Anne Lamott, on writing and reading:

Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation.

It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea.

You can't stop the raging storm,
but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.
 
- Anne Lamott.

Recommended reading - The Blue Hammer

The Blue Hammer

by Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

First published 1976.

ISBN-10: 0307279065

ISBN-13: 978-0307279064

Description:

The desert air is hot with sex and betrayal, death and madness and only Detective Lew Archer can make sense of a killer who makes murder a work of art.

Finding a purloined portrait of a leggy blonde was supposed to be an easy paycheck for Archer, but that was before the bodies began piling up. Suddenly, Archer find himself smack in the middle of a decades-long mystery of a brilliant artist who walked into the desert and simply disappeared. He left behind a bevy of muses, molls, dolls, and dames-each one scrambling for what they thought was rightfully theirs.

Born on this day – Winchell Smith:

 

Winchell Smith

Writer

April 5, 1871 – June 10, 1933

Credits:

Three on a Spree (1961); Broadway Television Theatre (1952); Kraft Theatre (1949–1951); The Hurricane at Pilgrim Hill (1950); Brewster's Millions (1945); Brewster's Millions (1935); Lightnin' (1930); The Love Doctor (1929); The Fortune Hunter (1927); Going Crooked (1926); Miss Brewster's Millions (1926); Thank You (1925); The Wheel (1925); Lightnin' (1925); The Boomerang (1925); The Bandolero (1924); The Saphead (1920); The Lambs' All-Star Gambol (1914).

Born on this day – Walter Huston:

Walter Huston

Actor

Singer

April 5, 1883 – April 7, 1950

Born on this day – Spencer Tracy:

Spencer Tracy

Actor

April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967

Born on this day – Richard Eberhart:

 

Richard Eberhart

Writer

April 5, 1904 – June 9, 2005

Born on this day – Bette Davis:

Bette Davis

Actress

April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989

Credits:

Wicked Stepmother (1989); The Whales of August (1987); As Summers Die (1986); Murder with Mirrors (1985); Hotel (1983); Right of Way (1983); Little Gloria... Happy at Last (1982); A Piano for Mrs. Cimino (1982); Family Reunion (1981); Skyward (1980); The Watcher in the Woods (1980); White Mama (1980); Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979); Death on the Nile (1978); Return from Witch Mountain (1978); The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978); Laugh-In (1977); The Disappearance of Aimee (1976); Burnt Offerings (1976); Hello Mother, Goodbye! (1974); Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973); The Judge and Jake Wyler (1972); The Scopone Game (1972); Madame Sin (1972); Bunny O'Hare (1971); Connecting Rooms (1970); It Takes a Thief (1970); The Anniversary (1968); Gunsmoke (1966); The Decorator (1965); The Nanny (1965); Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964); Where Love Has Gone (1964); Dead Ringer (1964); The Empty Canvas (1963); Perry Mason (1957); The Virginian (1962); What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962); Wagon Train (1959–1961); Pocketful of Miracles (1961)The DuPont Show with June Allyson (1959); The Scapegoat (1959); John Paul Jones (1959); Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1959); Suspicion (1958); General Electric Theater (1957–1958); Studio 57 (1958); Telephone Time (1957); The Ford Television Theatre (1957); Schlitz Playhouse (1957); The Catered Affair (1956); Storm Center (1956); The 20th Century-Fox Hour (1956); The Virgin Queen (1955); The Star (1952); Phone Call from a Stranger (1952); Another Man's Poison (1951); Payment on Demand (1951); All About Eve (1950); Breakdowns of 1949 (1949); Beyond the Forest (1949); June Bride (1948); Winter Meeting (1948); Deception (1946); A Stolen Life (1946); The Corn Is Green (1945); Hollywood Canteen (1944); Mr. Skeffington (1944); Old Acquaintance (1943); Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943); Watch on the Rhine (1943); Now, Voyager (1942); In This Our Life (1942); The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942); The Little Foxes (1941); The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941); Shining Victory (1941); The Great Lie (1941); The Letter (1940); All This, and Heaven Too (1940); If I Forget You (1940); The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939); The Old Maid (1939); Juarez (1939); Dark Victory (1939); The Sisters (1938); Jezebel (1938); That Certain Woman (1937); It's Love I'm After (1937); Kid Galahad (1937); A Day at Santa Anita (1937); Marked Woman (1937); Satan Met a Lady (1936); The Golden Arrow (1936); The Petrified Forest (1936); Dangerous (1935); Special Agent (1935); Front Page Woman (1935); The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935); Bordertown (1935); Housewife (1934); Of Human Bondage (1934); Fog Over Frisco (1934); Jimmy the Gent (1934); Fashions of 1934 (1934); The Big Shakedown (1934); Just Around the Corner (1933); Bureau of Missing Persons (1933); Ex-Lady (1933); The Working Man (1933); Parachute Jumper (1933). 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932); Three on a Match (1932); The Cabin in the Cotton (1932); The Dark Horse (1932); The Rich Are Always with Us (1932); So Big! (1932); Hell's House (1932); The Man Who Played God (1932); The Menace (1932); Way Back Home (1931); Waterloo Bridge (1931); Seed (1931); Bad Sister (1931).