This week marks Out of the Past's 6th Blog Anniversary! I would like to celebrate by hosting a 2013 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge.
Your challenge, if you choose to accept, is to read up to 6 classic film related books this summer. You can read 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 books total but your challenge is to try to read six if you can! This summer reading challenge starts now and ends on September 15th, 2013. The books must be read and reviewed online before the challenge is over.
What counts as a classic film book?
- Biography/Interviews/Letters/Autobiography/Memoir of an Actor/Actress/Director/Other Cast or Crew Member
- Book about films – specific film(s), genre, film-making process, etc.
- A photography or art book related to classic films, fashion, style or an Actor/Actress/Director/Other Cast or Crew Member
- Film criticism or analysis
- 20th Century Novel that was adapted into a Classic Film
- Novel that is about a Classic film or an actor/actress from Old Hollywood
How many books should you read?
You can read one book in each category, 6 books in one category or mix it up. It’s whatever you want! You can read a book you’ve never read before or re-read an old favorite. The book can be brand new or long out-of-print. For me, classic films are ones from 1969 and earlier. If you want to include the 1970s, that’s fine too! I know not everyone has time to read 6 books so I’ll leave it up to you if you want to read less than that. Also, if you recently finished a book or are in the middle of one, you can count that too!
If you do complete all 6 by September 15th , you’ll be eligible to win a prize pack I will be giving away. Details on that to come.
How should you post the reviews?
You must review each book online and you can do this one of two ways. Post reviews on your blog or post reviews on Goodreads. Your review must be public somehow! Reviews on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and other general social media forums do not count.
If you have a blog, feel free to add this button to your review post!
When should you post the reviews?
Reviews must be brand new and posted from now until September 15th. I will not be accepting links to old reviews (I'll let it slide if it was a review from early June of this year!).
If you are interested in signing up, please add your name, email address and either your blog or Goodreads profile page to the form below. I’ll be checking up on folks throughout the summer and will be sharing links to book reviews on here. The sign up form will be available from now until July 15th. (Form is now closed for entries. If you still want to participate, email me!)
Examples
Biography/Interviews/Letters/Autobiography/Memoir of an Actor/Actress/Director/Other Cast or Crew Member
Spencer Tracy by James Curtis
My Lunches with Orson: Conversations between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles
Unsinkable: A Memoir by Debbie Reynolds
Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley by Jeffrey Spivak
Hollywood Unknowns by Anthony Slide
Hedy’s Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard Rhodes
Book about films – specific film(s), genre, filmmaking process, etc.
Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang
My Life with Cleopatra: The Making of a Hollywood Classics by Walter Wanger and Joe Hyams
The Night of the Hunter: A Biography of a Film by Jeffrey Couchman
The Noir Forties: The American People From Victory to Cold War by Richard Lingeman
Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture by Peter Kobel
A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film by Richard Barrios
A photography or art book related to classic films, fashion, style or an Actor/Actress/Director/Other Cast or Crew Member
Classic Hollywood Style by Caroline Young
Hollywood Movie Stills by Joel W. Finler
Icons of Men’s Style by Josh Sims
Lana Turner: The Memories, the Myths, the Movies by Cheryl Crane and Cindy De La Hoz
Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design by Jennifer Bass
Weddings and Movie Stars by Tony Nourmand et. al.
Film criticism, analysis or theme
Being Rita Hayworth: Labor, Identity and Hollywood Stardom by Adrienne McLean
Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood by Mick LaSalle
Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression by Morris Dickstein
I Do and I Don’t: A History of Marriage in the Movies by Jeanine Basinger
The Leading Man: Hollywood and the Presidential Image by Burton W. Peretti
Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics by Steven J. Ross
20th Century Novel that was adapted into a Classic Film
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Young Man with a Horn by Dorothy Baker
Novel about a Classic film or an actor/actress from Old Hollywood
Bluffton: My Summers with Buster Keaton by Matt Phelan
The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty (Louise Brooks)
The Disenchanted by Budd Schulberg
The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe by Andrew O’Hagan
The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson (Errol Flynn)
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King