Below are the books I read--and finished in 2022. There are some books that I have been picking up and putting down, but that is another story.
I have to give a shout out to the Libby app because some of these books I borrowed from the public library via the app.
Here they are in the chronilogical order I read them. More info incliding some of my NOTES and HIGHLIGHTS at the Goodreads site.
The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood by
Sam Wasson
My rating:
3 of 5 stars
This book was good. It vacillated between telling the story of the making of the 1974 film ‘Chinatown’ and going into deep backgrounds on the principle players. Sometimes too deep.
Those principles were Producer ROBERT EVANS, Screenwriter ROBERT TOWNE, Actor JACK NICHOLSON and Director ROMAN POLANSKI.
I wanted to read this book because I agree like many that ‘Chinatown’ is a classic. I heard about the film, but never watched it until I was studying screenwriting in college. A book I read in college, the nominal ‘Screenplay’ by SYD FIELD mentioned that it was the “perfect screenplay”—and it was.
After I studied film in college my admiration for the film grew. I say without honor that like many I willfully ignored the rape charges against Roman Polanski, which to its credit the book does not ignore.
The book delves far into Polanski’s past, NOT as any excuse, but to explain his artistic drive and methodology. Those parts of the book seemed wholly unnecessary.
The best parts of the book was breaking down how Hollywood worked back then and I assume not too much has changed. The cronyism, the parties, the drinking, the cocaine, ESPECIALLY the cocaine. There aren’t any wild raucous cocaine stories, but it was everywhere.
The book really took you through the regime changes and power struggles/dynamics at PARAMOUNT STUDIOS aka “The Mountain”. In between the parties and cocaine, deals were made and unmade. People were hired and fired and in between all of that tumult the people involved managed to turn out a revered and classic film. One can assume that a lot of pictures then and now happen that way.
I would recommend this book for fans of ‘Chinatown’ and to film students who want to know how the dynamic in Hollywood between the studio and the talent works.
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Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure by
Lisane Basquiat
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
I went to the JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: KING PLEASURE© exhibition in New York City, April 18, 2022 and like the gospel classic “I know I’ve been changed” LOL
In the future if I mention “Basquiat” it will be for clarification purposes. Like many I’ve called him by the singular “Basquiat”, but after the exhibition and this accompanying catalogue, I will forever call him “Jean-Michel” because I feel like I know the boy, the son, the brother, the man SO MUCH MORE.
Through the exhibition and this catalogue you will learn about how an artist, a BLACK artist, who was so in touch with who he was and who his people were. He was “woke” way before that became a term. His work reflected that.
Through this catalogue you will also learn A LOT about Jean-Michel’s personality like his hospitality and his humor.
To be clear, I "ain’t gon front”, I didn’t know a lot about Jean-Michel beyond he was a famous Black artist named Basquiat and he was from Brooklyn like myself. When the exhibition debuted I thought I should check it out and I’m so glad I did!
The exhibition itself features more than 200 artworks and artifacts from the collection of the artist’s estate, most of which have never been seen and this accompanying catalogue features a lot more detail of the exhbition, especially personal passages and reflections from his family, primarily his sisters LISANE BASQUIAT, JEANINE HERVEAUX and his step-mother NORA FITZPATRICK, but many more who knew Jean-Michel are quoted.
If you can't get to New York to see the exhibition, I highly recommend this book. It goes into great detail about everything I saw. So much so that I'm strongly contemplating going again. Now that I've read this book I feel like I would enjoy it even more the second time around. His family did a wonderful wonderful job for Jean-Michel. I saw a quote that called this a “family album” and I feel like it’s exactly that. 🖤
My extensive "status updates" featuring quotes from the book here on Goodreads @
https://www.goodreads.com/user_status...
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Transitions: A Director’s Journey and Motivational Handbook by
Pete Chatmon
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
This book was a great charting of what it takes to be an independent filmmaker and to work in Hollywood. From the ground up.
I heard about this book from my friend, filmmaker MICHAEL DENNIS (known as “Reelblack” online). I was on my winter break from teaching at Morgan State University (Multiplatform Production) and didn’t have time to read the book in full. I enjoyed reading sample pages of the book and promised to revisit. In the meantime I started listening to his podcast “Let’s Shoot! with Pete Chatmon” and that was equally informative. When I returned to teaching in the Spring, I shared relevant clips of his podcast with my classes.
This summer I indeed revisited the book and it was great. I’ve studied film on an undergraduate and graduate level and this book not only gives you great advice about maneuvering through Film School, but more importantly what to do AFTER Film School.
