2002

March 21, 2003
Towne Theater
USA
English
127 minutes

For Anyone Who's Ever Fallen In Love With A Book -- STONE READER.

Upon second viewing, the problems were a bit bigger, but it was nice to watch with a new crowd who was completely captivated. It spawned another vigorous post-film discussion about books, which can't be a bad thing.

Previously written:

This was one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. Not because of its skill, but because it takes an unfilmable subject (the love of reading), and somehow expresses that love to us through the narration and actions of its bumbling director. Mark Moskowitz bought a book in 1972 because the NYTimes Book Review raved about it. He couldn't get through it but he picked it up 20 years later and found it to be a masterpiece. So he did what we all do--he went online to buy all of the author's other works. There were none. The original book is no longer in print. What makes someone so brilliant stop writing? He began to start a list of "one and done" authors including Harper Lee and Margaret Mitchell. He sets off to find out what happened to this author. He interviews writing teachers, agents, book jacket designers, the guy who wrote the original review. I'm purposely not telling you what the book was because that really isn't the point. When you see Mark talking with friends and others about books that have touched him, you smile in recognition. He goes to his grammar school library with a buddy and they take books off the shelf one at a time and smile in recollection. This film was fabulous and I can't recommend it highly enough. If you've ever thought you were the only person who had a book change their life, you must see this. Mark ends up sort of rapping with other people about the books they enjoyed rather than interviewing them. Absolutely fabulous.

~Best Documentary of 2002--Independent Spirit Award Nomination