World of Blue - Archived Forum 2007-2022

1. What is the best book on David and his work?

2. What is your favorite?

Lynch on Lynch is my favorite. I'm curious to see if anyone will place anything above it.

Funnily enough I was thinking about this in bed last night and wondering why there's never been a thread about DL books. I can remember a time (1993) when the only book in print in the UK was The Films of David Lynch by John Alexander. It was the first book I bought followed by David Lynch by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

Lynch on Lynch is my favourite. I love everything about it - the chapter headings, stills, questions, index. It's beautifully put together and I have a (well read) hardback copy and a pristine, revised paperback edition. I also really like David Lynch by Michel Chion.

Weirdsville USA by Paul A. Woods is my least favourite. There's no real insight into the films and it's hard to know who the target audience is. It's shallow and pointless.

Darth Bowie wrote:1. What is the best book on David and his work?

2. What is your favorite?

"Lynch On Lynch", hands down.

RR

I agree LYNCH ON LYNCH is the best, but THE COMPLETE LYNCH has a lot of useful info, especially on deleted scenes. I found Michel Chion's book interesting too.

I'd have to say Lynch on Lynch aswell. But I'm part way through Michel Chion's book and I have so far learnt some things that I didn't already know! Pretty hard for someone who tries to read and watch everything Lynch-related. So thumbs up to Chion so far...

I recommend Michel Chion's book too. Very useful and interesting. I've read the whole thing at least three times.

Robin Davies wrote:I agree LYNCH ON LYNCH is the best, but THE COMPLETE LYNCH has a lot of useful info, especially on deleted scenes. I found Michel Chion's book interesting too.

Yeah, I was really surprised how good The Complete Lynch is


...2nd only to Lynch on Lynch.



There is another good one that escapes me and has a scene of Blue Velvet on the cover (I think I have every single book)...I look through the library and report back.

Okay just remembered...

David Lynch (Twayne's Filmmakers Series)
by Kenneth C. Kaleta is just a beautiful little book!



The Passion of David Lynch: Wild at Heart in Hollywood by Martha P. Nochimson is not too shabby either. Definitely has a bunch of Twin Peaks stuff!



I've heard David Lynch by Michel Chion is good too but haven't read this one.

One more vote for Lynch on Lynch.

A great place to start.

Right now I'll have to agree with the majority because I also think that Lynch on Lynch is the best book about David Lynch and my favorite one too. But I got the feeling that the new book the beautiful dark might change my opinion.

I would say that Michel Chion's book is by far the most poetic and beautifully written. It is a very heartfelt response by someone who fully immersed himself in "Lynchland." What I love about it, is that it is a book that keeps giving to the reader, as Lynch's films do to the viewer. Rather than just a presentation of the usual, dry pieces of information, and canned quotes, it is a very organic work with roots that reach deep into what makes a thing art; it works from the inside out, rather than staying on the surface. It is also one of the most quotable books on Lynch and his work, with some wonderful passages that settle into the deepest, most abstract recesses of what I would consider the essence of all things "Lynchian." One such passage is when Chion quotes a French critic whose response to Eraserhead is that he would like to fashion a coffin out of the scenes of the film, as if they were wood, and spend his final days moving from scene to scene as a termite. I should note that I was rather disappointed by Chion's revised edition, as he seems to rush through Lost Highway, Straight Story and Mulholland Drive, without any of the carefully paced, detailed and deliberate prose employed in the previous chapters. The new chapter feels like a tacked-on bit. I also recommend Chion's wonderful book on sound in film, Audio-Vision, as well as his book of poetic musings on the films of Jacques Tati. These are books that should and could be of interest to an audience not mutually exclusive to film studies, but to those curious individuals interested in literary excursions into art in a much larger sense. A wonderful writer, that M. Chion...

Cheers,

The Complete Lynch is now OOP and i can't find it anywhere except for Amazon Marketplace.Can anyone help?

The consensus on message boards seems to be Lynch on Lynch is the best and the runner up is The Complete Lynch by Hughes. I purchased both of these on Amazon this weekend. Beautiful Dark looks awesome, but my goodness is that a steep price for a book! Maybe it will be in paperback someday. Same reason I have not gotten Images yet.

For me it's a tie between Lynch on Lynch and Beautiful Dark. Both I would highly recommend.