a lot of the things I’ve been feeling about … everything, everywhere, all at once. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Personal
Tagged Australia, Christopher Hitchens, England, Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov, Russia, stuff I've been reading, The Beatles
8 Comments
Stuff I’ve Been Reading
Reading for pleasure has taken a hit, what with all the research I’ve been doing, for this or that, and so I haven’t done one of these “stuff I’ve been reading” things in a while. I have barely slept in … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Movies, Personal
Tagged Eminem, fiction, film noir, Fred Astaire, friends, Ginger Rogers, Martin Scorsese, Memoirs, Robert De Niro, Russia, stuff I've been reading
2 Comments
Stuff I’ve Been Reading
Been a while since I’ve done one of these. — The Collected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick I had never read her before. I was familiar with her as “Robert Lowell’s wife” – she shows up repeatedly in his correspondence with … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged essays, fiction, Mae West, nonfiction, stuff I've been reading, The Bridge Across Forever
9 Comments
Stuff I’ve Been Reading
Lots of re-reads because 1. I’m in turmoil. The familiar is a comfort. 2. The majority of my books have been in storage for almost a year. We all have been reunited but they’re still in boxes stacked against the … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Evelyn Waugh, fiction, Greta Garbo, Memoirs, Nancy Lemann, Robert Conquest, Sergei Kirov, Stalin, stuff I've been reading
1 Comment
Stuff I’ve Been Reading
It’s been a while. Been a very busy summer. Family vacation as we do every year. Reunions with family after the lockdown. Tears when hugging aunts and uncles. New job, new digs, lots of change. Lots of writing too! Less … Continue reading
Posted in Books, writers
Tagged Biography, Cary Grant, Czeslaw Milosz, Eve Babitz, fiction, Ireland, Memoirs, Poland, politics, Stalin, stuff I've been reading, war
2 Comments
Stuff I’ve Been Reading
My lifestyle has changed. It now involves shuffling children around to dentist appointments and Little League games, joining the solidarity of the parents in the bleechers. I live in a small working-class town by the beach. I’m busy with writing … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Eve Babitz, Germany, Memoirs, nonfiction, Russia, Stalin, Stefan Zweig, stuff I've been reading, Thomas Mann, Yugoslavia
6 Comments
Stuff I’ve Been Reading
Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas, by Glenn Kenny Glenn is a friend of mine and I’ve been looking forward to reading his book on the making-of Goodfellas. Glenn is an amazing writer (he blogs at Some Came Running: he … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Movies
Tagged Belfast, fiction, Ireland, Martin Scorsese, Memoirs, nonfiction, Russia, Stalin, stuff I've been reading, true crime, war, WWII
15 Comments