100 Books Like Fellini

I was very interested to read Sylvia Gorelick's translation of Mallarmé's The Book. Since I've spent years studying unfinished works and dream projects, this translation of Mallarmé's mysterious masterwork really spoke to me. Gorelick manages to capture not just Mallarmé's words but the haunting sense of an artist struggling with an impossible project—one that consumed him for decades.

What I particularly appreciate is how she makes Mallarmé's complex ideas about poetry and the sacred accessible without simplifying them. Reading her translation helped me better understand why this unfinished work became such a significant influence on modern literature. For anyone interested in how artists grapple with their most ambitious visions, this book is essential reading.

I found White's book deeply resonant with my own biographical work on Genet. While my book Genet: la vie écrite focused on his artistic trajectory, White masterfully illuminates the personal dimensions of this complex figure's life.

What particularly moved me was how White's intimate understanding of both French culture and queer experience complements my analysis of Genet's theatrical works. His biography provides rich psychological insights that deepen and enrich my own research into Genet's creative process.

For anyone who, like me, has spent years studying the intersection of Genet's life and art, White's work is an indispensable companion that reveals new layers of understanding about this enigmatic literary genius.

I was interested by Stanley Kubrick's book because it shows just how deeply Kubrick researched and planned his films. As someone who studies unfinished film projects, I was fascinated to see all the detailed work that went into this movie that was never made—from the costume designs to the battle plans to Kubrick's handwritten notes.

The book lets us peek into Kubrick's creative process through the thousands of photos, documents and research materials he gathered. What makes this book special is that it doesn't just tell us about the film that could have been—it helps us understand how Kubrick's mind worked when developing his projects. This is a rare look at the early stages of what might have been his greatest film.

I liked this book because it masterfully illuminates the intersection of faith and artistic expression in Claudel's work. The book's exploration of how his Catholic beliefs shaped his poetic vision resonates deeply with my own interest in spiritual literature.

What particularly moved me was the analysis of how Claudel transformed theological concepts into vivid, tangible poetry without diminishing either their sacred nature or their artistic power. The author's careful examination of Claudel's ability to weave Catholic doctrine into his verses while maintaining their literary brilliance opened my eyes to new ways of understanding religious poetry. For anyone fascinated by the relationship between faith and art, this book is an absolute treasure.

The New York Times called this memoir “The Hollywood Chainsaw Massacre!” and it still stands as one of the best. Phillips, who died New Year’s Day 2002, was a self-described “nice Jewish girl from Great Neck,” Long Island who loved the movies, movie stars — and books. She was sharp, unsparing, and became the first female producer to win an Oscar for Best Picture. The closest comp title, I think, is The Kid Stays In The Picture by the late Robert Evans, but Phillips does him better in eviscerating no one so much as herself. And this is someone who describes Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood as “very sweet, but . . . smells terrible,” before asking, “Why don’t the English like to bathe?” An observation that could get one canceled today.

Discovering the art of Alejandro Jodorowsky helped me to remove limitations from my own art. It was a joy to discover his work and it was a further joy to discover that his life has been just as uncompromising, surreal, and magical as his art. He has hung out with circus people, shamans, great artists (Marcel Marceau, Leonora Carrington, Jean Giraud… the list goes on). His novels, autobiographies, comic books, movies, and pictures are all fantastic. 

Graphic novels are seeing a real boom, and Ira Marcks’ Spirit Week is the perfect scary graphic novel middle-grade for visual readers.

Inspired by The Shining (you know, that Stephen King book made into a horror movie with Jack Nicholson), this graphic novel manages to weave horror and cinematic elements to make for a great nod to the horror genre.

Our main kid character Suzy is an aspiring engineer, and she’s at the Underlook Hotel to tutor a famous filmmaker’s son named Danny. But the kids are quickly sucked into solving the mystery of the hotel, alongside a cast of colorful characters. Part mystery, part cinematic horror, Spirit Week will appeal to all readers. I read it in one sitting, it was that good. 

I’ll never forget finding this biography at a secondhand bookstore just off the Kurfurstendamm in Berlin a few years ago. I took it to a small café near the zoo and read it–cover to cover–that very same day!

There is little doubt Samuel Goldwyn was Hollywood’s last tycoon. In this outstanding book, Berg beautifully tells the rags-to-riches tale of a poor Jewish glovemaker who became the most important producer in American cinema. Many great stars make appearances, including Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. A meticulously researched and compelling tome.

A sci-fi space opera that’s told like a documentary film.

This was the first book (but certainly not the last) that ever made me jealous I didn’t write, and inspired countless hours of me trying to duplicate.

Set in an alternate 1986 where silent films still reign and using various forms (reality tv, movie, celebrity rags, audio transcripts) this is a genre-bending collective gorgeously told and seriously underread. 

While this book is a bio-memoir, I included it on my list as a correspondent homage to the cinematic shaman of twisted mysteries, David Lynch. For the past forty plus years, Lynch has dreamscaped a long day’s journey into night, taking audiences on a hallucinated tour through the underworld of their own splintered psyche. Lynch’s oeuvre, a steam-punk Frankenstein of interchangeable parts, speaks to the savvy and glee of a mad scientist at play, while his blending of the eternal with American pop has given us a surrealistic soap opera with an eye toward the numinous. Written in alternating chapters, between Lynch and McKenna, this book is a must-read for fans of Lynch, but beyond that, if you are a fan and lover of cinema, creative process, and following your bliss, Room to Dream strikes those chords with a down-to-earth immediacy. It is, in essence, one man’s multi-layered valentine… show more.