Mark Harris, Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood
Is Mark Harris any cop as a writer? Don’t matter. This is a very Daddino book: a history of Hollywood filtered through an abritrary prism, in this case the five Best Picture nominees of 1967. Including Dr. Doolittle, a fact alone that made the entire project seriously spicy to my mind. Can’t wait to read.
Matthew Stearns, Daydream Nation
Got cheap at The Strand. Only skimmed so far. ATROCIOUS copy-editing.
Lauren Spencer, Bush — MTV: On The Road
Also from The Strand. I bought it only to gawk. Mini-book tour-book non-book about a band I thought had its moments (totally fucking serious here). Barely ten years old and an absolute relic. I am bewildered at the mindset that produced this thing. There was an audience for it? People who cared about Bush? Or Gavin? Or Gavin + Gwen? In 1999? Enough to buy a book? A book about their tour? OK, mainly photos (and embarrassing quasi-website design)…but still? A tour? A tour? Like the most boring rockjourno subject ever? Twelve bucks? In 1999? MTV? MTV did a tour-book series? MTV did books? In 1999? That late in the game? Why? Why? WHY? Y? We are so far away from the musicworld that produced this piece of junk it makes me want to um maybe not cry exactly, but…feel a little sad? Yeah.
“‘I read everything from Paul Auster to Ian McEwan,’ says Gavin. ‘Now I’m leaning away from reading novels and getting into reading about the theory of logic.’ A heavy pursuit that can just as easily be followed by the somewhat mindless task of…shopping.”
WHY?
