Who said it? (Or is it a phrase capturing that common denigration?)
It’s something said to writers a lot, often by people who want their ego to have a part.
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It might be equal to someone who does not know how to build a house and demands the architect to put windows in the floor.
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Very good, I wondered if it was an actual quote, perhaps from a Bond actor. Sadly I am aware of that general perception of writers and their “place” in the hierarchy of TV and film.
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I got to see John Jackson Miller launch the book in person. He signed my copy, and said that there is a sequel on the way around this time next year. He said that he saw Batman in the theaters 12 times in 1989! I plan on reading Batman Resurrection and Batman Revolution back to back when this happens. For now, I’m happy to see Tim Burton’s Batman world get expanded (particularly in character development) in recent years. I recommend Sam Hamm’s (Batman 89’s main screenwriter) Batman 89 runs. For now, I’m reading The Dark Knight Rises novelization. Hopefully, The Dark Knight Trilogy will be self-contained as much as possible, however.
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I definitely want to read this:
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If it’s Stephen King, my mom will at least want to know what it’s about. While she doesn’t read as much as she’d like, Stephen King is usually an exception. I’m hoping some day my parents will read some of the list that I gave them. There’s too many to list here, for now.
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10 best books I read in 2024, in no real order:
The Infernal Machine and Other Plays (1964) by Jean Cocteau. Myth meets modernity and surrealism in six plays by an exquisite magician and master of playful enchantment.
The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It (1948) by Richard
Hofstadter. “How did we get here?” post-election reading: a collection of stringent political profiles written with style.
The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays (1964) by Richard Hofstadter. More post-election insight into popular undercurrents, relevant for reasons that don’t require explanation. The paranoid style has only metastasized since publication.
Salammbô (1862) by Gustave Flaubert. The maddeningly detailed novelization of a movie that never was, about the gory Mercenary Revolt in ancient Carthage. Climaxed by the unforgettable scene of child-sacrifice to Moloch.
Richard I (1999) by John Gillingham. Convincing rehabilitation of an English King-Angevin Emperor once thought great by medieval standards. Well supplemented by The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land (2010) by Thomas Asbridge.
A Savage War of Peace: Algeria, 1954-1962 (1977/2006) by Alistair Horne. A long, impartial, and unsettling account of what a great modern struggle for liberation took out of both sides. Read prior to visiting Algeria.
Miami and the Siege of Chicago (1968) by Norman Mailer. Another election-time read, the story of two political conventions in a horrible year. As kooky as it’s insightful, as aggravating as it’s gripping. Maybe it takes a loon to understand American politics.
Watergate: A New History (2022) by Garrett M. Graff. The most recent and most comprehensive one-stop account of the scandal that was the tip of an iceberg of criminality. What happens when a resentful, cunning President thinks himself above the law.
Always Unreliable (Unreliable Memoirs, 1980; Falling Towards England, 1985; and May Week Was in June, 1990) by Clive James. Australian boyhood, immigration to England and Cambridge days, told in invigorating, inimitable style, mixing high wit and low humor.
King Solomon’s Mines (1885) by Rider H. Haggard. Surprisingly well-written, to the point of elevating corn into something almost mythic; potent, old-fashioned storytelling at the service of gonzo material. Even the colonialism is more nuanced than expected.
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The Hofstadter and Mailer were eagerly consumed in my youth in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Always had the inkling that Hofstadter was on to something. Glad to know he holds up. Mailer is well … Mailer (“The Executioner’s Song” is my favorite).
The volume on Watergate is a treasure. It will surprise no one here that one teenage summer was spent not in fields, sandlots, ponds, or campgrounds, but in front of the television watching the Watergate hearings.
Wow. With that praise, I must search out a copy.
My all-time favorite Best Picture nominee line-up:
1950
All About Eve
Born Yesterday
Father of the Bride
King Solomon’s Mines
Sunset Boulevard
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I’m looking forward to watching the 1950 film of KSM either tonight or tomorrow. I watched the '37 KSM a couple weeks ago and thought it above average—Cedric Hardwicke was a good, undemonstrative, slightly hardboiled Alan Quatermain, and one can hardly quibble with Paul Robeson as Umbopa. I’ve heard the '37 film is closer to the book than the '50 one. As for the book, I admit to starting it with low expectations, so I hope I haven’t oversold it.
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Woke Up This Morning: The Definitive Oral History of The Sopranos by Michael Imperioli (Christopher) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby), 2021. An overview of the groundbreaking show, that is as flawless as the show itself. Michael and Steve interview others involved with the show and it’s all-truth, no filter gold mine of information. Highly recommended. It makes me (as it will probably you) miss James Gandolfini, Tony Sirico and many others involved with the show, in front and behind the scenes dearly. Steve in particular seems like a realistic nice guy. He writes a lot of cookbooks and weight loss books now! The Sopranos is a rare show that a lot of us on the website can argue is generally great. We can go back and re-watch it again and again. The only other show that I can think of with that amount of love on this website is Batman: The Animated Series. I only wish that they could have interviewed Robert Patrick for the book. He has quite the range as an actor, just like the show with mixing types of genres.
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I only remember very little of Black House (and I think in general the Crimson King of the Dark Tower doesn’t work as a villain). I’ll probably have to reread that one.
Shame about that McGee book not happening.
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I was planning to reread both The Talisman and Black House but got sidetracked by rereading Live and Let Die…
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I reread The Talisman before I read Black House. The first is a fantasy/coming-of-age story, some echoes of Tom Sawyer - or rather Huck Finn & Jim - that holds up well. Black House was too different in tone for my liking, perhaps that’s why it didn’t sit well with me.
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The switch from past tense to present tense was a jarring and unnecessary prose contortion that kept me at arm’s length and diminished my enjoyment.
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Had forgotten about that, I just remembered something about it was jarring. That must have been it.
I remember reading Black House. But I can’t really remember a lot about the plot. I do remember feeling the book was hard to get through, although it adopted a detective story angle.
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Very. I couldn’t put a finger to it but back then I suspected it may have been Straub’s involvement that made it difficult for me. I’ve read a few of his books but could never quite get into them. Thematically Black House is close-ish to It, a grown up facing a horror he can only overcome if he connects to the magic of his childhood. Typical King territory.
Sadly, the book left me largely cold - nor did it anything for me regarding the Dark Tower connection. Maybe that’s why I’m not overly hyped by this; for me The Talisman stands as the better book alone.
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