Over a career spanning more than seven decades, actor, filmmaker, and legendary funnyman Mel Brooks set the standard for American comedy on screen and on stage. Celebrated as the mind behind some of the best comedic films ever made – including The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights – Brooks charts his meteoric rise to success in the 2021 memoir All About Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business.
Covering everything from his Depression-era Brooklyn childhood and military service in World War II, to his iconic creative output with the late Carl Reiner and 40-year marriage to Anne Bancroft, the book offers fans insight into the highs and lows behind the legendary entertainer’s incredible body of work.
An avid reader himself, Brooks recently sat down with Amazon Book Review to share some of his favorite titles of the last year. From Bing Crosby’s biography to Daniel Defoe’s desert island masterpiece, find his recommendations below, and complement with Gene Wilder’s favorite books of all time.
Mel Brooks’ Reading List
Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star: The War Years, 1940-1946 by Gary Giddins
“Bing Crosby was not just a singer, he was kind of a people’s hero, singing all the songs everyone loved and singing them like only he could. These biographies capture everything I admire about one of my professional heroes. From his early ballads of the 1920’s like I Found a Million Dollar Baby (In a Five and Ten Cents Store) to his unforgettable rendition of White Christmas – not to mention his scat singing – he was a true legendary jazz vocalist. Giddins has written the definitive account of this great man’s amazing life.” -MB
“Just recently I read this history of my favorite London hotel. The Savoy has many secrets to tell. I also have one that I shall reveal right now: There is a small suite on the seventh floor with a charming view overlooking Waterloo Bridge that happens to be named the Mel Brooks Suite. I’ve joined Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra, Noel Coward, Marlene Dietrich, and a few other illustrious guests who have had their rooms named after them. The people who work there are the best in the world. They absolutely know everything there is to know about running a first-class hotel. Olivia Williams thrillingly tells the story of how the hotel came to be, in addition to the secrets about it that even I never knew!” -MB
“Maybe my favorite book. I must have read it over a hundred times, and it never fails me. Even though Crusoe is adrift on a lonely island, he never loses his faith in his own ability to conquer the unknown and live to see home once again. Daniel Defoe has written a true work of art that stands the test of time.” -MB
“For me, there is nothing like the British nautical battles of Horatio Nelson in the early 19th century. He led them to enormous sea victories like the battles of the Nile, Copenhagen and most famously, Trafalgar. Stockwin really knows early British navy lore, with masts, spars, rigging, sails, cannons, frigates, and ships of the line. In Thomas Kydd, the author has a created a wonderful daring-do British commander. Kydd knows his job as captain standing proudly on the deck of his ship of the line. He’s never out-thought or outmaneuvered. Exciting stuff!” -MB
(via Amazon Book Review)