The Year's Best Film Books Are Bios

Looking over some of the film books released in 2011, it's striking how many of the best of them -- or at least the most compelling and interesting of them -- are biographies, memoirs, or biographical career studies. If you have an interest in film or film history, there is something about the life story of an actor or director that makes for good reading -- especially if that story is well told or even groundbreaking.