I love books on the making of movies, reading a couple a year. This book is the best I’ve read, period. Not because it talks about a movie that I could quote all day long, but because it explores all the decisions and compromises Shelton made while creating the movie, and that’s something to learn from as a writer.
Knowing what a creator didn’t choose to do is as valuable as knowing what they did so you can consider what you would do in the same situation because that’s all writing really is: making decisions and compromises, large and small.
LA TIMES BESTSELLER • From the award-winning screenwriter and director of cult classic Bull Durham, the extremely entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film, and an insightful primer on the art and business of moviemaking.
"This book tells you how to make a movie—the whole nine innings of it—out of nothing but sheer will.” —Tony Gilroy, writer/director of Michael Clayton and The Bourne Legacy
"The only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the church of baseball."—Annie in Bull Durham
Bull Durham, the breakthrough 1988 film about a minor league baseball team, is widely…
This book has a wonderfully brutal premise, one it doesn’t compromise in the least while exploring it to the fullest, which is brilliant. So many books cop out, not wanting to upset readers. So many books shape a speculative world to make a point or create drama when the world simply wouldn’t develop that way organically. Not this book.
And it has contemporary relevance. Looking at the MAGA push for a white evangelical dictatorship in America, which will start by capturing 10 million Hispanics (who, as a bonus, are also likely Catholics) and putting them in concentration camps, you can absolutely see how these same people would have no moral qualms over legalizing and mechanizing the eating of their neighbors if that became necessary.
It all happened so quickly. First, animals became infected with the virus and their meat became poisonous. Then governments initiated the Transition. Now, 'special meat' - human meat - is legal.
Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans - only no one calls them that. He works with numbers, consignments, processing. One day, he's given a gift to seal a deal: a specimen of the finest quality. He leaves her in his barn, tied up, a problem to be disposed of later.
But she haunts Marcos. Her trembling body, and watchful gaze, seem to understand. And soon, he becomes…
I love explainer books, especially regarding infrastructure, because the world isn’t the way it is naturally; it was designed, and it’s important to know how parking really does explain the world (even more so than soccer, I should say). And once you do, you can’t unsee how we’ve given over the world to cars instead of people, how parking lots dominate our environment, and how this will become a huge problem as climate change turns them into either lakes or heat generators.
The book also puts paid to the idea of governments privatizing public infrastructure for short-term financial gain. It will also help you understand why you feel conflicted when your town turns its main drag into a pedestrian plaza, which you hate when trying to find a space but love once you get out of your car.
Named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker and The New Republic
“Consistently entertaining and often downright funny.”—The New Yorker
“Wry and revelatory.” —The New York Times
"A romp, packed with tales of anger, violence, theft, lust, greed, political chicanery and transportation policy gone wrong . . . highly entertaining."—The Los Angeles Times
An entertaining, enlightening, and utterly original investigation into one of the most quietly influential forces in modern American life—the humble parking spot
Parking, quite literally, has a death grip on America: each year a shocking number…
Jeryon has captained the Comber for more than a decade. He knows the rules. And likes rules. But not everyone aboard agrees. After a monstrous dragon attacks the galley, the surviving crewmembers mutiny and give Jeryon and his self-righteous apothecary “the captain’s chance”: a small boat and the open sea.
Fighting the elements, Jeryon and his companion land on an island that isn’t as deserted as they first imagined. They find a baby dragon that, if trained, could be their way home. But as Jeryon and the dragon grow closer, the captain realizes that even if he makes it off the island, his old life won’t be waiting. He won’t find justice. He’ll have to take it.
