one book leads to another
I'm beginning to think that Art is everything, am I wrong? I wrote that in a letter to my cousin, a poet living in New York City. I had just finished Bianca Bosker's 2024 book, Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Impressive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See … Continue reading Get the Picture
right brain: creative / left brain: analytical I read Write it Down, Make it Happen around 20 years ago, and it made a deep impression. I've written the phrase on the first page of all my notebooks and journals ever since. But while I've revisited it multiple times the funny thing is I never looked into … Continue reading Writing on Both Sides of the Brain
every book I read this year Conclave by Robert Harris Savage Son by Jack Carr The Fear Index by Robert Harris Writing On Both Sides of the Brain by Henriette Anne Klauser No One Will Know by Rose Carlyle The Devil's Hand by Jack Carr Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty Get the Picture by … Continue reading 2025 book roundup
In which AI becomes all too real. What do you do when you read a near-perfect book (Conclave)? You find out what else the guy wrote, that's what you do. Robert Harris has many historical fiction novels in his substantial body of work, but it was his 2011 The Fear Index that caught my eye. … Continue reading The Fear Index
Good Catholic fun Are you as big a fan of movies as you are of books? Me too, although I haven't been to the theater in a while. I'd rather watch in the comfort of my own home, thank you very much. Conclave (the movie) caught my eye because 1) I adore Ralph Fiennes and … Continue reading Conclave
So. Many. Great. Books. SIMPLY THE BEST 1) It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis (1935) 2) The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz (2022) 3) William by Mason Coile (aka Andrew Pyper) (2024) Sadly, Andrew Pyper died two days ago on January 3rd, 2025; he was just 56 years old. He's been a favorite of … Continue reading The best books I read in 2024
On love, intrigue, deception and manipulation My February 2024 review of The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak is one of the most popular on my blog. Here's how I summed it up: I finished The Helsinki Affair and immediately put Pitoniak's Our American Friend on hold ("fantastic fun and spectacular" per the blurbs on the … Continue reading Our American Friend
bookthrasher 