www.richardjespers.com
  • Home
  • Books
  • Journals
  • Blog

'Peoples of the World' Exhibition

6/21/2023

0 Comments

 
A short message to let my readers know that my photograph will appear in an exhibit at the Texas Tech University's International Cultural Center. The Works on Paper exhibit features images of human beings in settings from all over the world. Click here for a link to all the particulars. I've posted a copy of my photograph below, but I encourage you to view the other fine photos, if you can. If you live outside West Texas, you can access a virtual gallery of the exhibition. The ICC always hosts such fine events in its spacious  gallery,  so I hope you can make it. Thanks! RJ
Picture
Doorman at El Avenida Palace Hotel — Barcelona, 2017
0 Comments

On Haitus

6/20/2023

0 Comments

 
I will not be publishing any "Writer's Wit" or "My Book World" posts until July 18! Hope everyone has a fine summer and fine summer holiday! RJ
0 Comments

Thomas Mann: Magician for All Times

6/16/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
One of the tragedies of modern times is that people have come to believe that something said by someone in the past, perhaps for illustrative or provocation purposes, actually represents that person's beliefs at the time.
​Idries Shah
Author of ​Tales of the Dervishes
​Born June 16, 1924
Picture
I. Shah

My Book World

Picture
Tóibín, Colm. The Magician: A Novel. New York: Scribner, 2021.

There aren’t enough superlatives that can be ascribed to this novel, the author of which has published twenty-four other books. This fictionalized story of literary giant, Thomas Mann, is both riveting and sobering. The young Mann writes poetry exalting his also young lovers, all male. But in his Germany he cannot get out of marrying. And in fact, he does marry a woman he loves, and they produce quite a family. The novel traces their lives as they unfold in pre-World War II Europe, and as their lives extend to America, where the Mann’s take up residence. The book as well traces the processes or problems he incurs in writing some of his important works, including Death in Venice. It seems that Tóibín utilizes only the most important details or facts, or otherwise, his five hundred page novel might be twice the journey. A joy to read if you care about world literature and its important authors.

Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Lillian Hellman

WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Ian McEwan
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Adam Schiff
FRI: My Book World | Pat Conroy, The Great Santini


0 Comments

A Writer's Wit: Amy CLampitt

6/15/2023

0 Comments

 
Women who are inclined to write poetry at all are inspired by being mad at something.
​Amy Clampitt, Poet
Author of What the Light Was Like
​Born June 15, 1920
Picture
A. Clampitt
Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World |
Colm Tóibín, The Magician
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Lillian Hellman
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Ian McEwan
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Adam Schiff
0 Comments

A Writer's Wit: Jerzy Kosinski

6/14/2023

0 Comments

 
Gatherings and, simultaneously, loneliness are the conditions of a writer's life.
​Jerzy Kosinski
Author of ​The Painted Bird
​Born June 14, 1933
Picture
J. Kosinski
Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Amy Clampitt
FRI: My Book World | 
Colm Tóibín, The Magician
0 Comments

A Writer's Wit: FAnny Burney

6/13/2023

0 Comments

 
How truly does this journal contain my real and undisguised thoughts—I always write it according to the humour I am in, and if a stranger was to think it worth reading, how capricious—insolent and whimsical I must appear!—one moment flighty and half mad—the next sad and melancholy. No matter! Its truth and simplicity are its sole recommendations.
​Fanny Burney
Author of Camilla
Born June 13, 1752
Picture
F. Burney
Coming Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Jerzy Kosincki

THURS: A Writer's Wit | Amy Clampitt
FRI: My Book World | 
Colm Tóibín, The Magician
0 Comments

Gun Carnage: Uniquely American

6/9/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
Even if you are a best-seller you feel insecure because it is all so unpredictable.
​Patricia Cornwell
Author of ​Body of Evidence
​Born June 9, 1956
Picture
P. Cornwell

My Book World

Picture
Gabor, Thomas, and Fred Guttenberg. With a foreword by Steve Kerr. American Carnage: Shattering the Myths That Fuel Gun Violence. Coral Gables: Mango, 2023.  

This succinct book is a must-read for every person in America. Gabor, a professor in criminology and sociology, and Guttenberg, father of downed Parkland Shooting victim, Jaime, have teamed up to appeal to our better senses about gun violence and gun safety.
 
First, the authors set the historical record straight. For much of our 247-year history, this country has regulated guns. It has only been during the last two or three decades that organizational leadership (not necessarily their members) of the National Rifle Associate (NRA) have sold Americans a phony bill of goods. Instead of concentrating on the formation of state militias only, certain NRA members have glommed onto the Second Amendment to push their gun-toting agenda.
 
