Summer Reading: John Ford, The Complete Films [Taschen]

The best thing about Taschen books is the pictures, and the worst thing about reading them is that you hafta design a strategy the allows a full digestion of both the words and pictures. Taschen's book on John Ford gives you the basics on his films and styles, with factoids that you'll come to find are repeated in every documentary about Mr Ford, which is fine, cos then you can sit there and go, Oh yeah, I read that somewhere. Mr Smarty Pants, you and your excellent coffee table books. The worst part about reading this is that you'll sit there for the next hour trying to figure out how you're going to get your hands on a copy of The Informer.

The pictures in this offering are gorgeous, and the softcover book itself is lovely, too. The problem comes with trying to read it. I resorted to reading each chapter, ignoring the pictures, then going back after the end of the section and looking at the pictures and reading the captions, which pretty much repeat what has been said. Going back and forth through the book page by page will probably drive you nuts, especially since the pictures don't always match the text, which is kind of thrown in there where there's space. Still, for John Ford fans, this is a quick, light, and pleasant read, and the glossy photos are divine.

[Buy from Taschen Books]