that have to do with filmmaking? Or actually, just any recommendations in general?

The Day of the Locust.

Nothing to do with filmmaking, but some great reading nonetheless:

Enders Game
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (obviously)
Any of the Jeeves and Wooster series by P.G. Wodehouse (the second great comic writer of all time, next to Douglas Adams)

A good fiction novel that has to do with filmmaking is Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way. It's a good easy read that is fun if you're a fan of Bruce's movies.

quote:

Originally posted by laudy32:
A good fiction novel that has to do with filmmaking is Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way. It's a good easy read that is fun if you're a fan of Bruce's movies.

If Chins Could Kill is far superior. Make Love seems like a cheap clone of If chins could kill. Plus it's way over priced and too short.

Basically anything by Frank Herbert
- specifically, the first four Dune novels and Soulcatcher

Tolkien

Hemingway

Neal Stephenson

These are all very visual writers. Hemingway especially is great at structuring stories into 'scenes' and 'shots'. Steinbeck is also good at constructing narratives.

As far as recent fiction:

"War Trash" by Ha Jin
"Beasts of No Nation" by Uzodinma Iweala

Can you tell I like war stories?

Film books:

"Sculpting in Time" by Andrei Tarkovsky
a must read for any filmmaker

"Filmmaking" by Alexander Mackendrick
ditto

"Rebel Without a Crew" by Rodriguez
mostly production anecdotes, but some pithy aesthetic and structural comments also

"Kieslowski on Kieslowski"
maybe out of print, but excellent

Anything by Ray Bradbury - esp. Fahrenheit 451

You might enjoy The Mixerman Diaries. Even though it's about the music industry, it's still production and, in which case, I'm sure has enough parallels to film to be relevant and enjoyable.

elliott (otiose)...

The Da Vinci Code... I can hear all your groans already: I know he can't write, damn it. But if you're familiar with basic Christianity, that book will knock you flat on your ass, especially if you've believed everything they told you at sunday school all your life.

Ender's Game (One of the best novels)
Ender's Shadow (Same story, different POV)
Shadow of the Giant (basically, what the world's coming to. Read the two Ender books before hand though).
Lord of the Rings (yes, its one novel! )
Sphere (The end plays with your head)
Sword of Shannara (Not great, but fun)
Uncle Tom's Cabin (Sad, sad book)
Huckleberry Finn (Fun, and its Mark Twain, so its funny)
Where the Red Fern Grows (I cried at the end).
The Wheel of Tme Series (Its like 15 books long, but the character development is extraordinary)

Wow, I just realized how many books I've read and how many of them I didn't like. Lol. These are the only one's.

P.S. The Da Vinci code was intended to be fictional. But people screwed it up. Kind of like everybody believed in Scientology after that one book even though its intention was fictional entertainment.

And I forgot (walked into my room and looked at book case)
The Poisonwood Bible
What to Say When you Talk to Yourself
The Splinter Cell Books

quote:

P.S. The Da Vinci code was intended to be fictional. But people screwed it up. Kind of like everybody believed in Scientology after that one book even though its intention was fictional entertainment.

I know the story is fiction... but I thought the facts it walks on were all based on some pretty hard research. It all seems so logical, but I haven't read much about the book so I wouldn't know.

Oh, I see what you mean. Kind of like National Treasure had a lot of facts but it still was based on fiction.

im not sure this counts as a novel, really, but i think all filmmakers should read "Making Movies" by Sidney Lumet. Especially if you're a fan of his work, its by far the best filmmaking-related book i've ever read.

If you want to read about film, and pick up a few things, but not in a textbook "do this, now do this, then do this" context, I'd try a few biographies. Pick out your favourite director, writer, actor, whoever. I usually read screenwriter and director's biographies because I figure they can write much better than actors.

Anyway, biographies tell stories, and entertain, while allowing certain insights allong the way which is a refreshing change from "Understanding Movies". I just finished Norman Jewison's "This Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me" and, in all honestly, the first things that comes to mind when I try to reflect on what I've learned from that book is that he smoked pot and John Wayne tried to fight him. Oh, and when he was directing F.I.S.T, Stallone tried to change the script to his liking and Joe Eszterhas challenged him to a fist fight.

Funny, Jewison met two or three presidents, yet that's still my favorite story. I love Joe. Anyway, Biographies = good.

Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. Man's a genius.

I also just read Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrel, a really interesting, good book.

American Gods is another good one.

I fell in love with "Jurassic Park"; something about the setting Michael set up in the description made me want to begin reading "The Lost World". It's fantastic.

I'm currently reading "The Great Train Robbery" which is a great read if you're into period crime stories. It's different because the story refers to the actual trial in the aftermath; which reveals the results of the crime but not the specifics of the main character, Mr. Pierce.

Check it out, it's the bright neon-orange book.

Christopher Rice
ScriptDig.com

The Outsiders
A Day No Pigs Would Die

The Outsiders, now there's a good book. Speaking of which, where the hell have these guys gone? I miss the angry young men of the 50s. Why have modern teenage roles strayed so far from ones like in The Outsiders, Rumble Fish and Rebel Without a Cause? Godamn it I don't want to see anymore suicidal metrosexual teenage punks struggle with their inner feelings, I want to see slick bad ass kids get drunk and get in gang fights because their lives are ****. Ever since Good Will Hunting, cinema's angry young man has lost his rage and turned sensitive.