If you are a Spinal Tap fan, even a casual one, I highly recommend picking up Rob Reiner’s memoir about the making of the movie, A Fine Line Between Stupid And Clever. In retrospect, with its cult glory and eternally-quoted lines, This Is Spinal Tap makes perfect sense, but when Reiner and his trio of improvising heavy metal musicians (Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean) first came up with the idea for this mockumentary about the fictional, often-cursed band, they were met with skepticism at best, and empty stares and anger at worst. I loved hearing about how the movie was made, from the casting decisions to the ways they were forced to save money in production given their shoestring budget. I never tire of watching This Is Spinal Tap, and I found this book pretty entertaining. Reiner is funny and I liked his writing style. He is also just as surprised at the success of the movie as anyone (though they didn’t make any money from it). The last 20% is written as a faux oral history told by the characters (not the actors), and I enjoyed that section much less than the memoir portion. (Also, don’t bother seeing Spinal Tap II: The End Continues – pretty disappointing).