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Quentin Tarantino left school at 15 and spent about five years behind the counter of Video Archives, a video shop in Manhattan Beach, California. He went on to win two Oscars for Best Original Screenplay, for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained, and his scripts have been sold in bookshops since the 1990s. In 2021 he published his first novel, a rewritten Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which went straight to number one on The New York Times fiction list; a year later came Cinema Speculation, his book on the films he saw as a boy in the 1970s. A second novel is due in December 2026. This guide covers his 8 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 8 key books · 1994–2022 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Quentin Tarantino has published two prose books, the novel Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2021) and the film book Cinema Speculation (2022), plus the screenplays of his films, among them Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction (both 1994 in book form) and Inglourious Basterds (2009). Start with the novel: it tells the film’s story again, with chapters the film never showed.
Where to Start with Quentin Tarantino
If you want his fiction
→ Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2021) — the 2021 novel, a full rethinking of the film.
If you want him on the films that made him
→ Cinema Speculation (2022) — essays on 1970s American cinema, with his own childhood.
If you want to read a screenplay
→ Pulp Fiction (1994) — the script that won the Palme d’Or and an Oscar.
If you want his later, longer scripts
→ Inglourious Basterds (2009).
8 Quentin Tarantino Books, in Order
Reservoir Dogs
The script of his first film as director (1992): a jewellery robbery has gone wrong, and the surviving thieves, known to each other only by colour code names such as Mr. White, Mr. Orange and Mr. Pink, meet at a warehouse to work out who set them up. The robbery itself is never shown.
Pulp Fiction
Interlocking Los Angeles stories told out of chronological order: the hitmen Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield, the boxer Butch who refuses to throw a fight, and their boss’s wife Mia Wallace. The film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1994, and the screenplay won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, shared with Roger Avary.
True Romance
One of his first scripts, written before he directed a film; Tony Scott made it into a film released in 1993. A Detroit comic-shop clerk, Clarence, marries a call girl, Alabama, and the two drive to Los Angeles with a suitcase of cocaine that belongs to the Mob.
Kill Bill
The script of the first half of his revenge story, published by Miramax Books in 2003. A former assassin known as the Bride wakes from a four-year coma and sets out to kill the members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who shot her at her wedding rehearsal. Tarantino considers both volumes one film.
Inglourious Basterds
A Second World War story set in occupied France, published by Little, Brown in 2009. Lieutenant Aldo Raine leads a squad of Jewish-American soldiers behind the lines, while Shosanna, a young Jewish woman whose family was murdered on the orders of the SS officer Hans Landa, runs a Paris cinema where the Nazi leadership will attend a premiere.
The Hateful Eight
Published by Grand Central on 22 December 2015. At the end of the Civil War the bounty hunter John Ruth is taking his prisoner, Daisy Domergue, to hang in Red Rock, Wyoming, when a blizzard forces them to shelter with a group of strangers at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover. Nearly the whole story happens in that one room.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
His first novel, published by Harper Perennial on 29 June 2021 and based on his 2019 film about the fading television actor Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth. Tarantino called it “a complete rethinking of the entire story”: it adds Cliff’s past as a soldier, the inner lives of Sharon Tate and a child actress, and Charles Manson’s attempts at a music career. It entered The New York Times fiction list at number one.
Cinema Speculation
His first non-fiction book (Harper, 1 November 2022): essays on the American films of the 1970s he saw as a boy, from Bullitt and Dirty Harry to Taxi Driver and Rolling Thunder. The first and last chapters are autobiographical; at nine his mother and stepfather took him to a double bill of Deliverance and The Wild Bunch. It entered The New York Times non-fiction list at number five.
In What Order to Read Quentin Tarantino
The books do not depend on each other, but they fall into two kinds. The screenplays are the scripts of his films, best read alongside or after the film. The two prose books stand on their own: the novel does not assume you have seen the 2019 film, and Cinema Speculation is about other people’s films.
Begin with the novel, then Cinema Speculation, which shows where his taste for 1970s crime films, westerns and exploitation cinema comes from. After that, read the screenplays in order to see the writing move from the tight, single-location Reservoir Dogs to the long chapters of Inglourious Basterds and The Hateful Eight.
A reading path
1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2021)
2. Cinema Speculation (2022)
3. Pulp Fiction (1994)
4. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
5. The Hateful Eight (2015)
Everything Else Quentin Tarantino Published
Beyond the 8 key books: 4 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Other published screenplays
3
3 books · 1995–2012
- 1995Natural Born Killershis original script; Oliver Stone’s 1994 film was rewritten by others and credits him with the story only
- 1997Jackie Brownadapted from Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch
- 2012Django Unchainedhis second Oscar for Best Original Screenplay
Forthcoming
1
1 book · 2026
- 2026The Adventures of Cliff Boothhis second novel, due from Harper on 8 December 2026
The years · 1963–2026
Quick facts about Quentin Tarantino
- Known for
- Quentin Tarantino is known for writing and directing violent, dialogue-driven films such as Pulp Fiction, and, since 2021, for prose books about the cinema he grew up on.
