Queue Tips

November 1, 2012
Remember The Book of Lists and its numerous sequels? This is a smaller, more focused spin on that idea: two-dozen lists of movies. Christopher, who writes about film (and other things) for the Chicagoist website, enlists the assistance of several contributors, who include novelist and screenwriter Barry Gifford, Booklist editor Bill Ott, and actress Julia Sweeney, to offer readers a choice assortment of topical lists: box-office disasters that didn't really deserve to flop, movies about doomed romances, films guaranteed to spark lively discussions, late-night horror flicks, movies that turned out better than the books they were based on, and westerns that aren't really westerns (Steven Spielberg's Duel, for example). It's an imaginative and often thought-provoking bookZoe Trope's Seven Reasons to Love Nicholas Cage really does make us take another look at the frequently mocked actorand it has a little bit of something for everyone while at the same time managing to avoid the usual staples of best-of lists and the same familiar titles you see in a multitude of other books.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)