Author Archives: davetcourt

Reading Journal 2023: A Haunted House And Other StoriesAuthor: Virginia Woolf It certainly can get a bit frustrating, especially when you get a few stories in to this collection, for Virginia Woolf’s prose to be as ambiguous and hard to narrow down as it is. There are moments where I wanted, or perhaps needed, someContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: A Haunted House And Other Stories”

Book Journal 2023: Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and The Shalom of GodAuthor: Matthew Lynch The tagline on the back cover poses the question “what do we do with a God who enacts and condones violence”. Narrowing in on two of the most essential narratives in the Bible associated with violence- the flood storyContinue reading “Book Journal 2023: Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and The Shalom of God”

Reading Journal 2023: The Color Purple Author: Alice Walker My feelings about this classic are complex. Real, but complex. Alice Walker’s exploration of the lives of African American women is both stark and raw in its appraoch. Nothing is buried here, and the book glides through many an uncomfortable reality without censorship. If that doesContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: The Color Purple”

Reading Journal 2023: The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing In a Toxic CultureAuthor: Gabor and Daniel Mate Might be the biggest letdown of the year for me given its hype. That’s what happens when you wait forever for your Library hold to become available. And that is not to suggest that there weren’tContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing In a Toxic Culture”

Film Journal 2023: The Killer Directed by David Fincher Came into this one with high hopes. Found myself slightly let down. I feel like I understand what it wanted to be- a smart, patient, artsy thriller. I also feel like it thinks it’s better than it actually ends up being on all those fronts. AContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: The Killer”

Film Journal 2023: Anatomy of a FallDirected by Justine Triet At one point during this riveting legal thriller, one of the characters ruminates about the uncertainties surrounding the issues on trial, suggesting that when we are faced with doubts about what is true and what is not, at some point we simply need to chooseContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: Anatomy of a Fall”

Reading Journal 2023: Milwaukee Mayhem: Murder and Mystery in the Cream City’s First Century Author: Matthew Prigge I visited Brewtown, or Cream City last summer. While I had been to and through Chicago a few times over the years, I had always been intrigued by its much smaller counterpart barely an hour north over theContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: Milwaukee Mayhem: Murder and Mystery in the Cream City’s First Century”

Reading Journal 2023: Sleep Author: Lynn Biederstadt Picked this up at my local bookshop. A random paperback with an alluring and interesting cover. Felt like it would be a good fit for spooky season, and it turned out to be a decent page turner. It’s not out and out scary as far as horror goes,Continue reading “Reading Journal 2023: Sleep”

Film Journal 2023: Five Nights at Freddy’s Directed by Emma Tammi My entire frame of reference for Five Nights at Freddy’s was: 1. It is based on a video game 2..it stars Peeta from the Hunger Games From what I knew it was a single concept idea given a feature length story. What I knowContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: Five Nights at Freddy’s”

Film Journal 2023: Priscilla Directed by Sofia Coppola One of the things that Sofia Coppola’s films tend to ask of viewers is to expect to have a complicated relationship with an iinitial viewing, but to also trust that subsequent viewings will ultimately bring the pieces together in a coherent fashion. She is not prone toContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: Priscilla”