- 1963
- Born in Knoxville, Tennessee
- 1994
- Palme d’Or for Pulp Fiction
- 2026
- Second novel due in December
- Born
- 27 March 1963, Knoxville, Tennessee
- Grew up
- Torrance, California; left school at 15
- Before films
- About five years at Video Archives, a video shop in Manhattan Beach
- Oscars
- Best Original Screenplay for Pulp Fiction (with Roger Avary) and Django Unchained
- Publisher
- HarperCollins, two-book deal signed in November 2020
- Family
- Married the Israeli singer Daniella Pick in 2018; two children
The red mark is 2021: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, his first novel.
How Quentin Tarantino Writes: Characters First
Tarantino starts from characters, not plot. He has described his head as “a sponge” for other people’s way of talking, and says he writes only a rough idea of where a story is going until the characters start to excite him: “It’s the characters who really write the piece.” By the middle, he has said, the story is usually something completely different from what he planned.
His scripts are written to be read as well as shot. He often writes far more than a film can use — backstories, monologues, whole chapters — and the novel of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is built from that material, with the Bruce Lee fight retold from Cliff Booth’s side and a phone call cut from the film closing the book. Reviewers called it pulpy, which is the point: he grew up reading movie novelizations as his first adult books.
Cinema Speculation uses the same voice for criticism. It mixes the facts of how each 1970s film was made, his judgement of whether it works, and where he saw it and how the audience reacted. He has named the critic Pauline Kael as the model for his film writing.
Frequently asked questions about Quentin Tarantino’s books
How many books has Quentin Tarantino written?
Two prose books: the novel Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2021) and the film book Cinema Speculation (2022). He has also published the screenplays of his films; six are among the 8 key books on this page and three more are listed under “Everything else”. A second novel, The Adventures of Cliff Booth, is due on 8 December 2026.
What are Quentin Tarantino’s books in order?
Reservoir Dogs (1994), Pulp Fiction (1994), True Romance (1995), Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), Inglourious Basterds (2009) and The Hateful Eight (2015), all screenplays, then the novel Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2021) and Cinema Speculation (2022).
Where should I start with Quentin Tarantino’s books?
With the novel Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It does not assume you have seen the film, and it gives far more of Rick Dalton, Cliff Booth and Sharon Tate than the screen did. If you prefer non-fiction, start with Cinema Speculation.
What is Quentin Tarantino’s most famous book?
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2021), his first novel, which debuted at number one on The New York Times fiction best-seller list. Of the screenplays, Pulp Fiction is the best known.
Is the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novel different from the film?
Yes, substantially. Tarantino called it “a complete rethinking of the entire story”. It adds Cliff Booth’s backstory, including his time as a prisoner of war, the TV western Lancer, Charles Manson’s music ambitions and the inner lives of Sharon Tate and the child actress Trudi Frazer, and it does not end with the film’s climax.
What is Cinema Speculation about?
American films of the 1970s that Tarantino saw as a child and teenager in Los Angeles, from blaxploitation to Best Picture nominees, mixed with memories of his mother, his stepfather and the cinemas he went to. Two chapters are about the Los Angeles Times critic Kevin Thomas.
Is there a new Quentin Tarantino novel?
Yes. The Adventures of Cliff Booth, published by Harper, is due on 8 December 2026. It novelizes The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, a film written by Tarantino and directed by David Fincher, with Brad Pitt again playing Cliff Booth.
Has Quentin Tarantino won prizes for his writing?
Two Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay: for Pulp Fiction, shared with Roger Avary, and for Django Unchained. Pulp Fiction also won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1994. In 2021 GQ named him Writer of the Year after the novel.
Why is Quentin Tarantino controversial?
Several things have been publicly debated. In 2017 he said he had known since the 1990s about Harvey Weinstein’s treatment of women, including Mira Sorvino, and had “marginalized the incidents”; he later said he regretted not doing more. In 2003 he defended Roman Polanski on Howard Stern’s radio show, and apologised in 2018. Spike Lee and others have criticised his use of the n-word in films such as Jackie Brown and Django Unchained; Tarantino has defended his right to write any character.
Is Quentin Tarantino still making films?
He has directed nine films, counting the two Kill Bill volumes as one, and has said he plans to stop after ten. He dropped a planned tenth film, The Movie Critic, and has a stage play, The Popinjay Cavalier, set to open at the Phoenix Theatre in London in early 2027.
Footnotes
- Quentin Tarantino — Wikipedia
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (novel) — Wikipedia
- Cinema Speculation — Wikipedia
- Review: Cinema Speculation — WBUR, 2022
- The Hateful Eight — Hachette Book Group
- Cliff Booth’s next act — AP via NY1, 2026
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“In the ’70s, movie novelizations were the first adult books I grew up reading. And to this day I have a tremendous amount of affection for the genre.”
— Quentin Tarantino, announcing his novel Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2020)
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