Movie Review: All of Us Strangers

In one of my book clubs, we watch a movie based on a book each year. Last year we watched All of Us Strangers. Because Taichi Yamada’s book of the same name was not on my radar, I did not read the book first. But I ended up watching the movie twice. (I thought I…

The Artist Recommends: What to Read in May

I think we’ll wait a month to come out with our summer reading list, though that may be a mistake. Look for that in a few weeks. For now, we’ll wrap up the school year and the more-unpredictable weather with Mother’s Day suggestions and a number of books-to-movies and books-to-series. We’re gaining on halfway through…

Book Review: White Noise

Do you like cultural satire? Do you like absurdism? How about the 1980s? How about existential musings? Don’t mind it when there isn’t much of a plot? Yet dramatic things happen? If this is you, run don’t walk to read White Noise by Don DeLillo, if you haven’t already. I mean, it’s been around since…

What to Read in February

Valentines Day is a couple weeks away. Some of you will choose to ignore this holiday, and that’s one way to do it. Others of you will take the opportunity to put a wreath of hearts on your door, make a reservation at a fancy restaurant, and curl up with some chocolates and a good…

What to Read in December

***About 20 minutes shy of posting this, I had to close up shop and head home. In that time after, I got sick. I have been out for over a week. Let’s pretend like I posted this before then.*** Ya’ll. I know you understand how busy the holiday season can be. Also, I spent the…

What to Read in November

Thanksgiving is the one holiday that has an absence of canon to support it, which I have often thought is a bummer. For the past couple-few years, I have been on a search to find and read and watch what is available. It isn’t much. Nevertheless, here are my Thanksgiving season and fall recommendations. Christmas…

Book Review: The Jungle Book

Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book—sometimes titled The Jungle Books—is perhaps not what you think it is. It is a collection of short stories. Not all of them are about the jungle. They are all about animals, but some from a human perspective. They are mostly about children, but one is about an adult. Except for…

Book Review: Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline arced brilliantly over the book world when it was published in 2010, not long after Cline’s first screenplay, Fanboys, went to screen. Ready Player One was full of fresh and exciting concepts, was as close to home as sci-fi gets, and was saturated with geeky references to 1980s pop…

Book Review: Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go is science fiction, British, and YA (even though it is frequently also read and enjoyed by grow-ups). It is also written by a widely lauded author (Kazuo Ishiguro) and seems to always be around, “your next read.” But while I expected to like this book as much as, say, The Perks…

Book Review: A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls (2011) by Patrick Ness is a sad, somewhat difficult YA book that borders on a novella and, in the end, is rewarding. It is also magical, but avoids the obnoxiousness of overly-fable-y books to drive home some very real points about coming of age, death, and guilt, while the backstory about this…

More Movie and Show Reviews

This a continuation of the movies and shows I am watching during the writing of a YA trilogy. However, in the spirit of recent awards shows, I have decided to include my favorite movies and shows of 2022. By “of 2022,”, I mean I watched them in 2022. They may be 100 years old (they…

The Rest of the Christmas Movie Reviews

I know you probably didn’t come to The Starving Artist for movie reviews and, well, my expertise is in literature and not movies. But I am a very opinionated movie-viewer, and I often tie movies to books as an experience. However, none of the movies below are related to books or to the writing life.…