As Pete states in the book, he’s been “a Director in every medium — television, film, and commercials” having directed almost 50 episodes of television in all formats and takes you through every single journey, step by step, the ups and the downs. He is at oftentimes candid about how he FELT in the moment which was refreshing. You really get a feeling of what it’s like being an artist trying to find your place in this world called Hollywood.
Through this book you can also tell that he’s a Professor (New York University) as his book is replete with many, many lessons and advice about the process. Each chapter ends with not only a “keyword” for the chapter, but a list of resources and “receipts”. Pete supplies many photos and links to the things he talked about in the previous chapter that can prove to be a valuable resource for anyone that wants it.
Personally I find that many people are not aware of the dedication and overall process it takes to becoming a working director in the industry, myself included having only done corporate and independent film.
I found this book not only reaffirmed a lot of what I knew, but added a lot that I did not know and is a great guide to anyone who wants to know—A Director's Journey.
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Marvel Masterworks: The Black Panther, Vol. 1 by
Don McGregor
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
I generally don’t read a lot of vintage comic books before my time, but this from the late great DWAYNE MCDUFFIE (look him up) convinced me to read this volume.
“This overlooked and underrated classic is arguably the most tightly written multi-part superhero epic ever. If you can get your hands on it ... sit down and read the whole thing. It's damn-near flawless, every issue, every scene, a functional, necessary part of the whole.”
Of course he was absolutely right!
I didn’t know much about the Black Panther besides he was a Black superhero. There was renewed interest in the character circa 2015 with a new Black Panther series written by TA-NEHISI COATES and drawn by BRIAN STELFREEZE launching in 2016 and of course the character’s entrance into cinema in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ also in 2016.
I wanted to read more about the original run of the character and Mr. McDuffie’s recommendation was perfect.
I can’t say it any better than McDuffie when he said the comic was “seamlessly integrated words and pictures; clearly introduced characters and situations; a concise recap; beautifully developed character relationships; at least one cool new villain; a stunning action set piece to test our hero's skills and resolve; and a story that is always moving forward towards a definite and satisfying conclusion. “
T’CHALLA was so great in these comics. Majestic and suave. He was a top notch warrior/superhero and he knew it. He definitely had SWAGGER!
I can see why this run on the comics are held in high regard. The writer DON McGREGOR and the artists (aka “pencilers”) RICH BUCKLER, BILLY GRAHAM (not the evangelist) & GIL KANE did terrific jobs bringing these stories to life! I totally enjoyed these issues originally published almost fifty (50) years ago.
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Moonlighting: An Oral History by
Scott Ryan
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
‘Moonlighting’ (1985–1989) was one of my favorite shows as a kid and I’ve rewatched it over the years and it still holds up.
As the author states “This is not a critical analysis of the series, but a look at the creative process.” and as a filmmaker, that’s what I loved about it.
This book highlights how this show was brought together to film the pilot (first episode) and then its “classic episodes” all through interviews with the people who created the show.
Pretty much the entire cast and crew are interviewed. BRUCE WILLIS agreed to be in the book, but his schedule just didn’t work out. The recent public reveal about him may have had something to do with it. (In March 2022, Bruce Willis’ family announced the actor is retiring from the profession after being diagnosed with aphasia, a language disorder caused by brain damage that affects a person’s ability to communicate.)
Don’t worry, there’s plenty of great stories about working with Bruce Willis, just not from him.
Series creator GLENN GORDON CARON, actor SYBILL SHEPHERD and many other cast, crew and guest stars are interviewed in the book though. I loved that many of the crew are interviewed. The hard working crews are often the unsung heroes of a media production and in this book they get their chance to say what they contributed. Everyone from Producers, Writers, Production Coordinators, Editors etc were interviewed and it gives you a real glimpse into what it takes to create a one hour television series that was very much like a film in budget and production values.
Everyone interviewed goes into detail about the ups and the downs of creating this complicated show—and it was complicated. The show is revered because there was literally nothing like it on television, but to create it was extremely hard. Everyone interviewed seemed extremely honest about their experience working on it.
This is a really great book for fans of the show and or people who want to know the industry like Film Students. Yes this was decades ago, but not much has changed in the studio system as far as studio/network demands and the creatives who have to work within them.
Moonlighting was one of a kind television series and after reading this book I don’t feel like they are so much “Moonlighting strangers, Who just met on the way”
Epilogue or in Moonlighting fashion—Fourth Wall Break.
