My Twelve Books of Christmas 2025
My Twelve Books of Christmas 2025 It’s that time of year again, where I talk about my favorite books of the year, what I call …
reading
East of Eden – Top Shelf
East of Eden – Top Shelf Over at Doorstoppers we tend to read a long classic (or anyway an “older” book) during the summer. I’m …
Creating Alchemy and Suleika Jaouad
Creating Alchemy and Suleika Jaouad One of my all-time favorite memoirs is Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted, by Suleika Jaouad. In …
Trusting the Process
Trusting the Process – Shaun McNiff’s Trust the Process When we get stuck in our own heads, trusting the process is useful advice. Here I …
Death of The Author, by Nnedi Okorafor
Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor A novel-within-a-novel featuring robots who crave stories springboards Zelu, the protagonist of Nnedi Okorafor’s latest book, Death of …
Five Books for Beginners in the New Year
Five Books for Beginners in the New Year We’re coming up on a new year and, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, …
Torino Film Festival 2024
Torino Film Festival 2024 I missed the opening weekend of the Torino Film Festival this year, but I can’t complain too much since I was …
The Great Train Robbery
The Great Train Robbery and Story Structure I love a good heist film — who doesn’t? — and decided to rewatch 1978’s The Great Train …
Summer of the Lost Summer – How to Rerail the Derail
Summer of the Lost Summer Summer is winding down here and I’ve been trying to deal with a mélange of feelings. Having to cancel all …
You Don’t Have to Be a Star, Baby
You Don’t Have to Be a Star, Baby As hard as it is to believe, it’s already been ten weeks since I was in the …
A Magic Carpet Ride to Anyplace Other than the Couch
A Magic Carpet Ride to Anyplace Other than the Couch It’s been almost six weeks since I was in the hospital, which I talked about …
Sometimes You’re the Hammer
Sometimes You’re the Hammer Have you heard that expression? You know, the one that starts “Sometimes you’re the hammer….” Ah, well, if you haven’t, think …
2024 Turin International Book Fair
2024 Turin International Book Fair It’s that time of year again. We’re gearing up for the 2024 Turin International Book Fair (aka the Salone del …
The Bee Sting, by Paul Murray
The Bee Sting – A Flaming Arrow to the Heart Paul Murray’s fourth novel, The Bee Sting, follows the Barnes family as they struggle with …
Resolutions and Resistance
Resolutions and Resistance in the New Year New year, new chance to talk about resolutions. And something else: resistance. It’s January, so if you’re into …
Jeff VanderMeer’s Wonderbook
Jeff Vandermeer’s Wonderbook and His Style Scale A recent discussion in one of my book clubs (it’s a closed one, but you can always join …
Mystic River, Twenty Years On
Mystic River – Twenty Years Ago this Month(!) As hard as it is to believe, the Clint Eastwood film Mystic River was released twenty years …
Chava Rosenfarb in Lodz and E-reader as Impulse Buy
The Year of Chava Rosenfarb Łódź (pronounced more or less like “woodge” in English), located almost smack dab in the center of Poland has been, …
Scene Analysis – Robert McKee’s Story: Substance, structure, style, and the principles of screenwriting
A Writing Craft All-Star to Beat the Blahs Ever write a scene and it just feels blah? You know it could be good, but it’s …
Trust, by Hernan Diaz, Virtual Reader and Writer Friends IRL
Trust, by Hernan Diaz Made it back from New York City last month with what has to be a new record for me: eight books …