21 Sunday Feb 2016
Posted in Fiction
≈ Comments Off on Remembering Harper Lee
I first read To Kill a Mockingbird at fourteen, in school. It was one of those hardbacks made for classrooms, and I think it might have been orange. We would each read a few paragraphs aloud, and I would read on while waiting my turn. Whether my classmates loved Mockingbird as much as I did, I have no idea. Continue reading
25 Monday Jan 2016
Posted in Anniversaries, Fiction, Film, Jeanne Eagels, Theatre
≈ Comments Off on Born on This Day: W. Somerset Maugham 1874-1965
Tags
Jeanne Eagels, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, Miss Thompson, Rain, Sadie Thompson, The Letter, The Moon and Sixpence, W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham was born in Paris on January 25, 1874, the fourth of six children. His father was a lawyer for the British Embassy. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was eight, and when his father passed away two years later, Maugham was sent to live with his uncle in England. Continue reading
31 Thursday Dec 2015
Posted in Anniversaries, Books, Film, Jeanne Eagels, Marilyn Monroe, Music, Periodicals, Updates, Writing
≈ Comments Off on Happy New Year to All My Readers!
Tags
2015, 2016, Art Decades, Fan Phenomena, Jeanne Eagels, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, Marilyn Monroe, The Mmm Girl
As 2015 draws to a close – and this blog approaches her eighth birthday – I’ve been reflecting on a milestone year: from the reissue of The Mmm Girl and my inclusion in Fan Phenomena: Marilyn Monroe, to the publication of Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, and my continuing association with Art Decades magazine.
But before I head back to the salt mines, I’d like to thank all my readers for supporting me. Wishing you all a wonderful 2016: and don’t forget to check out my annual picks in music, books, movies and TV.
16 Wednesday Dec 2015
Posted in Books, Fiction, Film, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Music, Non-Fiction
≈ Comments Off on 2015: A Year in Books
Tags
A Manual for Cleaning Women, A Year in Books, Alberto Moravia, Backlands, Before Marilyn, Bobbie Gentry, C. Joseph Greaves, Caryl Phillips, Cathi Unsworth, Clarice Lispector, David L. Jones, David Wills, Eileen, Elena Ferrante, Encyclopedia Madonnica 20, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fires in the Dark, Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee, Louise Doughty, Lucia Berlin, Madonna, Marilyn in the Flash, Marilyn Monroe, Matthew Rettenmund, Michelle Morgan, Ode to Billie Jo, Otessa Moshfegh, Rebecca Wait, Stewart O'Nan, Tara Murtha, The Followers, The Ipswich Witch, The Lost Child, The Story of the Lost Child, The Time of Indifference, Tom & Lucky (and George & Cokey Flo), Victoria Shorr, West of Sunset, Without the Moon, Wuthering Heights
Reading Clarice Lispector for the first time is like falling in love. Each of her stories is a rare jewel. Shocking, funny and wildly imaginative, this collection is a landmark, reclaiming her as one of the underrated voices of the twentieth century.
The final volume in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series rages like a cyclone. No happy endings here, only the transcendence of real art.
Lucia Berlin was a wonderful American writer, whose stories are warm, yet unflinching. She led an eventful life, and while there are strong autobiographical elements in her work, she was also richly imaginative. Continue reading
26 Thursday Nov 2015
Posted in Books, Film, Jeanne Eagels, Non-Fiction, Theatre
≈ Comments Off on ‘Life Revealed’ a Reading Highlight of 2015
Tags
Best Film Books of 2015, Huffington Post, Jeanne Eagels, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, Thomas Gladysz
Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed – the first biography of the legendary actress to be published in 85 years, which tells ‘the tragic story of the beautiful, Academy Award-nominated film and Broadway star’ – has been named among the Best Film Books of 2015 by historian Thomas Gladysz, in his annual round-up for the Huffington Post.
Tara Hanks 
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