Real to Reel

Disclaimer: Today is very, very hot.  As a result, this post might be complete gibberish.  If so, I apologise.  If not, I clearly have more stamina than I realise.  But the only way you're going to find out is by reading on!

'It's Only a Movie'
by Mark Kermode
(Random House, 2010)

While recovering from a bout of flu earlier this month, I staggered to the bookshelf and, with much effort, coughing and spluttering, managed to pick up 'It's Only a Movie: Reel Life Adventures of a Film Obsessive' by established critic Mark Kermode.  Fortunately, it was a good choice.

'It's Only a Movie' is a charming, whistlestop tour through Kermode's life and career as a film journalist in print and on radio.  An entertaining collection of loosely linked anecdotes, it hop, skips and jumps through tales of how his childhood obsession developed into an unlikely career with the energy of a comic book fan on their way to yet another superhero movie.  From inspirational schoolboy cinema visits, to teenage pretension and adult near incompetence at university and in his early jobs, this is the story of a man who nearly ruins Time Out, gets shot at in LA, champions horror movies, enters a long term, on air relationship, is broken by Russia, gets kicked out of Cannes Film Festival and, of course, watches an awful lot of movies.  When there's love, peril and (hopefully) a happy ending, it's bound to be a hit.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It's silly, but it's fun.  The author freely admits that he may not be quite telling the truth, but that's fine.  He clearly knows that the stories he's telling are just a bit nuts, perhaps only believing them himself because he was there.

One thing that did please me was that name dropping was kept to a minimum.  It would've been so easy to wheel out a load of gossip about the big industry names just to attract a wider audience, but fortunately Kermode hasn't stooped to this and it's a much better book for it.  You get the impression that, with a few specific exceptions, it's the movies that matter and he finds the whole celebrity circus a bit gross.  This means that it's the art form that he loves that stays centre stage.

As a result, this is a great book for movie buffs, a bit of a change from all those expensive, in depth 'making of' books and long nights spent arguing over the top 50 1980s South Korean horror movies.  Come out of the cinema and read this in the sunshine, people.  Although maybe not on a day like this...

Now, what next...

The Truth is Out There

After 'The White Queen', I needed a bit of a break from the Plantagenets, so did a bit of a lucky dip and picked up 'Will Storr vs The Supernatural' by Will Storr (funny that!).

In 'Will Storr vs The Supernatural', the journalist tackles some big questions; Do ghosts exist?  Can people be possessed?  Is there life after death?  In 21 snappy chapters, Storr interviews demonologists, paranormal investigators, exorcists, psychologists and psychics looking for answers in some of the shadowiest corners of eccentricity.  Will he find some truth or just get lost in the dark?

Like a scary story, this book just made you keep reading.  Each chapter is punchy and takes you somewhere that most people will never go.  After all, even the most hardened sceptic probably doesn't fancy spending the night in the cold, dark and damp of a supposedly haunted house.

'Will Storr vs The Supernatural'
by Will Storr
(Ebury Press, 2006)

Throughout, our guide manages to tread a careful path between open minded and sceptical, letting his curiosity take control.  The subjects' stories are told with compassion and humanity, never losing sight of the likely driving forces behind their often frowned upon beliefs: loss, insecurity and the fear of death.

Despite its subject, this book is anything but heavy and serious.  It's not a scientific or psychological treatise on the supernatural, so don't expect a convincing argument one way or another.  It's one person's conclusions drawn from his own experiences and encounters.  It's also written for entertainment and while it's not necessarily laugh-out-loud funny, it is amusing without mocking the interviewees or their beliefs.

Overall, I found this book fascinating and loved Storr's style of writing and turn of phrase.  Far from frightening me off, I will be looking up other books by the author and hoping for more of the same.

Now, a bit of time travel.  Back to the Red Queen!