Looking for something to read? – Kindle Unlimited (film books listed)

Kindle Unlimited is a $10/£8 monthly subscription on Amazon that allows you to borrow books to read. The catalogue is extensive but it’s mostly self-published. I have dipped in twice many months apart (it’s easy to cancel). Going over the archived list of my borrowed books I picked out these as the better ones I’ve read. They might interest you.



Tiger Tracks - The Classic Panzer Memoir

by Wolfgang Faust (author), Sprech Media (translator)

Fascinating first-hand account of the hell of the Eastern front from a German’s point of view. I highly recommend this.


The Last Panther - Slaughter of the Reich - The Halbe Kessel 1945

by Wolfgang Faust (author), Sprech Media (translator)

Fascinating first-hand account of the hell of the Eastern front from a German’s point of view. I highly recommend this.


D DAY Through German Eyes - The Hidden Story of June 6th 1944

by Holger Eckhertz (author, editor), Sprech Media (translator)

Collected verbal recollections from the German point of view transcribed from interviews conducted in the 60s.


D DAY Through German Eyes - Book 2 - More hidden stories from June 6th 1944

by Holger Eckhertz (author, editor), Sprech Media (translator)

Collected verbal recollections from the German point of view transcribed from interviews conducted in the 60s.


SS Panzer SS Voices - Eyewitness Panzer Crews - From Barbarossa to Berlin

by Sprech History (editor)

Collected verbal recollections from the German point of view transcribed from interviews conducted in the 60s.


Hitler's Children - Spitting Fire

by Sprech History (editor)

Collected verbal recollections from the German point of view transcribed from interviews conducted in the 60s.


Saving Mona Lisa: The Battle to Protect the Louvre and its Treasures During...

by Gerri Chanel (author)

Plodding but mildly interesting history of protecting French art from the Germans during WW2.


The Battle for the Rhine 1944: Arnhem and the Ardennes, the Campaign in Europe

by Robin Neillands (author)

I’m still slowly plodding through this highly opinionated military history book but it’s decent so far.


Test Of Greatness: Britain's Struggle for the Atom Bomb

by Brian Cathcart (author)

Interesting history book about creating and then detonating a nuclear bomb on an Australian island in the 50s.


Death Wish

by Brian Garfield (author)

Much more respectable than the trashy 1974 Charles Bronson film.


Death Sentence

by Brian Garfield (author)

Sequel to Death Wish.


Suspended Sentences

by Brian Garfield (author)

Good short story collection.


Line of Succession

by Brian Garfield (author)

Well-written high concept thriller about terrorists kidnapping and killing the top people of the US government.


Hopscotch

by Brian Garfield (author)

Okay cold war era spy comedy later made into a so-so Walter Matthau film in 1980.


Checkpoint Charlie

by Brian Garfield (author)

A short story collection about cold war era spies with some of the same characters from Hopscotch. In my opinion this was better than Hopscotch.


Fear in a Handful of Dust

by Brian Garfield (author)

It’s a simple, spare, lean, mean nasty little survivalist tale about four people left to die in the dessert. It reminded me of The Martian (the novel and film about an astronaut stranded on Mars for four years with only a year’s worth of supplies). It has a similar survivalist story about food, water, shelter, dead landscape and escaping.


Recoil

by Brian Garfield (author)

Solid thriller about a family in witness relocation on the run from gangsters.


SKINFLICKS The Inside Story of the X-Rated Video Industry

by David Jennings (author)

Covers the crossover from 70s film to 80s videotape. It’s a proper autobiographical memoir and not trashy erotica.


The Elephant in the Room: A Journey into the Trump Campaign and the "Alt-Right"

by Jon Ronson (author)

Amusing short book.


The Truth About This Charming Man: Romance with a Heist in the Tail!

by Peter Jones (author)

Indifferent lightweight chicklit-style novel.


Alt.Film Journal!: How I Made A Low-Budget Indie Film for $32,000

by Eric Bickernicks (author)

Interesting case study of a failed indie movie.


Film is Hell:: Surviving the Indie Apocalypse

by Matthew Howe (author)

Very funny tales about making awful straight to rental action trash with no money (they use a lot of stock footage and they constantly sneaked into military bases to capture shots of their actors beside tanks and planes).


Rebel without a Deal: or, How a 30-year-old filmmaker with $11,000 almost...

by Vincent Rocca

Interesting case study of a failed indie movie.


ACTORS TURNED DIRECTORS: POWERFUL WISDOM REGARDING THE ELICITING OF BEST...

by Jon Stevens Alon (author)

Interviews with film actors turned directors.


What's Your Favorite Scary Movie?

by Killian H. Gore (author)

Q&As about horror films, mostly with people in the film business.


The Dudes Abide: The Coen Brothers and the Making of The Big Lebowski

by Alex Belth (author)

Mildly interesting short book written by an assistant who worked on the cult film The Big Lebowski in 1997-98.


Behind the Screens: Programmers Reveal How Film Festivals Really Work

by Jon Gann (author), Kelley Baker (introduction)

More interesting than it sounds set of interviews with film festival programmers about what they’re looking for in the submitted films.


So You Want to Start a Film Festival?

by Jon Gann (author)

Interviews with film festival people about the business side. Not as interesting as the previous film focused book Behind the Screens but still worth a read.


My Seinfeld Year (Kindle Single)

by Fred Stoller (author)

Mildly interesting short memoir about spending a year trying and mostly failing to write a produced script for the TV show Seinfeld.


The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters, 10th Anniversary Edition...

by Karl Iglesias (author)

Interviews with scriptwriters.


Hints & Tips for Videogame Pioneers

by Andrew Hewson (author), Rob Hewson (editor)

A memoir by 8-bit and 16-bit British games publisher (not a designer or maker of games).



I would recommend avoiding these:


SS Panzer SS Pride - Eyewitness Panzer Crews - Barbarossa to Italy: Part 1...

by Sprech History (editor)

Repeats chapters in a different order to the books I recommend above. As far as I could tell there was no new material.


SS Panzer SS Inferno - Eyewitness Panzer Crews - Normandy to Berlin: Part 2...

by Sprech History (editor)

Repeats chapters in a different order to the books I recommend above. As far as I could tell there was no new material.


SS Panzer: Sherman Killers - Eyewitness Tank Crews

by Sprech History (editor)

Repeats chapters in a different order to the books I recommend above. As far as I could tell there was no new material.


The Romanov Succession

by Brian Garfield (author)

It starts good but it quickly lost my attention after about 15%.



I’ve put this here (it’s got film books among the list so, you know, visual art related) instead of hidden away in the off topic section as I’d like it to be searchable by Google for other people who might years later be looking for something to read using their Kindle Unlimited subscription.