Second, the NRA has failed to take the historical context into consideration (what so-called originalists claim to love to do when speaking of the Constitution), that the amendment was designed to help communities protect themselves collectively, not to promote individual gun ownership.
 
Third, the authors tackle, by way of eleven chapters, thirty-seven myths that the NRA et. al. have dreamed up through the years. Just a few of them. Myth 3: America Has and All-Encompassing Gun Culture. Nope. Only three in ten Americans personally own a gun. Myth 6: The Only Consequences of Gun Violence Are Murders.Nope. “Sadly, some victims experience life-altering injuries that have a profound impact on the quality of life. For example, when a person is shot and paralyzed in his twenties, his quality of life will be diminished significantly . . . [w]hen all the above financial costs are taken into account, it has been estimated that the annual cost of gun violence in the US is over $280 billion” (51). Myth 16: The Training Required of Concealed Weapons Permit Holders Prepares Them for Effective Defensive Gun Use. Nope, once again. The authors prove that the carrying of guns can lead to escalation of disputes. Gabor, in an earlier book finds “that ongoing or spontaneous disputes were the most common motives underlying mass shootings” (91). Moreover, “since May 2007, concealed carry permit holders have killed more than two thousand people and committed thirty-seven mass shootings, as well as many other crimes” (91).
 
Authors Gabor and Guttenberg conclude their book with suggestions for what Americans can do, for we all know it will take an upswelling of such citizenry to join the rest of what the civilized world has already accomplished, and that is to reduce and limit the amount of gun violence. From requiring gun owners to secure guns in their homes to leveraging the corporate world to cease doing business with the gun industry to voting, the eighty to ninety percent of citizens who want change can achieve it.

Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Fanny Burney

WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Jerzy Kosinski
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Amy Clampitt
FRI: My Book World | 
Colm Tóibín, The Magician

0 Comments

A Writer's Wit: Frank Lloyd Wright

6/8/2023

0 Comments

 
I say every citizen, good or bad, as a feature of his education should be condemned to spend two nights in one of his own jails.
​Frank Lloyd Wright,  Architect
Author of ​An American Architecture
Born June 8, 1867
Picture
F. L. Wright
Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | Gabor & Guttenberg: American Carnage

TUES: A Writer's Wit | Fanny Bruney
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Jerzy Kosinski
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Amy Clampitt
0 Comments

A Writer's Wit: Gwendolyn Brooks

6/7/2023

0 Comments

 
Reading is important—read between the lines. Don’t swallow everything.
​Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet
Author of ​We Real Cool
​Born June 7, 1917
Picture
G. Brooks
Coming Next:
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Frank Lloyd Wright
FRI: My Book World | Gabor and Guttenberg, 
American Carnage: Shattering the Myths That Fuel Gun Violence (School Safety, Violence in Society)
0 Comments

A Writer's Wit: Marian Wright Edelman

6/6/2023

0 Comments

 
Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time.
​Marian Wright Edelman
Author of 
The Sea Is So Wide and My Boat Is So Small
​Born June 6, 1939
Picture
M. Wright Edelman
Coming Next:
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Gwendolyn Brooks

THURS: A Writer's Wit | Frank Lloyd Wright
FRI: My Book World | Gabor & 
Guttenberg, American Carnage: Shattering the Myths That Fuel Gun Violence (School Safety, Violence in Society) 
0 Comments

A Castle in Air, Truly

6/2/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
A WRITER'S WIT
My thoughts went round and round and it occurred to me that if I ever wrote a novel it would be of the “stream of consciousness” type and deal with an hour in the life of a woman at the sink.
​Barbara Pym
Author of ​Quartet in Autumn
​Born June 2, 1913
Picture
B. Pym

My Book World

Picture
Loe, Nancy E. Hearst Castle: An Interpretive History of W. R. Hearst’s San Simeon Estate. Aramark. Santa Barbara: Companion P, 1994.

I first visited Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California, in 1978. The tour was conducted more like an informal swirl through a friend’s home. The lighting was poor, and items seemed casually thrown together. The second time I visited the park, in 1997, it had been acquired by the state of California and a visit to the new museum was divided into separate tours. My partner and I were so fascinated that we took all four, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. We became so well acquainted with the docent that we later had drinks . . . that is not true . . . I wish. He was a handsome blond man. Anyway, by that time, the entire property had been curated and updated so that it looked more as it would have in its heyday, the 1920s and 1930s.
 