In this book, published in 2021, ‘Moonlighting’ creator Glenn Gordon Caron stated “That’s the reason you can’t see ‘Moonlighting’ right now—because of all that music. None of it was cleared because nobody anticipated DVDs or streaming. They’ve asked me if we can change the music and I always say, “No, we can’t change the music.””
On October 5, 2022 Caron tweeted that he’s working to finally bring the show to streaming.
In the first tweet, he writes, “Can’t keep it under my hat any longer- the business of getting all five seasons of ‘Moonlighting’ starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd ready for streaming has begun!”
He then adds, “It’s an ambitious project. Lots of moving parts. And it could take quite a while. But I wanted you to be the first to know.”
It seems like the parent company (Disney) is trying to work out the many music rights related to the show and I hope they are successful. The episodes I rewatched, the music IS a key component of the series and it would be a shame if some of that music is replaced. In the past shows like ‘Miami Vice’ (1984–1989) had to replace certain songs for a DVD and or syndication release because deals or could not or would not be made. Let us hope that the powers that be can come to a resolution on all of the “moving parts” and we can finally stream this great show!
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Wolverine: Origin by
Paul Jenkins
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
Even though there was great trepidation in finally telling the mysterious origin of the most famous member of the X-MEN ever—it kind of had to be done.
As TOM DESANTO, Executive Producer/ Co-Writer X-Men: The Movie (2002), wrote in the Foreword “Why take the chance of damaging the character?" Joe [Quesada] looked me dead in the eye and said, "If anyone is going to tell the origin of Logan, Marvel should do it first, not the movie." You know what? I agreed with him.”
Basically, MARVEL COMICS then Editor-in-chief JOE QUESADA wanted to tell the origin of Wolverine before any movie studio would. (That studio at that time was 20TH CENTURY FOX.)
I think they did a good job at explaining exactly where he came from and even still weaving in some mystery. There are some heavy implications in his childhood that I won’t spoil here.
But you find out his exact given name and how he came to be known as “Logan” and “Wolverine”. There’s also a lot of 19th century melodrama thrown in.
The series artists (originally six issues) PAUL JENKINS (Script, plot), ANDY KUBERT (Pencils) and Richard Isanove (Digital painting) all did great jobs at bringing this story to life. The artwork by Kubert and Isanove was particularly outstanding.
In the end I totally agree with Marvel Comics choosing to tell the true story of Wolverine. It is the character they created and if anyone told the story FIRST, it should have been them and they told it well.
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Kindred by
Octavia E. Butler
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
It occurred to me that I’ve never read a book relating to slavery before and to start with this one is a doozy! I have to say that the new 2022 television adaptation of this novel inspired me to read the book first.
To tell this story about back and forth time travel from the present (the year 1976 in the novel) to the Antebellum south in the 1800s was amazing and spellbinding. Even though the story establishes some sort of rules as to when and how the time travel occurs, you still never knew exactly when and how it would happen. That led to a lot of the suspense in the story for the lead character DANA.
After I finished the book I knew I had to read some background on it.
From what I found, OCTAVIA BUTLER read a lot of slave narratives, including the autobiography of FREDERICK DOUGLASS, but decided she needed to moderate events in her book in order to attract enough readers and I totally agree with that.
There’s so much great interactions between the characters that you sometimes forget and think it was just a “period piece” about “life on the farm in the olden days” and then—WHAM the author hits with you some really real realities of slavery. I think to imbue this story with some of the harsher realities of slavery, that I’ve heard about, would alienate the reader. This was fiction after all and not a hardcore text of record. You definitely got a clear sense of the time period without sugarcoating it at all and losing none of the substance of what it must have been like on a plantation in those days.
Choosing to tell this story of a modern Black person time traveling to the period of slavery was a great way to reveal what life was like back then and how a Black person had to really change their disposition and “how they moved” to survive in that time. Through the lead character Dana, you get to see how as a Black person living in modern times you can say you won’t do what Black folks did back then—until you become one of those—Black folks back then.
This is my first Octavia Butler novel and her writing is perfection. It’s Science Fiction, but then not also with a real flair for natural dialogue. I felt the very real relationship between Dana and her husband KEVIN and well as Dana and her Antebellum “tether” RUFUS. Rufus aka “Rufe” is not a nice person, to put it very mildly, but Butler makes him somewhat relatable in the sense that he is “wounded”.
I really don’t want to reveal much else, because I thought the story, every step of the way, was terrific! One of the best novels I have ever read. And that’s saying something.
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