The Hollywood Book Club

Holiday gift pick For the Literary-Minded Movie Aficionado -Chicago Tribune Holiday Gift Guide Pick 'The Hollywood Book Club' by Steven Rea is an engaging book that rounds up dozens of rarely seen, always surprising images (yes, that's Marilyn Monroe reading Heine on the cover). -Los Angeles Times 'Books and movies have been intersecting in significant ways since the silent era, ' writes the photo archivist Steven Rea in The Hollywood Book Club. His collection of nearly 60 rare photographs shows Monroe and her fellow screen luminaries revelling in the joy of reading, from Grace Kelly absorbed in a biography of Louis Armstrong to Audrey Hepburn devouring Shaw and Shakespeare. -Harpers Bazaar (UK) 'The Hollywood Book Club' is a striking collectible, a delight for bibliophiles and cinephiles. The glitz and glamour are palpable, and the photos Rea selected awaken a nostalgia for those golden years of the silver screen. Assume your best movie-star pose, and savor the book on your velvet chaise, leveling its pages with your sauciest gaze. One never knows when a camera is lurking nearby. -The Washington Post 'The Hollywood Book Club' is the literary equivalent of a petit four: small, square and sweet. You won't so much devour it as you will nibble around its edges while you wait for your tea to steep. If you're not a tea drinker, this is the kind of book that will make you wish you were - especially when you come upon Audrey Hepburn reading cross-legged on her bedroom floor, delicate china cup atop a silver breakfast tray just an arm's length away. An accompanying caption reveals that this photograph was taken at a Beverly Hills rental while the actress was filming 'Sabrina' in 1953. That's all there is to it: Rea shows you an actor reading - Vincent Price, Sammy Davis Jr., Lana Turner, Jane Wyman - and then provides a bit of context. Not too much, but just enough. Like any true bookworm, he understands that the magic happens in the white space. -The New York Times Delightful collection with a dash of Hollywood glamour, of images of classic film stars, from Audrey Hepburn to Gregory Peck reading books. Possibly my favourite is James Dean finishing The Complete Poetical Works of James Whitcomb Riley while smoking. -The Bookseller (UK) Described as a 'bibliophile-meets-cinephile celebration of the convergence points between these two very different media', it's a fascinating insight into what a golden era shelfie may have looked like. The Evening Standard (UK) I, for one, am already craving a sequel. Red Magazine (UK) If you love movie stills as I do you'll enjoy this handsome, compact volume. - Leonard Maltin, film critic L.A. Confidential . . . candid photos and publicity stills showcase the literary interludes of Golden Age actors, from Shirley MacLaine on the set of What a Way to Go! to Dennis Hopper brushing up on technique with An Actor Prepares between takes. -Vanity Fair This fascinating dive into Hollywood history is a splendidly starry way to add to your TBR pile. -BookPage This fun book of movie stars reading books is a definite gift option for book and film buffs. -Rose City Reader Who'd have thought reading about people reading books would be such a delight? Of course, it helps if those people are some of the most beautiful ever to have lived. Hollywood expert Steven Rea has collected these stunning pictures of stars of the silver screen with their noses in books, from Grace Kelly to Audrey Hepburn, and put them all together in a fabulous little book you didn't know you needed until now. -Daily Mail (UK)