I was skimming the new releases at Audible when I came across a book, It's Only a Movie, that looked interesting. It was a memoir, which I like if they are humorous. This one seemed to fit that bill. I find out that Mark Kermode is a movie reviewer, but one that I had never heard of before. Still, the sample was pretty funny, so I took a chance on it.
Even though Kermode isn't what I would call famous, although he does work for the BBC. I thought his book was a very interesting and very funny listen, not that being famous is a qualification for a good memoir.
Kermode talks about his love of film throughout his life with criticism of films that entered his life and peppers this with stories from his life. For example, his chapter on the first time he was ever on radio was so funny that I had to listen to it twice to get the full details because I was laughing so hard. Same for his chapter on going to Russia in 1992 to cover a movie shoot there. What starts as a fun idea turns into a nightmare that doesn't surpass any movie about troubles in traveling, but it certainly tops them all in the laughs department. Kermode and a writing partner have to endure smelly trains, cramped cars and harrowing plane rides all for the search of a film crew that seems to be everywhere that they aren't while dealing with post communist society that doesn't have any of the conveniences that he is used to.
All in all, if you like movies, or talk of movies, then this book is a good start.
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