Book Review of Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman (2000)

Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures in the Screen Trade. William Goldman. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 2000. 485 pages.

By Patrick Charsky

    Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman tells many stories about life as a famous Screenwriter in the Hollywood of the 1980’s and 1990’s. There are many good stories about celebrities and making movies as well as much advice about screenwriting. The book opens with Goldman down on his luck in the early 1980’s. The book then goes on to show how Goldman rose again to prominence mostly as an adaptation and script doctoring expert.

    Goldman recalls how he hadn’t made a film for the first half of the 1980’s. In walked Michael Ovitz of Creative Artists Agency. This led to Goldman working on Memoirs of an Invisible Man. Eventually Goldman walked the project, but it got him hot again in the movie business. His return was secured by the lovable The Princess Bride. After that Misery followed and Goldman went on to work for many years until his death in 2018.

    I liked Which Lie Did I Tell? I thought it was a great story of a Screenwriter who lived at the top of the Hollywood food chain. I also found it admirable that Goldman never became a Film Director. He stuck with writing come hell or high water. Still, Which Lie Did I Tell? Isn’t as good as his first book about his life as a Screenwriter. It lacks the insight and intelligence of Adventures in the Screen Trade. The first book reads better too. It makes you want to find out about all the films referenced by Goldman. In the second book there aren’t as many film references and the stories are fewer.

    I’d recommend that book to anyone who liked the first book. As well as to anyone who aspires to screenwriting success. Reading Goldman’s books is like listening to the oracle of screenwriting. There is much to learn from his years of accumulated wisdom.