Joel Coen

#2

"The Coen Brothers: The Story of Two American Filmmakers tells the behind-the-scenes stories for every film: what inspired them to write each screenplay; how they discovered such talented actors as John Goodman, Frances McDormand, and Holly Hunter; what didn't make it into the final cuts; what happened during filming; how the critics responded to each movie; and much, much more. Here is the story of how two middle-class Minnesota boys have come to write, shoot, and direct some of the funniest, most gruesome, and exhilarating films of our time."--BOOK JACKET.

#3

True Grit is Charles Portis' most famous novel--first published in 1968. It tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash money. Mattie leaves home to avenge her father's blood. With the one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S. Marshal, by her side, Mattie pursues the homicide into Indian Territory. True Grit is eccentric, cool, straight, and unflinching, like Mattie herself. From a writer of true cult status, this is an American classic through and through.