Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Heroes hate wasting time. ‘You’re wasting my time,’ they’ll say. Yet they devote very little time to time management, and rarely consult a diary.”

The Grip of Film by Richard Ayoade

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Another Ayoade book! So exciting! Except….wait. This is barely Ayoade. Yes, he wrote it, and yes, he does some narration- “some” being the key word in this situation. The Grip of Film is a fake book written by a fake person (written by Ayoade, naturally). The fake person is Gordy LaSure; a longtime Hollywood vagrant and alleged screenwriter. Gordy is a (purposefully) contemptible character; he has the bravado of The Kids Stays in the Picture with a fraction of the success and (at least) four times the casual […]

Many of you read this years ago and I am only now catching up.

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

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Just a feel good read, talking all about one of my favorite movies. I did the audio version, and it was great fun not only having Cary Elwes read it himself, but for the parts that were “oral histories” from his fellow cast and crew members, many of them read as well (Billy Crystal, Carol Kane, Rob Reiner, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest). I already knew quite a bit of behind the scenes information because I went through a period about 10-15 years ago where I […]

“Cinema helps us to remember that although we all have the right to shine, some of us must shine in the background, out of focus, and not too brightly.”

Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade

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Finally, a book about the greatest film of our generation! What film, you may ask? What film does Richard Ayoade venerate, dissect, cling to, and live for? Richard Ayoade; the author of several books on film, director and writer of several films, host of a delightful travel show, and beloved cast member/co-creator of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (and many other things) has written an entire book about the forgettable 2003 Gwenyth Paltrow rom-com View From the Top. Yes, View From the Top; the movie where Mike Myers […]

“There are new monsters now”

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle

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This novel sneaks up on you. You’re lulled into comfort with descriptions of old video rental places, suburban living rooms, and the polite peace of the Midwest before being startled awake by sudden glances of violence and fear. These shocks originate from movies. Movies within movies. Were they intended for you to see? Why are they here? Who spliced an almost still image of heavy breathing and a woman with a bag over her head into She’s All That? Uncertainty creeps around every corner- breeding fear, […]

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the bookshelf…

Jaws: Memories from Martha's Vineyard by Matt Taylor

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As a lifelong Jaws fan, I’ve already read pretty extensively about the making of the film, as well as devouring any number of DVD extras and specials that I’ve ever come across. As such, it’s sometimes hard to come across new information, so I was immensely pleased to find this wrapped up for me underneath the Christmas tree. Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard is just that – a look at the production of Jaws through the eyes of the islanders of Martha’s Vineyard, whether they […]

TNG through J.J. Abrams, an oral history.

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This was a hefty brick of a book. It follows the creation of Star Trek: The Next Generation through the 2016 release of Star Trek: Beyond, but because there was so much more Star Trek content created in the second twenty-five years of the franchise, this sucker clocks in at a whopping 843 pages. I read the first volume in a day and a half. This one took me six. Of course, this was also partially because this book not only had more content, but […]



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