Arts & Music Books > Film & TV Arts & Music Books

Advantages: Beautiful photos, revealing, informative, sensitive
Disadvantages: None

...1960s. One of these is Audrey Hepburn, who I loved when I watched My Fair Lady on TV as a child. I was looking for a biography to buy about her, so looked through Amazon and Ebay for something suitable, as I wanted to learn more about her life. When I saw the front cover of this book, I knew I had to buy it. The picture is stunning – a young Audrey with short hair and a pink blouse, looking back towards the camera. Then I saw it was written by her ...
...bought Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit by Sean Hepburn Ferrer from Ebay for £5.99 (£9.49 with postage), but it is also available from Amazon for £9.12. Sean has also written a second book on his mother called The Audrey Hepburn Treasures, which I hope to buy soon. I read An Elegant Spirit and loved it. It is such a warm account of Audrey’s life and the memories her son shares really do give an insight into her as a person – and as a mother. While ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent character profiles, episode guide, recipes
Disadvantages: None

...favourite American television shows is Desperate Housewives, like Lost I have been hooked on this programme since the very beginning. The show focuses around four women; Susan, Bree, Gabrielle and Lynette who all live on Wisteria Lane. The series begins with the shocking suicide of their close friend Mary Alice Young. Mary Alice provides the narration for the show as she watches what her friends are now up to. It's a comedy drama with a lot of twists ...
...feature of the book. DESPERATE HUSBANDS Now obviously the show is focused mainly on the women, but we can't forget about the husbands! This section is basically the character profiles for the men, there are also interviews with each actor. THE KIDS OF WISTERIA LANE And then of course there is the children! Again these are characters profiles in the same format as before THE HOUSEGUESTS These aren't as detailed as the other character profiles ... Read review

Advantages: Detailed analysis, occasional sniping between contributors
Disadvantages: You really need to have seen the film

...essays on American cinematic milestone Bonnie and Clyde (1967) is indispensable for anyone studying that film. With its multiple interpretations of the movie, it is also inspirational to anyone who simply loves the film. The arguments are (mostly) persuasive enough to sway the opinions of those who are unconvinced by the film. Unfortunately, however, if you haven't seen the film, you might find the detailed analysis a little confusing without a context. ...
...essay, that particular article compares Bonnie and Clyde with Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), remembering the controversy that erupted over both. To my mind, the author is a little hard on Stone's film, but then he's trying to write an article on the earlier movie, so I couldn't argue too much with his chosen emphasis. A more dedicated analysis of the film's violence is also extremely interesting viewing, discussing the use of slow-motion ... Read review

Advantages: lots
Disadvantages: none

...based on the TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It's called Coyote Moon and is cheaper than the more recent Buffy books. It's of a resonable size and has a nice cover. The story is very compelling and when reading it you really feel like you are in the story with the characters. For all the historians out their this book is based in Season 3 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and the characters in the book include Cordelia 'Cordy' Chase, Xander Harris, ...
...to give too much away but it involves Willow and Xander falling for two people - a hunky boy and an irresistible young woman who work on the carnival which is in Sunnydale for a while. It also involves the appearance of Coyotes, and the workers at the carnival are more than they seem. A very interesting book. ... Read review

Advantages: Great for big simpsons fans
Disadvantages: more magazine than book, for simpson fans only

The simpsons Forever (a complete guide to our favorite family continued) is a great book RRP £9.99 (purchased from Waterstones) 95 pages long, including indexes etc. Created by Matt Groening and edited by Scott M. Gimple. Published by HarperCollins Entertainment Cover shows bart holding a book of the simpsons a complete guide to our favorite family (see picture at the bottom) This book includes all new more characters, episodes and secret jokes ...
...A typical page in the book shows an episode title, details of what happened and the story line, followed by comments from characters, things you may have missed and the chalkboard gag. On the side of every page is details of a (new) character featured in the programme, eg. who they are, what they do, and how they behave etc showing their quote in a speech bubble. Each page has great pictures from the episode in context and makes this more of a magazine ... Read review