TMP Reads: 2015 in Review and 2016 “To Be Read”

For most of us involved in the online classic film community, being a classic film fan (or “old movie weirdo”) involves more than just watching a pre-code or film noir now and then. We watch countless films, engage with our fellow movie buffs on social media, rant and rave on our blogs… and read books about our favorite subject, film! Today on TMP, a look at the entertainment-related books I read in 2015… and  “to be read” list of those I hope to get to in 2016!

Read in 2015
(All lists are chronological by date finished)

Adapted Works:

• Wild, by Cheryl Strayed – Adapted to film in 2014
• Leave Her to Heaven, by Ben Ames Williams – Adapted to film in 1945
• Love, Rosie, by Cecelia Ahern – Adapted to film in 2014
• Mildred Pierce, by James M. Cain – Adapted to film in 1945
• Ghost World, by Daniel Clowes – Adapted to film in 2001
• The Strange Woman, by Ben Ames Williams – Adapted to film in 1946
  

Autobiographies:

• Vanity Will Get You Somewhere, by Joseph Cotton
• Ginger: My Story, by Ginger Rogers
• Cagney by Cagney, by James Cagney

Biographies:

• Lana: The Life and Loves of Lana Turner, by Jane Ellen Wayne
• The Ice Cream Blonde: The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd, by Michelle Morgan
• Cary Grant: A Celebration, by Richard Schickel
• The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks, by Tracey Goessel

“Conversations”/Bios by friends:

• Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations, by Peter Evans and Ava Gardner
• “I’d Love to Kiss You..”: Conversations with Bette Davis, by Whitney Stine
• Kate Remembered, by A. Scott Berg

Misc.:

• Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbinders in Suspense
• The Entertainment Weekly Guide to the Greatest Movies Ever Made
• Stay Tuned: Television’s Unforgettable Moments, by Joe Garner

Nineteen books total, out of 81 total read in 2015, so about 23% of the books I read throughout the year were film/TV-focused or were used as source material for a film. My favorite reads of the year were The Ice Cream Blonde, “I’d Love to Kiss You…”, Leave Her to Heaven, and Mildred Pierce. Reviewed titles are linked!

2016 TBR

You may recognize a few of these titles from my 2014 TBR — I somehow never got around to reading them! Others are new additions to the list. (Listed alphabetically by title.)

• Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris
• Helen Twelvetrees, Perfect Ingenue: Rediscovering a 1930s Movie Star and Her 32 Films by Cliff Aliperti
• I Blame Dennis Hopper: And Other Stories from a Life Lived In and Out of the Movies by Illeana Douglas
• Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide: From the Silent Era Through 1965
• A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907 – 1940 by Victoria Wilson
• Montgomery Clift: A Biography by Patricia Bosworth
• Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies by Robert Sklar
• My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke
• The Real Stars: Profiles and Interviews of Hollywood’s Unsung Featured Players by Leonard Maltin
• The Thin Man: Murder Over Cocktails by Charles Tranberg

And finally, for an adapted work… Stella Dallas, which I own in a vintage edition. The novel was adapted to film in 1925, 1937, and 1990.

If you read any great film-related books last year feel free to leave suggestions in the comments — I definitely intend on reading more than 11 books this year, so help me grow my TBR!