Five works of criticism that changed A.O. Scott's life

A. O. Scott joined the New York Times as a film critic in January 2000. His forthcoming book is Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think about Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth.

One of five books of criticism that changed the critic's life, as shared at the Penguin blog:

Pauline Kael, I Lost it at the Movies.

Anyone who writes about popular culture has to contend with Kael: her taste, her voice, her seductive arguments and maddening inconsistencies. She’s inescapable, and this collection of her early work—written before she became an institution at The New Yorker—shows her at her vital, bruising best.

Read about another book on the list.

I Lost it at the Movies is among Michael Wood's top ten books on film.

--Marshal Zeringue