The Film Club - David Gilmour

A slight but interesting account of an unusual experiment - the author allowed his teenage son to drop out of school and continue living with him rent-free, on only two conditions: no drugs, and participation in the "film club" where father and son watched and discussed three films a week together. The concept is interesting - by working with the boy's interests the father managed to create opportunities to connect, and (either by luck or judgement) the son did end up going on to college. The book is also very readable and works as a family memoir, a reflection on parenting teens, and also a brief education on filmmaking... I enjoyed the dad's enthusiastic descriptions of scenes from films he loved, but also the son's casual dismissals, such as his observation that Breakfast at Tiffany's is "a peculiar movie ... It's about a pair of prostitutes. But the movie itself doesn't seem to know that. It seems to think it's about something sort of sweet and nutty."