Adam Mars-Jones’s <i>Second Sight </i>(Reaktion Books), a collection of film journalism from across 30 years, became an instant candidate for my desert island book.

Leo Robson, New Stateman 'Books of the Year'

Just as he doesn’t write reviews like anyone else, so it follows that <i>Second Sight</i> rejects the orthodoxy of the criticism collection. Though it draws from around three decades of work, predominantly at the Independent and the Times Literary Supplement, it is not merely a sheaf of disinterred cuttings. Its distinguishing feature is the abundant new material which links the pieces, evolving far beyond the function of connective tissue. The effect is rather as if a DJ’s between-song patter had unexpectedly become as dynamic as the dancefloor-filling hits themselves . . . Phrasing and analysis never fall below a level of shimmering fastidious excellence

Sight and Sound

Adam Mars-Jones’s Second Sight brings together reviews and essays written as a film reviewer for the <i>Independent</i>, the<i> New Statesman</i> and, more recently, the <i>TLS</i>. The book alternates between these pieces and a running commentary with an element of memoir. Mars-Jones recalls atmospheric basement screenings in 1990s Soho, dictating his copy over the phone and the vicissitudes of working for different papers as the editorial winds changed. Formative movie-going experiences are evoked, recalling the memoirist mode of <i>Kid Gloves</i>, his book about his father . . . A fine contribution to the tradition of intellectual film reviewing.

TLS