Saturday, May 07, 2011

Woody Allen’s Favorite Books

Woody Allen’s Favorite Books, From J.D. Salinger to S.J. Perelman

6 comments:

Bud said...

I read C.i.t.R as a teenager and I was only annoyed. I don't share Allen's world/life view, but I appreciate his genuine honesty and humility.
I love most of his movies (mainly the early, funny ones 8-)). He is a genius of comedy. He clinched my admiration of his comic sense when I learned how much he appreciated and understood Bob Hope's mastery of timing.

Unknown said...

The story is that even Hope was amazed at how well Allen understood that timing thing.

Anonymous said...

12 ANGRY MEN was directed by Sidney Lumet not Elia Kazan.

Anonymous said...

The one unsurprising favorite is Perelman. Woody is Sid's son and heir when it comes to surreal, hyperliterate Jewish humor. I love his books and have most of them (still looking for Dawn Ginsberg's Revenge). Will have to find a copy of Woody's anthology just to read his intro
Art Scott

Deb said...

I'm surprised that Woody says reading SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION was "work." Back when I was a teenager, the only reason I read it was because it was one of the favorite things of Allen's character in "Manhattan."

Also, I found Woody's comment, "I’m a great compartmentaliser," to be perhaps more revealing than he intended.

George said...

"I’m a great compartmentaliser" resonated with me, too. Given Woody's antics with Soon-Yi Previn, he'd have to be a great compartmentalizer. Woody Allen and Farrow's biological son, Ronan Farrow, said of Allen: "He's my father married to my sister. That makes me his son and his brother-in-law. That is such a moral transgression."