Category Archives: biography

I Hear She’s a Real Bitch – Jen Agg

Posted on September 21, 2017 by stewartry

Uh oh. I just remembered how very much Jen Agg hates those amateur reviewers, those damned bloggers who can’t stop spouting their uninformed opinions. Well. I’m sure she only meant obnoxious food bloggers who take bad photos of their plates … Continue reading →

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Something in the Blood – David J. Skal, James Patrick Cronin

Posted on December 31, 2016 by stewartry

I was glad to receive this audiobook from the publisher on CD, because using the CD player in my car makes what is for me a long commute that much easier. This book in particular wasn’t much of a boon, … Continue reading →

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Fireball – Robert Matzen

Posted on November 28, 2016 by stewartry

I began to read this with some trepidation… I didn’t want these two to lose their luster. I also didn’t want to cry over them, but I was resigned to that – when one of a loving couple is going … Continue reading →

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American Heiress – Jeffrey Toobin

Posted on November 22, 2016 by stewartry

The stupid runs very deep in this story. Patricia Hearst was young and ignorant and self-centered; the revolutionaries were pretty much morons, or delusional at best; the FBI wasn’t any too sharp… The other notable characteristic of the people featured … Continue reading →

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Destiny of the Republic – Candice Millard – Paul Michael

Posted on October 28, 2016 by stewartry

If you look up “delusional” in the dictionary, there’s a full–page, full–color picture of Charles Guiteau. And if you look up “unfulfilled potential” in my personal dictionary, with this book James Garfield’s picture took the place of JFK’s. President James … Continue reading →

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William Shakespeare: A Popular Life

Posted on September 28, 2016 by stewartry

This … book … was originally released in 2001, and all but states it is meant to ride the doublet-tails of “the success of the Oscar-winning film Shakespeare in Love“. I was puzzled by this for a moment – I … Continue reading →

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Alfred Hitchcock – Peter Ackroyd

Posted on May 20, 2016 by stewartry

And yet more feet of clay appear on icons. Perversion, perverseness, promiscuity… oh well. I suppose it was naive to think, for example, Grace Kelly didn’t have that many affairs. So, when I have no more illusions left, does that … Continue reading →

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Girl with Glasses – Marissa Walsh – Margie Lenhart

Posted on January 30, 2016 by stewartry

“Girl with Glasses” was not meant to be read aloud all of a piece like this. It’s a collection of essays and sketches and vignettes and lists; a few have a beginning, a middle, and an end, but more have … Continue reading →

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As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride

Posted on September 10, 2015 by stewartry

I can’t think of a single movie which means more to me than The Princess Bride. There are plenty that are important – some of the Star Treks, and Casablanca, and The Great Escape, The Thin Man and the Harry … Continue reading →

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Brainiac – Ken Jennings

Posted on August 21, 2015 by stewartry

I had fun with Brainiac. I had just gotten the call to go for this year’s Jeopardy! audition, and, being me, was in a fever of preparation. (As a few of us were waiting for things to begin, one or … Continue reading →

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