Hollywood: A Third Memoir

Prolific novelist and screenwriter McMurtry shares his history with the movies via breezy anecdotes and insightful reflections on a writer's fluctuating currency in Hollywood. McMurtry muses on the elusive and capricious nature of the filmmaking industry with humor and compassion for some of the people who have inhabited it. With observations on the often predictable decline of movie stars, and recollections of his own projects, McMurtry is always the writer who loves what he does, despite setbacks, delays, or disappointments. He shares some of Tinsel Town's characters, less idiosyncratic today than they once were, and the many opportunities he was given to write for the movies; his endeavors, even those that never made it to the screen, served a purpose in the long, productive trajectory of his career. Unpretentious but wise, passionate but not precious about his craft (when he won an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain he skipped the parties in favor of "a decent cheeseburger" and bed), McMurtry shames his angst-ridden peers with a frank appreciation for the chance to be a part of the massive entertainment machine. (Aug.)