Category Archives: Reviews

End of Year Reading

Posted on December 29, 2017 by Gabriella West

As the new year approaches, I’m burying myself in a good biography, something I love to do. This one is Douglas Botting’s bio of Gerald Durrell, which is available on Kindle US for the bewilderingly cheap price of $1.99 (it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in creativity and its discontents, News, Reviews, Writing | Tagged A Knight's Tale: Kenilworth, alcoholism, biography, Botting, depression, Gerald Durrell, happiness, Kindle, New Year, preorder, success | Leave a comment

The Downhill Slide: Two Literary Biographies

Posted on December 18, 2016 by Gabriella West

Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin Manderley Forever: A Biography of Daphne du Maurier by Tatiana de Rosnay Literary biography can be such a depressing genre, although I read it, I realize, to feel vicariously alive, to really … Continue reading →

Posted in creativity and its discontents, LGBT, Reviews, Writing | Tagged 1950s, anxiety, barbiturates, bisexuality, Cornwall, Daphne du Maurier, daughters, dominance, Dublin, feminist, France, Gertrude Lawrence, ghosts, haunted lives, lesbian, life, literary biography, London, marriage, Menabilly, mothers, old age, Rebecca, Ruth Franklin, Shirley Jackson, Stanley Edgar Hyman, Tatiana de Rosnay, truth, Vermont, women's lives | 3 Comments

Review: Paul McCartney, The Life by Philip Norman

Posted on August 21, 2016 by Gabriella West

Paul McCartney, The Life. Philip Norman. Kindle Edition, 2016, $15.99 I loved Philip Norman’s revealing biography of John Lennon. This hefty volume doesn’t quite match up, but that may not be Norman’s fault. McCartney has lived 36 years longer than … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged babycham night, biography, control, George Harrison, Heather Mills, Jane Asher, John Lennon, loss, paul mccartney, philip norman, review, the beatles | Leave a comment

Review: Lust & Wonder, A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Gabriella West

Oscar Wilde once famously said that all women become like their mothers; that’s their tragedy. He added, “No man does. That’s his.” Wilde was implying that all men become like their fathers. The fact is, the last book I read … Continue reading →

Posted in Abuse & Recovery, LGBT, Reviews | Tagged anxiety, augusten burroughs, borderline personality disorder, dry, gay men, lust and wonder, memoir, PTSD, relationships, running with scissors | 2 Comments

Predicted Golden Globe Winners

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Gabriella West

Originally posted on L.R. Albright:
Best Picture – Drama Spotlight Carol Mad Max: Fury Road Room The Revenant It seems that Spotlight is the front-runner this season, though in my eyes, it’s a weak one. It’s possible that any of the…

Posted in News, Reviews | Tagged acting, awards, film, golden globes | Leave a comment

New Year; A Look Back at Reading

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Gabriella West

Well, it’s January 1, and last year was so busy with both writing and editing work that I didn’t get to tend to this blog as much as I should have. So here’s a little recap. Thinking back to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Abuse & Recovery, LGBT, Reviews, Writing | Tagged 2015, cutting, ebooks, great American novel, Hanya Yanagihara, intimacy, Kindle, Oliver Sacks, pain, Peter Hujar, reading, sex, sexual abuse, sexuality, suicide, survival, trauma | Leave a comment

Elsie Street by Gabriella West: A Book Review

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Gabriella West

Originally posted on The Lone Writer: Shannon Yarbrough:
There’s always an intriguing story and interesting characters to look forward to when reading something new from Gabriella West. Her latest, Elsie Street, is no different. I pre-ordered it and enjoyed reading…

Posted in LGBT, Reviews, San Francisco, Writing | Tagged Amazon, Elsie Street, gay romance, review, Shannon Yarbrough | Leave a comment

Review: On the Move, A Life by Oliver Sacks

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Gabriella West

When I first got acquainted with the neurologist Oliver Sacks and his work, it was through Awakenings, both the book and the movie. I was a young woman then and Oliver Sacks was someone to look up to. He also … Continue reading →

Posted in LGBT, Reviews | Tagged addiction, Awakenings, cancer, gay men, healing, Jewish, LGBT, London, memoir, motorcycles, neurologist, New York, Oliver Sacks, On the Move, San Francisco, weightlifting | Leave a comment

Review: A Long Way from Paris

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Gabriella West

With the arrival of spring comes thoughts of greenery, young animals, travel, and so on. Not long ago, I happened to stumble on a memoir by an unfamiliar writer, E.C. Murray, called A Long Way from Paris and loaded it on my Kindle. … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Travel | Tagged 1980s, A Long Way from Paris, E.C. Corcoran, France, French, goats, language, memoir, paris, review, small press, spring | 2 Comments

You Can’t See The Interview, But I Did

Posted on December 17, 2014 by Gabriella West

Just bizarre! Since the new James Franco-Seth Rogen movie The Interview has been CANCELED—which I find outrageous—due to North Korea’s breathing down the neck of the studio, Sony, here is at least a review of the movie from “Time.” What … Continue reading →