New series alert! As many of you know, I started a summer internship at an awesome place and as such my commute has me taking three trains to get to work. I feel like this is the closest I’ll get to being a New Yorker living in LA. Anyways, being on those trains has allowed me to read for pleasure, something I’m rarely able to do during the year when movie screenings and school take over my life. So with that, I will be writing bi-weekly posts covering the things I’ve been able to read and sharing some brief thoughts with you.
On Earth as It Is in Heaven: A Novel
Talk about packing a wallop (pardon the boxing pun). This book is one I’ve had in my possession for months and just hadn’t been able to read it. I count myself lucky that I was to finish this because this book is so good. In 300 pages you learn about 3 generations of boxers, a dazzling feat given that page count. This book is like a damn WWII epic, family saga and coming of age tale all combined in one. The last 30 pages or so are some of the best pages if a book I’ve read in years.
Independent Ed: Inside a Career of Big Dreams, Little Movies, and the Twelve Best Days of My Life
Jesse James Rice sent me this book after I won a contest of his. As someone who is in film school and looking to break into the industry this was a wonderful read about an indie filmmakers experience. Though I don’t see myself living in the indie world (I hope to make studio movies one day), I really enjoyed how in depth he went about demystifying the filmmaking process and what interactions with Hollywood are actually like.
The Circle
Whew yall. This book had me SCRESSED. Of the three books I read, this is the one that made me the most animated. Eggers has a wonderful way of taking you into the charcters headspace and getting you so wrapped up that once they make poor decisions or weird choices, you have to react viscerally. This book is basically a warning to mine and future generations about the perils of technology and social media, although it offers a ray of hope at times.