My Favorite Books of 2024

I only barely met my goal this year to read one book a month, at least twelve. It wasn’t an ambitious goal and I just finished the 13th book I picked up during 2024. Perhaps this coming year, I’ll double that number. Here’s a bit about some of what I read.

A couple books were chosen because of work purposes. I read IN OUR TIME as a source for Nick Adams stories to complete my screenplay adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s THE KILLERS and I read DESERT STAKE-OUT by Harry Whittington because I thought I might make a movie of it (and I did). Many of my reading choices are film-related whether they are director biographies or non-fiction books about the making of films. In that category, I read LOCATION FILMING IN ARIZONA (informative), FRAGMENTS: PORTRAITS FROM THE INSIDE (a bad autobiography from director Andre de Toth), and BRANDO RIDES ALONE (a sort of essay book about ONE-EYED JACKS by Barry Gifford). I also re-read Barry Gifford’s excellent love letter to Film Noir and pulp movies titled THE DEVIL THUMBS A RIDE. That was for fun. Other things I read for fun include HOUR OF THE DRAGON by Robert E. Howard, which completed my quest to read all of his Conan stories, and DILLINGER IN HOLLYWOOD, a collection of short stories by one of my favorite filmmakers, John Sayles. I tried to read Robert Heinlein’s STARSHIP TROOPERS but couldn’t find the copy I wanted so I picked up his sci-fi paperback THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS in a used bookstore. It wasn’t very good. Sometimes I choose poorly and suffer through a book. I chose Charles Bukowski’s PULP because I love Bukowski but it was not very good Bukowski. That did not occur with FEAST OF SNAKES by Harry Crews, literally one of the top five novels I’ve encountered. It is such a disturbing, funny, visceral tale of the American South. It’s probably unfilmable but I’d love to film it. Speaking of filming, I did check out FLINT by Louis L’Amour that one of my fellow filmmakers wants to turn into a movie. And last but not least, i finished the year reading Werner Herzog’s memoir EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AND GOD AGAINST ALL. I would have put it in the filmmaking category above but it’s much more than that and like everything Herzog has ever done, it is original and unclassifiable. There was no better book to end 2024.

Here is the full list of books and also scripts/plays in the order that I read them throughout this year.

Books I Read During 2024:

Desert Stake-Out – Harry Whittington

In Our Time – Ernest Hemingway

Dillinger in Hollywood – John Sayles

The Devil Thumbs a Ride – Barry Gifford

Fragments: Portraits from the Inside – Andre de Toth

Brando Rides Alone – Barry Gifford

A Feast of Snakes – Harry Crews

Pulp – Charles Bukowksi

Location Filming in Arizona – Lili Debarbieri

Flint – Louis L’Amour

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – Robert Heinlein

Hour of the Dragon – Robert E. Howard

Every Man for Himself and God Against All – Werner Herzog

Screenplays and Plays I Read During 2024:

Detox – John Burd

The Patron Saint of Whores – Josh Capps

Wrong Turn – David Neal Butterfield

A Tombstone Christmas Carol – John Marrs

End of the Line – Gus Edwards

A Fool Such as I – Gus Edwards

Dogwood – Ruby Garnet Beckwith and Amy Zubieta

The Handshake – Robert Congdon

Go for Your Gun – Darren Eisenhauer

The Rat on Fire – Ben Poole and George V. Higgins

Buck-Nekkid for Jesus – John Maxwell

Louie and Ophelia – Gus Edwards

The Offering – Gus Edwards

This will eventually be published on my website, runningwildfilms.com, and my Travis Mills Facebook page.