Hollywood Dirt


Book Description

When Hollywood comes to a small Georgia town, the cautious locals don't know what to expect. Feathers ruffle, secrets bloom, and sparks fly in this funny and sexy New York Times Bestseller. *Special edition for the motion picture release of HOLLYWOOD DIRT: The Movie and includes photos from filming, along with an extended ending.




Pre-Code Hollywood


Book Description

Pre-Code Hollywood explores the fascinating period in American motion picture history from 1930 to 1934 when the commandments of the Production Code Administration were violated with impunity in a series of wildly unconventional films—a time when censorship was lax and Hollywood made the most of it. Though more unbridled, salacious, subversive, and just plain bizarre than what came afterwards, the films of the period do indeed have the look of Hollywood cinema—but the moral terrain is so off-kilter that they seem imported from a parallel universe. In a sense, Doherty avers, the films of pre-Code Hollywood are from another universe. They lay bare what Hollywood under the Production Code attempted to cover up and push offscreen: sexual liaisons unsanctified by the laws of God or man, marriage ridiculed and redefined, ethnic lines crossed and racial barriers ignored, economic injustice exposed and political corruption assumed, vice unpunished and virtue unrewarded—in sum, pretty much the raw stuff of American culture, unvarnished and unveiled. No other book has yet sought to interpret the films and film-related meanings of the pre-Code era—what defined the period, why it ended, and what its relationship was to the country as a whole during the darkest years of the Great Depression... and afterward.




American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club)


Book Description

"También de este lado hay sueños. On this side, too, there are dreams. Lydia Quixano Perez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. Even though she knows they'll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with four books he would like to buy--two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia's husband's tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia--trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier's reach doesn't extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to? American Dirt will leave readers utterly changed when they finish reading it. A page-turner filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity on every page, it is a literary achievement."--




There Really Was a Hollywood


Book Description

The author recounts how she became a movie actress, describes her childhood, marriages, and career, and shares anecdotes about the many actors and actresses with whom she has worked




One Day You'll Burn


Book Description

"A brilliant first novel. Joseph Schneider's contemporary writing evokes some of Hollywood's most classic crime stories, from Chinatown to LA Confidential."—Dick Wolf, creator of Law & Order An incredible debut from up-and-coming author Joseph Schneider. Detective Tully Jarsdel may not be a typical Los Angeles cop—but he's the only one who can solve this case A body so badly burned that it could be mistaken for a movie prop... except for the smell. That's not something California law enforcement finds lying on the street every day. And when Detective Tully Jarsdel is called to the scene, it's clear to him that something about the placement of the corpse is intentional, even ritualistic. Jarsdel isn't a classic noir detective, but his former career in academia seems to finally be coming in handy, rather than serving as material for jokes from his partner, Morales. But nothing Jarsdel learned in school can prepare him for the deep evil behind this case, which appears to be as hopeless as it is violent. As Jarsdel and Morales attempt to settle their differences and uncover the motive behind the horrendous crime, they find themselves dragged into the underbelly of a city notorious for chewing up and spitting out anyone dumb enough to turn their back on survival. One Day You'll Burn is a shimmering debut that captures the glitz and squalor of Los Angeles while introducing an unforgettable detective readers will rank among the best in the genre. The first in the LAPD Detective Jarsdel series, this detective mystery is: For readers who love murder mysteries and police procedurals Perfect for fans of Michael Connelly and Lawrence Block For fans of the T.V. series Bones and C.S.I




The Story of Hollywood


Book Description

Before the film industry arrived, Hollywood was filled with quaint bungalows, millionaires' estates, and churches dedicated to teetotalism. Movies shattered Hollywood's tranquillity, and brought wealth, fame and glamorous movie stars. The giants of the movie industry invented klieg-lighted movie premieres and the Academy Awards in Hollywood. Go beyond the star-studded surface to the district's days of union busting, gangsters, and scandal, foreshadowing Hollywood's seedy decline. The book concludes with Hollywood's redevelopment that continues today. The book features the famous faces and places that made the town legendary, offering a unique perspective on celebrity nightlife and the behind-the-scenes stories of day-to-day life. Lavishly illustrated with over 800 vintage images from the author's private collection, "The Story of Hollywood" brings new insights to readers with a passion for Hollywood and its place in the history of film, radio, and television.




The First Lady of Hollywood


Book Description

Hollywood celebrities feared her. William Randolph Hearst adored her. Between 1915 and 1960, Louella Parsons was America's premier movie gossip columnist and in her heyday commanded a following of more than forty million readers. This first full-length biography of Parsons tells the story of her reign over Hollywood during the studio era, her lifelong alliance with her employer, William Randolph Hearst, and her complex and turbulent relationships with such noted stars, directors, and studio executives as Orson Welles, Joan Crawford, Louis B. Mayer, Ronald Reagan, and Frank Sinatra—as well as her rival columnists Hedda Hopper and Walter Winchell. Loved by fans for her "just folks," small-town image, Parsons became notorious within the film industry for her involvement in the suppression of the 1941 film Citizen Kane and her use of blackmail in the service of Hearst's political and personal agendas. As she traces Parsons's life and career, Samantha Barbas situates Parsons's experiences in the broader trajectory of Hollywood history, charting the rise of the star system and the complex interactions of publicity, journalism, and movie-making. Engagingly written and thoroughly researched, The First Lady of Hollywood is both an engrossing chronicle of one of the most powerful women in American journalism and film and a penetrating analysis of celebrity culture and Hollywood power politics.




A Good-Looking Corpse


Book Description

Tom Tanner, the crime-scene-cleaning virtuoso of L.A. Rotten—hailed by Dianne Emley as “eloquent, profound, hilarious, and redemptive”—is going Hollywood. Because a psychopathic movie producer is planning a bloody blockbuster . . . with Tom in a starring role. Tom Tanner has a dark past but he’s no murderer. Unfortunately, Mikey Echo—the spoiled son of the most powerful man in Hollywood—seems to think otherwise. After a young actor suffers an untimely demise out a thirty-fourth-floor window, handsome ex-con Tom is summoned to scrub the splatter below. At the scene, he learns that producer Mikey has an indecent proposal to make—and for Tom, that means signing a deal with the devil. The rotten part is, things had finally been going Tom’s way. He’s got good steady work, a feisty woman to come home to, even a little notoriety for solving a string of grisly motel murders. Now Tom just wants this mad prince of Tinseltown to leave him alone. But the fatalist within braces for the inevitable: To get Mikey Echo off his back, someone must die. Praise for Jeff Klima’s L.A. Rotten “A really impressive debut . . . The book’s black humor reminded me a little of Donald E. Westlake, while the setting and dialogue could have come from Elmore Leonard. Those are two crime-writing legends whose names I don’t evoke lightly. Hopefully, L.A. Rotten is just the start for Jeff Klima.”—Crime Fiction Lover “Eloquent, profound, hilarious, and redemptive, L.A. Rotten has a heart of gold.”—Dianne Emley, bestselling author of the Nan Vining mysteries “A must-read novel for those who enjoy raw, ‘pulpy’ mysteries . . . Engrossing and satisfying, L.A. Rotten is a hard-boiled thriller that readers will be unable to put down.”—Gina Fava, author of The Sculptor




The Skyrocket


Book Description




The Elizabeth Stories


Book Description

The Elizabeth Stories serves as a legacy of Alfred Baroodys wife, Elizabeththe authorwho previously published several articles, short stories, and books. This is a collection of ten short stories and two novelettes compiled into one book. These are stories about adventure, action, mystery, and so much more.