Film Books I'm Reading

Gosh, "film books" seems like yet another oxymoron. Like audio books, motion picture, and press release. A long while back I blogged a few books I'd planned to read: Dress Your Family in Courdoroy and Denim by David Sedaris, The Hit by Jere Hoar, and The Secret by Eva Hoffman. Of these, I found The Secret to be by far the most compelling. While DYFICAD was a witty and interesting read, I found it not as absorbing as I had expected (due to its excellent reviews).

The Secret is a novel that quickly establishes Hoffman has strong control over language, being thoughtfully written, and a very interesting topic to handle. Now, it felt frustrating to have figured out the secret so early on; and have the protagonist take so long to catch up, but that ultimately is forgivable. Quite an interesting introduction to an author I'll likely read more of.

I'd also picked up a bargain book from Green Apple Books called Teek by Steven Krane. I find this book is right up there with a lot of sci-fi-ish books, with a great pace, story and some interesting developments along the way. I liked it so much I got another Krane read Stranger Inside, which I felt was pretty flat and not up to the standard I had hoped- after reading Teek with so much enthusiasm.

Just before Acorn Books went out of business (a week ago) I picked up Ken Follett's Code to Zero and it is a very likeable story. Follett is great at crafting what I deem "Historical Fiction," based around historical events, with a strong dose of fiction in the recipe. While not his best work (I like the Key to Rebecca, Eye of the Needle, Paper Money, and Hammer of Eden), it is a fast read, worthy of your time if you find any of his other work enjoyable.

Currently, I am taking my time on reading. I've gotten into a new project: working on writing my first screenplay. It's a major event for me, and will require a significant amount of time and energy. Luckily, I have a good person to work with as a sounding board and some directional/dialogue help along the way. I'm working on getting it completed for a pitch meeting by sometime early-to-middle of next year. The learning process takes time- as will the actual writing. You can look for my film in theatres by about... two-thousand-oh-never. ha. Only time will tell. Just getting it sold would be a tremendous success.

That said, my reading palette now includes: Story by Robert McKee and a few books I picked up from the Big Book Sale courtesy of the SF Public Library: The Portable Film School by D.B. Giles, Jacob's Ladder (screenplay) by Bruce Joel Rubin, and Fade In (2nd ed) by Robert A. Berman. So far I am about 1/3 through Story, and it is a very, very comprehensive book about the craft of screenplay writing. I am impressed with the thoroughness of insight and examples McKee draws from throughout the book.

A quick note: X-Men 3: The Last Stand releases on dvd this week. I found out (from mintcar) about a film that premiered at Cannes this year: Daft Punk's Electroma. Looks like a film I could very well enjoy. Some stunning imagery, and a sci-fi story line. If you read French, you can follow this article.

I should be blogging a few times a week from now on. Somehow, from Labor Day weekend on, my visitor stats dropped significantly and it has me baffled as to whether peeps are still visiting my blog. I am STILL having MAJOR problems publishing posts using Blogger... So that adds some tedium to new blog posts. Ah well, anyways. Cheers.

image credits: Daft Punk's Electroma from culturecafe.midiblogs.com