John Irving's memoir describes the author's involvement (and lack thereof) in five of the films that have (and have not) been made from his nine novels. It focuses primarily on the 13 years Irving spent writing and rewriting his screenplay of "The Cider House Rules", for four different directors. A Miramax production, the film was finally shot in the fall of 1998; directed by the Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom, with Michael Caine in the role of Dr Larch, it is released in November 1999. Irving also writes about the failed effort to make his first novel "Setting Free the Bears", into a movie; about two of the films that were made from his novels (but not from his screenplays), "The World According to Garp" and "The Hotel New Hampshire"; about his ongoing struggle to shepherd his screeplay of "A Son of the Circus" into production. In addition to its qualities as a memoir, this book is an insightful essay on the essential differences between writing a novel and writing a screenplay.