Loe’s book, which I bought on that latter trip, has remained on my shelf until now, but it is no less interesting. The content is as much about the original owner, William Randolph Hearst, newspaper magnate, and his architect partner, the renowned Julia Morgan, as it is about the property itself. In fact, the book seems more about Morgan, an early feminist and a rare woman architect at that time. Hearst may have liked her in part because she was able to create almost every feature he wanted, even if it meant destroying a newly built basement wall to widen his bowling alley to three lanes from two—a whimsy that he scarcely utilized in his lifetime. But he also respected Morgan’s opinion and taste, because she was usually correct in her judgment. I still find the idea fascinating that a mere mortal could make his every wish come true (except that wish to live forever). What it must do to one’s psyche to get one’s way ninety-nine percent of the time.
 
To some eyes, the castle is a mishmash (or is it now mashup?) of every major historical architectural period and every major culture in the world. To others it represents the hubris of the ultrawealthy. To me it sings of the creativity of two people rich with ideas and nearly unlimited resources. Late in life, Hearst would be forced to sell off certain assets in order to take care of his $126 million dollar debt. Now that’s living! And yet he would still hold onto his Casa Grande, as he so fondly called it, for a bit longer.
​Nice work if you can get it!

Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Marian Wright Edelman

WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Gwendolyn Brooks
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Frank Lloyd Wright
FRI: My Book World | Gabor and Guttenberg, 
American Carnage: Shattering the Myths That Fuel Gun Violence (School Safety, Violence in Society)

0 Comments

A Writer's Wit: Christopher Lasch

6/1/2023

0 Comments

 
It is the logic of consumerism that undermines the values of loyalty and permanence and promotes a different set of values that is destructive of family life. 
​Christopher Lasch
Author of 
The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations
Born June 1, 1932
Picture
C. Lasch
Coming Next:
FRI: My Book World | Nancy E. Loe, 
Hearst Castle: An Interpretive History of W. R. Hearst's San Simeon Estate
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Marian Wright Edelman
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Gwendolyn Brooks
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Frank Lloyd Wright
0 Comments
    AUTHOR
    Richard Jespers is a writer living in Lubbock, Texas, USA.

    See my profile at Author Central:
    http://amazon.com/author/rjespers


    Richard Jespers's books on Goodreads
    My Long-Playing Records My Long-Playing Records
    ratings: 1 (avg rating 5.00)


    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011



    Categories

    All
    Acting
    Actors
    African American History
    Aging
    Alabama
    Alaska
    Aldo Leopold
    Andy Warhol
    Arizona
    Arkansas
    Art
    Atrial Fibrillation
    Authors
    Authors' Words
    Barcelona
    Biography
    Blogging About Books
    Blogs
    Books
    California
    Cancer
    Cars
    Catalonia
    Colorado
    Cooking
    Creative Nonfiction
    Culinary Arts
    Deleting Facebook
    Ecology
    Education
    Environment
    Epigraphs
    Essays
    Feminism
    Fiction
    Fifty States
    Film
    Florida
    Georgia
    Grammar
    Greece
    Gun Violence
    Hawaii
    Heart Health
    Historic Postcards
    History
    Humor
    Idaho
    Iowa
    Journalism
    LGBTQ
    Libraries
    Literary Biography
    Literary Journals
    Literary Topics
    Literature
    Maine
    Massachusetts
    Memoir
    Michigan
    Minnesota
    Mississippi
    M K Rawlings
    Musicians
    Nevada
    New Hampshire
    New Mexico
    New Yorker Stories
    Nonfiction
    North Carolina
    Novelist
    Ohio
    Pam Houston
    Parker Posey
    Photography
    Playwrights
    Poetry
    Politics
    Psychology
    Publishing
    Quotations
    Race
    Reading
    Recipes
    Seattle
    Short Story
    South Carolina
    Spain
    Susan Faludi
    Teaching
    Tennessee
    Texas
    Theater
    The Novel
    Travel
    Travel Photographs
    True Crime
    #TuesdayThoughts
    TV
    U.S.
    Vermont
    Voting
    War
    Washington
    Wisconsin
    World War II
    Writer's Wit
    Writing


    RSS Feed

    Blogroll

    alicefrench.wordpress.com
    kendixonartblog.com
    Valyakomkova.blogspot.com

    Websites

    Caprock Writers' Alliance
    kendixonart.com

    tedkincaid.com
    www.trackingwonder.com
    www.skans.edu
    www.ttu.edu
    www.newpages.com
    www.marianszczepanski.com
    William Campbell Contemporary Art, Inc.
    Barbara Brannon.com
    Artsy.net
WWW.RICHARDJESPERS.COM  ©2011-2025
                    BOOKS  PHOTOS  PODCASTS  JOURNALS  BLOG