As a writer, I came to Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act for the same magic he imparted to the late Johnny Cash, and I was not disappointed.
Rubin wants artists to drop their agendas and expectations and just focus on their work in an open channel sort of way. Keep the inputs coming. Sort out what helps the work and discard the rest. If you are like me, interested in creating the best art in this singular moment, then read Rick Rubin, the guy who brought new life to Johnny Cash by just lying down on a couch and closing his eyes.
From the legendary music producer, a master at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book many years in the making that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us.
"A gorgeous and inspiring work of art on creation, creativity, the work of the artist. It will gladden the hearts of writers and artists everywhere, and get them working again with a new sense of meaning and direction. A stunning accomplishment.” —Anne Lamott
“I set out to write a book about what to do to make a…
As a writer, I came to Linda Lappin’s novel Loving Modigliani because I am fascinated by Modigliani and his art, and, yes, this book is a meticulously researched fictional biography, but it’s also a depiction of the business of art and a fable about the artistic impulse for eternity—complex to say the least.
If you are after a simple novel with Amedeo Modigliani as its star, you will be disappointed. But if you want a novel that is not only partially told by his last lover Jeanne Hébuterne but also deals with the artistic paradox of reduction and eternity, then dive right in.
Amedeo Modigliani, embittered and unrecognized genius, dies of meningitis on a cold January day in Montparnasse in 1920. Jeanne Hébuterne, his young wife and muse, follows 48 hours later, falling backwards through a window. Now a ghost, Jeanne drifts about the studio she shared with Modigliani—for she was not only his favorite model, but also an artist whose works were later shut away from public view after her demise. Enraged, she watches as her belongings are removed from the studio and her identity as an artist seemingly effaced for posterity, carried off in a suitcase by her brother. She then…
When I listen to Sinéad O’Connor, her voice strikes a deep and unique chord, and when I read her biography Rememberings, the same.
Her book is a series of discrete scenes arranged roughly in time order. Her description of people, events, and feelings is immediate and honest. When she relates a scene with her Aunt Frances, I believe she is six. Through reading her book, I better understand that she was a simple soul with complex psychology, a paradox.
She writes that she made a contract “with the Holy Spirit before she made one with the music business.” I now better understand why she was deliberately misunderstood. Society doesn’t tolerate people like Sinéad who live up to that contract.
From the acclaimed, controversial singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor comes a revelatory memoir of her fraught childhood, musical triumphs, fearless activism, and of the enduring power of song.
Blessed with a singular voice and a fiery temperament, Sinéad O’Connor rose to massive fame in the late 1980s and 1990s with a string of gold records. By the time she was twenty, she was world famous—living a rock star life out loud. From her trademark shaved head to her 1992 appearance on Saturday Night Live when she tore up Pope John Paul II’s photograph, Sinéad has fascinated and outraged millions.
In Radio Free Olympia, Washington’s wild Olympic Peninsula is embodied through a captivating circle of visionaries and characters. Embark on a riveting journey into this untamed region, where folklore legends and historical icons come to life in this complex ecological tapestry.
Follow the enigmatic Petr, a foundling whose path leads him deep into the heart of the majestic mountain rainforest. Armed with nothing but a pirate radio transmitter, Petr fearlessly broadcasts the forgotten and untamed voices that echo through the wilderness. Venture deeper into this mystical world and encounter Baie, the founder of Wildsisters, a roadhouse monastery for lost women infused with the essence of cranberries, who offers solace to the lost and wayward souls who cross her path.
