I bought my very first movie guides in the early 1990’s. I bought 5 such books in one year and that was possible financially as they were like 70-80% off the original retail price ! Two of them I remember as Halliwell Film Guide and TimeOut Film Guide. The other three books, I can’t remember their titles now, were just as good but contained far less entries. They made good reading and came in handy every time I wanted to read about a film that I’ve just watched. However, the reading materials that really opened my eyes to the vast world of cinema were really movie magazines and journals. I singled out ‘Sight & Sound’ as one of the materials which made me become aware that there is another movie universe out there which is far more exciting and unique and they ultimately introduced to me to the work of art house directors like David Lynch etc. and the more obscured foreign directors like Satyajit Ray etc. Once I was in, there was no possibility of turning back even I if had wanted to.
