Showing posts with label are you talking to me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label are you talking to me. Show all posts

Friday, 3 January 2014

Best books I read in 2013

I read quite a few books this year ranging from film studies analyses to the far less academic 50 Shade of Grey trilogy. I also made a start on the Song of Ice and Fire/ Game of Thrones books and hope to get through the rest in 2014. I even got to do quite a few book reviews at both Starburst Magazine and Filmoria. Click the titles to check out my full reviews.



Saw by Benjamin Poole

I'm writing a book on The Blair Witch Project for the Devil's Advocate series published by Auteur and in order to get a better sense of what they are looking for, I read this analysis of Saw from the same series of books. It's a fascinating read and gave me an even greater appreciation for the film.

Studying Fight Club

Seeing as I spend 9 weeks of every year doing exactly what the title says with my A2 Film Studies students, I though it best to read this from cover to cover and make notes on it. Again, a brilliant read for fans of the film!


The Art of Epic

'The Art of Epic does not simply look pretty. Bennett’s prose is also a joy to read; the input from the Blue Sky team being expertly woven into the text and enlightening and inspiring throughout. The Art of Epic is luscious in its level of detail; in short, it’s epic.'

 
Boy Nobody

'Boy Nobody is an easy read and hard to put down from the brusque opening to the explosive climax. It contains a few surprises and a character that has the potential to become more and more interesting as the series continues. It’s not a great piece of literature but it knows its audience and hits the target precisely.'

The Hobbit

I didn't particularly like this book as a child and I didn't particularly like it that much when I read it again this year. That said, there were a couple of moments that Peter Jackson did not include from the book in The Desolation of Smaug that I was not happy about him dismissing. Firstly the way the dwarves enter Beorn's house and secondly the way the dwarves are led off the path in Mirkwood by the wood elves. It's a shame that Jackson felt the need to change these parts as they were two of the most memorable bits from the books.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre by James Rose

'Highly recommended for fans of the film or anyone with an academic interest in horror.'

Are You Talking To Me? A Life Through the Movies

'This was much more biography than I expected with author Walsh detailing his youth in London as he was growing up and the films that helped him make it through to adulthood.'

Green Zone: Imperial Life in the Emerald City

'A depressing look at what happened after America invaded Iraq, tainted by the infrequent promise of what could have been.'

A Game of Thrones

'The dialogue is so brilliantly written that I found myself wanting to talk like the characters all the time.'

Middle Earth Envisioned: The Hobbit and The Lord of theRings: On Screen, On Stage and Beyond

'Middle-earth Envisioned is not for readers who are only interested in Peter Jackson's films or casual Tolkien fans. It is an exhaustive illustrated history of all those who have attempted to bring Tolkien's writing to life. Unless you are already a Tolkien know-it-all who speaks Elvish, you are bound to find plenty here that will leave you inspired to search the internet for further evidence of the weird and the wonderful adaptations of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.'


A Clash of Kings  

Even better than the first, I just cannot get enough of these books. New characters, more bloodshed and a bloody great battle to top it all off. I can't wait to get started on A Storm of Swords next.


50 Shades of Grey
50 Shades Darker

 I'm only reading these so I can contribute to Yahoo on the upcoming film versions. Please don't think any less of me. Here's what I've written so far:
Why aren't more men reading 50 Shades of Grey?
How much sex can 50 Shades of Grey movie get away with?
Do women really love 50 Shades of Grey's Christian Grey?
Will 50 Shades of Grey lingerie make a kinky killing at Christmas?
Why Jamie Dornan must go full frontal in 50 Shades of Grey 

To top it all off, I'm about half way through 50 Shades Freed and have read the first chapter of A Storm of Swords.

My reading for the year sorted!

What have you read in 2013?

Why don't you stay awhile? More 2013 lists from I Love That Film:

TV in 2013: Breaking Bad, Dexter, The Walking Dead, Homeland and more

World Cinema in 2013

Top Documentaries of 2013

2013 List of Shame or 25 films I should have seen this year

2013 Top 10 Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction

2013 Top 10 So Far (written in July)

Best British Films of 2013

Top 25 Films to see in 2014

Wednesday, 21 August 2013

Holiday Reading 2013: Books for Movie Buffs

Wondering what books are worth reading at the moment? Here's what I read on holiday in Thailand and my brief thoughts on each book. All are movie related in some way so please read on if you are a movie buff that needs some books to read.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Devil's Advocates) by James Rose

This is one of the latest of the Devil's Advocates series that critically analyse classic horror films. I'm writing the Devil's Advocate book on The Blair Witch Project as we speak so thought I'd give this a read for inspiration. I've also read Benjamin Poole's Devil's Advocate book on Saw and both are insanely detailed and wonderful to read. I studied TTCSM as part of my dissertation and there was still plenty of material that I found fascinating in Rose's lively, detailed and thoughtful analysis of the film. Highly recommended for fans of the film or anyone with an academic interest in horror. It's a quick read too if you like little books!


Are You Talking to Me? A Life Through the Movies by John Walsh

This was much more biography than I expected with Walsh detailing his youth in London as he was growing up and the films that helped him make it through to adulthood. It's full of the the stuff of youth which should be terribly boring such as Walsh's first kiss but the author mostly keeps it lively and entertaining and he has made me want to watch all the films he discusses in the book from Cabaret to Mutiny on the Bounty. It reminded me a bit of The Film Club which I read on holiday last year but that book was much more emotional. However both made me want to seek out old films that I have not yet seen.


Green Zone: Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekran

Meticulously researched account of the first year after the (mostly) Americans occupied Baghdad and tried to rebuild it in their image. Made into a film starring Matt Damon and directed by Paul Greengrass, this book is all non-fiction and therefore is filled with facts, figures, names and places being recited by an author who clearly did his research. For the most part it does not overwhelm in detail and Chandrasekran has found a way to tell his story fluently and clearly. People call it a black comedy but I often failed to see the funny side. It made me frustrated and angry mainly despite not being completely unsympathetic to the occasionally noble causes of the Americans flown in to sort out the new Iraq. Still, a depressing look at what happened tainted by the infrequent promise of what could have been.

 
A Game of Thrones

I never thought I was going to get through the above 3 books but I did with about a week of holiday left so I wandered into a used book shop on the island of Ko Lanta and found they had weathered copies of the first two books of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series so I snapped them both up despite them adding an enormous amount of weight to my already stuffed backpack. But boy was I glad I did. I got gastroenteritis towards the end of the holiday and so spent even more time sitting around the pool or on the beach reading. Despite the fact I have already seen series 1 of HBO's Game of Thrones, I loved every minute of this book which covers the same ground. The dialogue is so brilliantly written that I found myself wanting to talk like the characters all the time. I swear the writers of the show must have it pretty damn easy as the book is so well written with the characters being so clear from their wonderfully crafted dialogue. I'm now about 100 pages into the second book A Clash of Kings and will soon be catching up with where I am in the TV show. I can't wait to get ahead so I won't have to worry about spoilers any longer!


What have you been reading recently? Any recommendations for a fellow film buff?

More book reviews from I Love That Film:

Holiday Reading: Mark Kermode, Film Club, Robopocalypse

Book Review: THE ART OF EPIC - Starburst

Boy Nobody Book Review - Filmoria