Ignore the stars. They will not
I’ve read 3 more books since my last update. They were small, but also I have been getting a lot more reading done by riding the bus. It’s also saving me money on gas. The last book I finished, On Directing Film, was really excellent. I’m not a huge fan of Mamet’s movies, and I thought this book wouldn’t be very good, but it’s actually a really remarkable treatise on how to construct a film optimally. He has really only one idea — that a film should be made of scenes, a scene of shots and that as each film has a reason, so does each scene and so does each shot. Each shot should be “uninflected” and the meaning of each shot should be understood through the cuts entering and leaving it. It’s a simple idea, and very well presented, mainly through Socratic dialogue. I’d recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in the construction of film. I might even enjoy Mamet’s movies more now that I know better his philosophy.
Anyways.
1. Neil Gaiman – Anansi Boys – 1-6-08 (287 pp)
2. Jonathan Vankin – The Big Book of Bad – 1-7-08 (93 pp)
3. W. Michael Gear – The Warriors of Spider – 1-16-08 (367 pp)
4. Max Brooks – World War Z – 1-19-08 (342 pp)
5. Bill Watterson – The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, Vol. 2 – 1-20-08 (240 pp)
6. Hari Kunzru – Transmission – 1-27-08 (276 pp)
7. Bill Watterson – The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, Vol. 3 – 1-30-08 (240 pp)
8. W. Michael Gear – The Way of Spider – 2-7-08 (408 pp)
9. Dick Francis – Hot Money – 2-12-08 (423 pp)
10. W. Micheal Gear – The Web of Spider – 2-21-08 (648 pp)
11. Philip José Farmer – The Maker of Universes – 2-22-08 (247 pp)
12. Samuel R. Delany – Empire Star – 2-23-08 (132 pp)
13. Philip José Farmer – The Gates of Creation – 2-25-08 (188 pp)
14. Neil Gaiman – Don’t Panic – 2-27-08 (182 pp)
15. Philip José Farmer – A Private Cosmos – 2-29-08 (275 pp)
16. Chuck Palahniuk – Fight Club – 3-1-08 (218 pp)
17. Philip José Farmer – Behind the Walls of Terra – 3-3-08 (188 pp)
18. John Swartzwelder – The Time Machine Did It – 3-4-08 (138 pp)
19. Philip José Farmer – The Lavalite World – 3-6-08 (282 pp)
20. David Mamet – On Directing Film – 3-7-08 (107 pp)
Totals:
Books: 20
Pages: 5281
Until next time.