General:
'1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die' edited by Steven Jay Schneider
This is an absolute must for film fans. Organised chronologically, it lists 1001 must see movies (in case you couldn't work that out from the title). For film fans it's a great reference list just to work your way through, ticking things off as you go.
'Ten Bad Dates with Deniro' edited by Richard Kelly
This is really one for the movie nerds. It's a book of 'alternative movie lists'. These lists vary from reasonably straight forward ones like 'Ten great political thrillers' to slightly more obscure ones like 'Ten places you won't expect to find a severed head'. Each list includes short paragraphs explaining each selection. What makes this book great is the list of contributors. Not only do you have great film writers like Ian Christie and Ryan Gilbey contributing lists, you also have filmmakers like the Coen brothers and Steven Soderbergh offering thier insight.
Film History:
'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood' by Peter Biskind
Biskind's book, which topped the New York best sellers list, looks at the New Hollywood of the late 1960s through to the early 1980s which turned Hollywood on its head. The New Hollywood started with the arrival of a new type of Hollywood art cinema and finished with the arrival of the massive Hollywood blockbuster, giving us some of Hollywood's biggest names; Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, Nicholson, Deniro, Pacino, Altman, Beatty, Streep, and many more. Biskind's book is very juicy, full of inside knowledge and stories, making it a real page turner.
'Scenes from a Revolution' by Mark Harris
This one deals with the same moment in Hollywood's history as Biskind's book, but it takes a different approach. Harris's book zeroes in on 1967 as the transitional moment in Hollywood's history and he does this by looking at the story of the five films which were nominated for that years Best Picture Oscar; Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Doctor Dolittle. These five films provide a perfect representation of the conflict between old and new Hollywood that 1967 saw.
About People:
'Whom God Wishes to Destroy... Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood' by Jon Lewis
This book looks at Coppola's career, but rather than focusing on the 1970s when he was at the height of his power, this account starts in 1980 when he purchases the old Hollywood General Studio lot in order to transform his production company into a fully fledged studio and looks at the decline of his career through the 1980s and 1990s. Interesting insight into the film business and the way that the big ones fall hardest.
'Scorsese on Scorsese' edited by Ian Christie and David Thompson
Compiled by Christie and Thompson, this book reads like a career length interview with Scorsese. What you get is an incredibly articulate first person account of Scorsese's career starting with his childhood and film school experience and then progressing film by film through his career (up to Gangs of New York).
About Films:
Notes by Eleanor Coppola
The making of Apocalypse Now was a famous debacle, with just about everything that could go wrong going wrong (script difficulties, actor problems, typhoons, civil wars, heart attacks), plus Coppola's megalomania had reached never before seen levels. This diary, written by Francis's wife Eleanor while on location in the Philippines, offers incredibly personal insight into not only this amazing production but also this unique filmmaker.
