I was immediately curious when I found out that author Joanna J. Charnas had come out with a new book: A Movie Lover’s Search for Romance. I had reviewed her book about chronic illness a few years ago and thoroughly appreciated her transparent authenticity as she addressed a difficult topic. I was intrigued by her new choice of topic, seemingly lighthearted – and yet proving, as I read each page, that it was also quite heartfelt and meaningful. In this new title, she uses a diary-like format to share two intertwined stories: her love for movies and her journeys in dating life as a woman in her forties and fifties. She…
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Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her
When the libraries here closed back in March (and still haven’t really re-opened) my mom sent me a bunch of books from her personal library to satisfy my reading itch. I’ve been reading much more slowly than usual but I’ve finished a few of them, including the just-finished Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak. It took me a minute to really get into it but a few chapters in I became totally immersed. Nostalgia: Nancy Drew I will always have a special place in my heart for Nancy Drew. Reading the book, it became clear that many women across multiple generations have this…
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How to Become a Reader for Screenplays (A Class I Just Took Online)
This morning I was browsing around on Instagram and saw an ad for a Masterclass to learn how to become a reader for screenplays. I have previously researched how to become a reader for publishers but never followed through on it. I never thought about becoming a reader for screenplays. The idea is intriguing. So I decided to sign up and hop right into the class. What is the Class? This was a free online MasterClass offered by Hollywood Gatekeepers. It was hosted by Carolyn J. Carpenter who has a long history of working in theatre, screenplay writing, and becoming a story reader. As a reader, she often saw the same…
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Female Veterans Surviving Homelessness Together – Low Hanging Fruit, a Compelling Play
Heather Gordon, Cat Brooks, Livia Demarchi in Low Hanging Fruit. Photo credit: Mario Parnell Photography Intro: A Compelling Play One of the things that I miss the most during the restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic is seeing live performances including theater. So, I’ve been looking back at some of my old reviews of events like that, reminiscing. Here’s a post from July 2016 about a compelling play that really moved me, enough so that I still remember the power of it four years later (although it’s so hard to believe it’s been that long since I saw it!) Compelling. That is the word that keeps coming to mind as I…
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Videocracy: Forms of Collaboration on YouTube
I recently read the book Videocracy. There was so much rich stuff in there about collaboration. Here are some of the things I learned and thoughts I had while reading this book. Videocracy: About the Book First I’ll tell you a little bit about the book Videocracy. It is all about YouTube trends. The head of the company’s “Culture and Trends” department is the author. Naturally, he has a lot of interesting insight into video watching trends. I think there’s some bias on his part to see YouTube as a mostly great thing. However, in spite of that there’s tons of interesting information in the book. I’m currently working on…
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Recommended Essay Reading: The Artist as Culture Producer … and Thoughts on Creative Collaboration
The Artist as Culture Producer: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life is an essay collection edited by Sharon Louden in an effort to combat the stereotype that artists are working in studios alone, toiling away in solitary – even self-absorbed – pursuits. The essays are each by an artist who “reaches outside of the studio to extend creative energies and pursuits into his or her community.” She goes on to say she chose these artists for many reasons including their generosity and that “they inject creative culture into the cracks of society, where they alter the direction of small towns and large cities”. Each of the essays is as different…
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Wisdom From Every Year of Life
100 Years: Wisdom From Famous Writers on Every Year of Your Life is a book that has short quotations about every year of life from birth through age 100. I flipped through it a few times before reading it in full. I checked out the selections for my current age. Furthermore, I checked certain ages that seemed to be important milestones in my life. I even glanced at friends’ ages. However, this morning I finally sat down and read it from cover to cover. When I did, I discovered that doing so offers more than the sum of its parts. There Is Wisdom in Every Age Joshua Prager carefully curated the…
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Therapist Memoir: Annie Rogers’ Shining Affliction and Unsayable
This post is about two therapist memoir books. I originally published this as two separate posts, which I’ve combined and updated here. The therapist memoir The Unsayable: The Hidden Language of Trauma by Annie Rogers, PhD is one of my favorite books that I was assigned in grad school. I first read the book in one day. Then I read a big chunk of it for a second time shortly after. Then after that, I went back and checked out Rogers’ first book. It’s called A Shining Affliction: A Story of Harm and Healing in Psychotherapy. It’s another therapist memoir from earlier in her career. About Annie Rogers, Therapist Memoir Author Annie Rogers…
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Dementia Memoir: Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words
This is a book review of a dementia memoir. I originally published this review here on the blog in 2014. As I update what was lost in my blog transition, I found that I wanted to share this again. The full title of this book is Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words: Travels with Mom in the Land of Dementia. That does a good job of summing up what this dementia memoir is about. The book, by Kate Whouley, is her experience with her aging mother as her mom declines into Alzheimer’s. Although that sounds sad, she manages to put a positive spin on the experience. Therefore, I found it…
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Just Girls: YA LGBTQ Book Review
Just Girls is a young adult LGBTQ novel that stands out to me as innovative and aware. Simultaneously, it touches on the topics that affect many teenagers as they enter the college scene for the first time. In other words, it isn’t just for the LGBTQQIA community. However, it doesn’t shy away from its role as part of the advocacy for that community. The Story of Just Girls Just Girls is the story about Ella Ramsey, a MTF transgender woman who is starting as a new student in college. She hasn’t come out to people there even though she has gone through the coming out process in her hometown. Therefore, she faces…
