greg cantwell @gregmcantwell

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott begins with her origins as a writer and morphs into a brilliant dissertation on how to become one without losing your damn mind. Packed with empathy, humor and wit. I'd recommend this to anyone who has ever wanted to write a…

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "The Lede" by Calvin Trillin is a collection of essays, articles and observations from his long career with Time, The New Yorker and The Nation. Funny, witty, intelligent. I particularly liked his pieces on Miami crime reporter Edna Buchanan and NYT bon…

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: As I tore through "The Uninhabitable Earth," David Wallace-Wells' superb breakdown of the climate crisis, I found myself thinking of JFK's quote, "In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe…

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "For the Love of Men" by Liz Plank should be required reading for everyone on the planet. Why? Because "toxic masculinity" affects everyone, and her concept of moving towards a healthier, more "mindful masculinity" is an intelligent, well-thought out…

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "Journalistic Writing" by Robert M. Knight teaches readers how to craft a great lede, organize a story and write crisply, using action words and avoiding cliches. @BrooksElms, I think this would be useful for aspiring screenwriters. Two thumbs up!…

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry" by Neil DeGrasse Tyson breaks down the origins of the universe with NDGT's trademark wonder and wit. A fascinating book. My favorite line— “The power and beauty of physical laws is that they apply everywhere, whether…

Just felt another small but noticeable tremor here in Brooklyn.

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "The Fight" by Norman Mailer is a time capsule from an era when major literary figures like Mailer and George Plimpton worked the boxing beat. What happens when a novelist covers a sporting event? You get vivid lines like this— "In the corner Sadler was…

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "Farewell, My Lovely" by Raymond Chandler has all the conventions of the genre—the tough private dick, the shady crime boss, the crooked cops and the femme fatale, but what elevates Chandler over his peers is his ability to take a nothing scene and invest…

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds" by Michael Hauge offers clear-eyed advice for preparing and delivering great pitches. The foundational concept—think of a pitch as a trailer, its goal is making people want to read your work. @BrooksElms would love this…

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath. You'd expect a novel about depression & suicidal ideation, written by a woman who later took her own life, to be wrenching. It is. This line, when the narrator undergoes electro-shock therapy—"She set something on my tongue…

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston is a stunning work, filled with sadness, wisdom and gorgeous lines, like this one: "The sun was gone, but he had left his footprints in the sky." Two thumbs up. #BookReview

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "Zen in the Art of Writing" by Ray Bradbury chronicles his career as a writer of novels (Fahrenheit 451), scripts (Moby Dick) and short-stories. He also offers great tips on how to improve as a writer. I loved this line—"Let the world burn through you.…

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "The Art and Craft of Feature Writing" by William E. Blundell illustrates the methods he used to crank out first rate work for the Journal. His thinking on theme, clarity and organization apply to any style of writing. Two thumbs up! #BookReview

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "Playback" by Raymond Chandler has a light plot but you don't read Chandler for plot. You read it for hard-boiled edge and great lines like this one: "Wherever I went, whatever I did, this was what I would come back to. A blank wall in a meaningless room…

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov. The Devil goes to Moscow, and wreaks absolute havoc. Filled with dark satire of Soviet-era hypocrisy and sinister references to Stalin's purges. Wickedly funny. Two thumbs up. #BookReview

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "End Zone" by Don DeLillo is a darkly comic novel about a West Texas college football team and a host of odd obsessions—Nuclear war, insects, and the responsibilities of beauty. Two thumbs up, for people who enjoy strange, cerebral books. #BookReview

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf. Told over the course of a single day that culminates in a posh London party. Its emotional force lies not in what is said, but in what is felt. Isn't that life?We feel more than we ever say. Two thumbs up. #BookReview

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K. Dick is justifiably lauded for its vision, but the movie—"Blade Runner"—better conveys the replicants' desperate drive to extend their lives. Two thumbs up, for sci-fi fans. #BookReviews

Bite-Sized Book Reviews: "The Screwtape Letters," by C.S. Lewis takes the form of a series of letters, from a senior demon to his nephew, advising him of the best ways to corrupt men's souls. Perverse and darkly funny, but repetitive. One thumb up. #BookReview