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A few adamant suggestions to pass along to you:

"Get Shorty" and "Be Cool" by Elmore Leonard.

-Two quick reads, with very cool plots. If you've seen the movies but not read the books, read the books (whether you liked the movies or not; "Get Shorty" does the book a moderate amount of justice, but "Be Cool" is almost entirely different in the movie version).

"Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art" by Gene Wilder

-This book captivated me. It is nearly impossible to put down. Written using a combination of narration methods and unique humor, reading it feels like having an intimate, friendly conversation with one of the world's most unappreciated entertainers, Gene Wilder. A definite must-read for anyone that's ever liked any of Gene's work.

Thanks for the heads-up, especially about the Gene Wilder book. I love reading books like that!

I have always loved reading Elmore. He is witty and can be quite ironic. Even his historical-fiction works are great reads (Cuba Libre for instance). It is also amazing to note how many of his novels have been made into movies with big star power:
Mr. Majestyk (Bronson '74)
Fifty-Two Pickup (Sheider, Ann-Margaret '86)
Stick (Reynolds, Bergen, Segal '85)
Get Shorty (Travolta, Hackman, Russo, DeVito, Farina, Lindo, Gandolfini, '95)
Touch (Uhlrich, Walken, Bridget Fonda '97)
Rum Punch filmed as Jackie Brown - (Grier, Fonda, Sam L Jackson, De Niro, Keaton, Forster '97)
Out of Sight (Clooney, Farina, Lopez '98)
Be Cool (Travolta, Thurman, Vaughn, Keitel, Devito, Rock, Woods, '05)
The Big Bounce (twice, Owen Wilson, Freeman, Sheen, Sinise '04)
Many TV movies and a couple TV pilots.
Some older Westerns.
3 movies are set for release in 2007.

I will definitely check out Gene Wilder's book too.

Y-NO-9-O wrote:I have always loved reading Elmore. He is witty and can be quite ironic. Even his historical-fiction works are great reads (Cuba Libre for instance). It is also amazing to note how many of his novels have been made into movies with big star power:
Mr. Majestyk (Bronson '74)
Fifty-Two Pickup (Sheider, Ann-Margaret '86)
Stick (Reynolds, Bergen, Segal '85)
Get Shorty (Travolta, Hackman, Russo, DeVito, Farina, Lindo, Gandolfini, '95)
Touch (Uhlrich, Walken, Bridget Fonda '97)
Rum Punch filmed as Jackie Brown - (Grier, Fonda, Sam L Jackson, De Niro, Keaton, Forster '97)
Out of Sight (Clooney, Farina, Lopez '98)
Be Cool (Travolta, Thurman, Vaughn, Keitel, Devito, Rock, Woods, '05)
The Big Bounce (twice, Owen Wilson, Freeman, Sheen, Sinise '04)
Many TV movies and a couple TV pilots.
Some older Westerns.
3 movies are set for release in 2007.

I will definitely check out Gene Wilder's book too.

It's amazing how many movies have been made from his novels, but there are two things that bother me about that:

1) His novels don't always translate well into movie form, because there's always so much going on. The screenplay for "Be Cool" is almost entirely different from the movie, with the exception of a few character names and a very, very broad outline of the plot. (To be fair, I think one of the downfalls of "Be Cool" is that it was poorly cast with too many celebrities vying for time in the story; kind of hard to follow after a while)

2) The only movie I (any many will agree here, I think) based on his work I've seen that does the book justice while still being a watchable movie is "Get Shorty". It stays fairly close to the source material and the casting is wonderful.

trojan_sixtyone wrote: It's amazing how many movies have been made from his novels, but there are two things that bother me about that:

1) His novels don't always translate well into movie form, because there's always so much going on. The screenplay for "Be Cool" is almost entirely different from the movie, with the exception of a few character names and a very, very broad outline of the plot. (To be fair, I think one of the downfalls of "Be Cool" is that it was poorly cast with too many celebrities vying for time in the story; kind of hard to follow after a while)

2) The only movie I (any many will agree here, I think) based on his work I've seen that does the book justice while still being a watchable movie is "Get Shorty". It stays fairly close to the source material and the casting is wonderful.

I agree with you there. Since you mention casting I have to tell you that Get Shorty was spot on. However, before I saw the movie but did see the cast I immediately thought that Gene Hackman would be playing the "arrogant big star" character and Danny DeVito would be "sleazeball producer" character. When I saw the movie I realized the roles were reversed but they both pulled it off to a tee.
Out of Sight and Touch were pretty close to the book. Can't wait to see Tishomingo Blues (directed by and starring Don Cheadle).

Does anyone know how Gene Wilder is doing?

He has the same type of cancer that my wife has. Non Hodgkins lymphoma.

captenuta wrote:Does anyone know how Gene Wilder is doing?

He has the same type of cancer that my wife has. Non Hodgkins lymphoma.

According to the book (published in 2005) and what I've read online, he's in full remission and doing quite well. Plays tennis a lot, from what I understand.

trojan_sixtyone wrote:

captenuta wrote:Does anyone know how Gene Wilder is doing?

He has the same type of cancer that my wife has. Non Hodgkins lymphoma.

According to the book (published in 2005) and what I've read online, he's in full remission and doing quite well. Plays tennis a lot, from what I understand.

That's great to hear!

Indeed. He's a true American talent.