In addition to watching too much television and devouring movies, another diversion I have from actually being productive and doing genuinely useful thing is reading a book.
No, not comic books but actual books.
Although some times those books might be comic books in the form of graphic novels or what have you.
But yes, I read books and I will like to deliver on an approximately a monthly basis a report on some of those books.
Today's book report is a book I got on Christmas called Number One Is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other Diversions by Steve Martin and Harry Bliss.
Harry Bliss is an American cartoonist and illustrator who has illustrated many books, and produced hundreds of cartoons and 25 covers for The New Yorker.
Half of the book are anecdotes from Steve's film career, telling stories about his films and some behind the scenes about co-stars like Lily Tomlin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short.
It's a credit to Steve's kind and gentle nature that he doesn't have anything bad to say about Chase.
His recollections of working with John Candy on Planes, Trains and Automobiles are funny, sweet and poignant.
He tells the story of how when one of his movies was in the theaters, his mother told how she and her friends went to go see a movie and it was sold out. So they went to Steve's movie instead. Steve is astonished that as a grown up man person how much that knocked his self confidence back.
The film career stories have some clever interjections by Harry and his dog.
The other half of the book are the "other diversions" noted in the title, a sequence of New Yorker type cartoons. They are mildly amusing but it feels like padding. The left side pages are all blank.
I got this book Christmas morning and finished reading it before lunch. It's a very thin book.
It's a sweet and amusing book and worth a read if you're a fan of Steve Martin's work.
I'm just not sure it's worth $30. I hope Andrea got a discount.
I just wish Steve had put a bit more into this particular project, to make it feel more like an actual book.
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