ARYA'S WRITING & READING BLOG

Feeling overwhelmed? Join the club. Feeling overwhelmed right now is normal, but sometimes a good book can lighten the load. Books, as any avid reader knows, have the power to change, transform and enlighten us. I feel intensely, therefore I write and read. Books help me to stay on track emotionally and spiritually. They are my escape to  what is important and valuable in life and art. The books I'm going to recommend are wildly diverse, although all are considered inspirational. I've read some but not all of my recommendations. With two exceptions these books were all published recently.  There are numerous authors not mentioned whose entire oeuvre I find inspirational, consistently yielding lightness and offering rare vantage points and light-- Ann Patchett and Amy Tan come to mind immediately. Reading virtually any of the many works produced by either of these authors is likely to put you in a state of wonder and awe and to bring you powerfully into a sense of your own co...

Note to artists and writers: those elements in your work that bother people the most are probably the very ones you should cultivate. In my novel, Punk Disco Bohemian , I set out to rub people the wrong way w a transgressive approach to plot, for one. I wanted people to think differently about time, space and memory, and even alerted the reader about that at the start of my book. Sure enough, it was the very aspect two reviewers, one a transgressive writer herself, seized upon as the novel's weakness.  In the long run the criticisms please me as contradiction is necessary to any conversation about art and, personally, I don't believe anything that is praised exclusively is likely to have a long life beyond the cultural moment in which it was conceived.  I've found and continue to find that utter fearlessness and constant experimentation are the keys to growing artistically. Not everything is going to work, but if you don't go off the deep end from time to time, you won...

House of Gucci , a two and a half hour operatic-style extravaganza, is currently streaming on Netflix and is worth watching exclusively for Lady Gaga 's performance as the lead character Patricia Reggiani , a real life personage (still alive). The 2021 film, directed by Scott Ridley , is a take off on a scandalous true story about the Italian fashion empire and has a big-name cast that includes Adam Driver as Maurizio Guzzi , Al Pacino as his uncle Aldo Gucci , Jeremy Irons as Maurizio's father Rodolfo Gucci , and Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci , Maurizio's cousin. Whether you take this film seriously or as an invigorating dose of camp, replete with memorable disco songs and 70s fashion and styles, it's Lady Gaga's acting and scenes you will want to watch, as she simply steals the entire movie. An espresso and Napoleon while watching House of Gucci would have surely added to the fun. A critical PS: I've told myself I will not make fun of other actors or neg...

  The Assistant on Netflix is a 2019 movie starring Julia Garner ( Ozark ) in a harrowing role as a young aspiring producer named Jane who is hugely overworked and underlooked in a male-driven company. The film, which runs about an hour and a half, takes the viewer through the complicated tedium of Jane's days and her struggles not to become overwhelmed by petty and gross injustices as she starts to uncover her boss's sexual secrets. I had to double and triple check the setting/date of the movie which so accurately depicted horrors I endured working as an admin assistant for various companies, including non-profits, in the late 80s and early 90s, when I was fresh out of a little ivy league college and only knew I wanted mostly to write, and primarily make money so I could do what I wanted artistically. To realize that this is a present-day story in which nothing, absolutely nothing has changed from what I knew working dead end jobs in the early 90s brought a double punch to...

If there has ever been a time for inspiring true stories about women, this is it. LILLY , on Netflix, is a true story about Lilly Ledbetter , the factory worker turned national hero as she became a courageous advocate for fair pay, which led to the passing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 . Who better to star in this role than Patricia Clarkson , who has left another indelible mark in her acting career playing Ledbetter with characteristic unflinching emotional honesty, precision and grace.   LILLY is a film about a quiet, hard-working, southern gal, deeply sure of certain values, which include love of her family and the importance of fighting for what's right even in the face of great opposition. The film has a solid cast that also features actual footage of Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg sharing her dissenting opinion and lending insight into this important case. And once again, Clarkson steals the show with her sure portrayal of an undervalued woman who...

Dear Fellow Authors and Readers: For your interest, here are some recent and upcoming publications:  " Gloria ," prose poetry , in Thorn & Bloom , Issue 3 " Venus On the Rocks ," a noir-inspired short short, in Screaming Beyond Borders anthology " Sarah Vaughan Performing ," poetry, audio and text, in Jerry Jazz Musician , 11/23/25 " Night Swim ," creative nonfiction , in Rockvale Review , 11/30/25 Detailed postings about these and other forthcoming publications will appear on my website, aryafjenkins.com . Thanks. And keep the love and inspiration coming by doing what you do and love best.  Recipe for writers :  Write, review, let sit, revisit and edit . Re-write, review, let sit, revisit and edit. Do it until there isn't a word you disagree with on either your worst or best day. Then, submit . Happy day, all!                                       ...