Author: Jay Ruud

In Cold Blood Truman Capote (1966) It’s now more than fifty-five years since Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood created a sensation seldom equaled in the history of American letters. The book made six million dollars in the mid- 1960s—the equivalent of, say, $48 million today. It’s hard to argue with that kind of success. But although the… Continue reading In Cold Blood

Atonement Ian McEwan (2001) If you have read much of acclaimed contemporary novelist Ian McEwan’s work, you are well aware that Atonement, which did not win the Booker Prize, is a much better novel than his Amsterdam, which did win it. (Shortlisted in 2001, Atonement lost out to Peter Carey’s impressive True History of the Kelly Gang.) A wider ranging… Continue reading Atonement

An Artist of the Floating World Kazuo Ishiguro (1986) Ishiguro’s second novel is not as well known as his Booker-prize winning Remains of the Day, or his popular and acclaimed Never Let Me Go, but it is in An Artist of the Floating World that Ishiguro hits the stride that will eventually lead him to his 2017 Nobel Prize… Continue reading An Artist of the Floating World

A Quiet Place II John Krasinski2020/2021 Facts for You: Where to Watch: Exclusive to theaters Length: 97 minutes  Names You Might Know: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Djimon Hounsou, John Krasinski Language: English She Said: I’ve been waiting for this film since it almost came out in 2020. When the pandemic shut down theaters, I was waiting… Continue reading A Quiet Place II

Damages (season one) Todd and Glenn Kessler with Daniel Zellman (2007) Facts for You: Where to Watch: Originally on FX, now streaming on Hulu Length: Thirteen 1-hour episodes in the first season Names You Might Know: Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Ted Danson, Željko Ivanek Language: English He Said: If you were disappointed last month to see Glenn Close fail once… Continue reading Damages (season one)