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In 1975 Roger Ebert, film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, became the first film reviewer to win the Pulitzer Prize for criticism. The same year he began a television show with Gene Siskel of the rival Chicago Tribune; the two later trademarked “two thumbs up”. He reviewed films for the Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013, kept writing after cancer surgery in 2006 took away his ability to speak, eat and drink, and published more than 20 books: festival diaries, collections of his harshest reviews, four volumes of essays on great films, a rice-cooker cookbook and a memoir. This guide covers his 12 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 12 key books · 1987–2016 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Roger Ebert published more than 20 books. The best known are The Great Movies (2002), essays on 100 films, and his memoir Life Itself (2011), filmed as a documentary in 2014. His harshest reviews are collected in I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie (2000), Your Movie Sucks (2007) and A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length (2012). Start with The Great Movies; below is which book to read for which kind of film writing.
Where to Start with Roger Ebert
If you want his defining book
→ The Great Movies (2002) — 100 essays on films he counted among the greatest.
If you want his life story
→ Life Itself (2011) — the memoir behind the 2014 documentary.
If you want the funniest reviews
→ I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie (2000).
If you want one critic on one director
→ Scorsese by Ebert (2008) — four decades of writing on Martin Scorsese.
12 Roger Ebert Books, in Order
Two Weeks in the Midday Sun
A day-by-day diary of the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, the festival’s fortieth and Ebert’s twelfth. It is more about people than films: Federico Fellini, Francis Ford Coppola, Charles Bukowski, Isabella Rossellini, John Malkovich and the press agent Billy “Silver Dollar” Baxter. The University of Chicago Press reissued it in 2016 with a foreword by Martin Scorsese and Ebert’s own sketches of the festival.
I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie
The first of three collections of reviews of films Ebert gave two stars or fewer. The reviews are short and written to be read on their own, without having seen the film.
The Great Movies
Essays on 100 films Ebert considered among the greatest ever made, adapted from his “Great Movies” column in the Sun-Times. Each essay looks back at a single film, and he described the project as a tour of the landmarks of the first century of cinema.
The Great Movies II
The second volume of essays from the same column, on a new set of films, each again written as a reconsideration of one film.
Awake in the Dark
A selection from four decades of his writing: reviews from The Godfather to GoodFellas, interviews with Martin Scorsese and Meryl Streep, essays on John Cassavetes and on black-and-white film, and his yearly top-ten lists. A second edition in 2017 extended the reviews to 2012.
Your Movie Sucks
The second collection of his negative reviews. The title comes from his 2005 reply to the actor Rob Schneider, who had mocked Ebert’s Pulitzer; after Ebert’s cancer surgery Schneider sent him flowers.
Scorsese by Ebert
Everything Ebert wrote about Martin Scorsese, from Who’s That Knocking at My Door to Shine a Light, with new reconsiderations of five films, including The King of Comedy and Kundun, and the transcript of a long 1997 interview with Scorsese at Ohio State University. It opens with a chapter on the Catholic upbringing the two men shared.
The Great Movies III
A third set of 100 essays, published by the University of Chicago Press. Like the first two volumes, it gathers his “Great Movies” columns, one film per essay.
The Pot and How to Use It
A short cookbook for the electric rice cooker that grew out of a post on his blog, written in 2010, when surgery had already left him unable to eat. It mixes recipes, many sent in by readers, with his thoughts on cooking. The introduction is by Anna Thomas.
Life Itself
His memoir, from his childhood in Urbana, Illinois, through the Sun-Times, his alcoholism, his partnership with Gene Siskel, his marriage to Chaz Ebert and the cancer that took his voice. Steve James adapted it as the documentary Life Itself (2014), with Martin Scorsese and Steven Zaillian as executive producers; it premiered at Sundance.
A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length
The third and last collection of his reviews of films rated two stars or fewer, published the year before his death.
The Great Movies IV
The fourth volume of “Great Movies” essays, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2016, three years after his death.
In What Order to Read Roger Ebert
None of his books depends on another, so you can read by interest. The four Great Movies volumes are the core; each stands alone, and you can dip into them film by film after watching. The three collections of bad reviews are the opposite: short, quick, best read a few pages at a time.
Life Itself is best read after some of the criticism, because it explains where the voice came from: a newspaper childhood in Urbana, the Sun-Times newsroom and, late in life, writing as his only way of speaking.
A reading path
1. The Great Movies (2002)
2. I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie (2000)
3. Awake in the Dark (2006)
4. Scorsese by Ebert (2008)
5. Life Itself (2011)
Everything Else Roger Ebert Published
Beyond the 12 key books: 7 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Other books
5
5 books · 1984–1999
- 1984A Kiss Is Still a Kissan early collection of his writing
- 1986The Perfect London Walkwith Daniel Curley, photographs by Jack Lane; a walking route through London
- 1993Behind the Phantom’s Maskhis only novel
- 1997Questions for the Movie Answer Mananswers to readers’ letters
- 1999Ebert’s Bigger Little Movie Glossaryan expanded glossary of film clichés
Guides and anthologies
2
2 books · 1996–1999
- 1996Roger Ebert’s Book of Filman anthology of writing on film he edited for W. W. Norton
- 1999Roger Ebert’s Movie Yearbookan annual collection of his recent reviews, published almost every year until 2012
The years · 1942–2013
Quick facts about Roger Ebert
- Known for
- Roger Ebert is known as the Chicago Sun-Times film critic who won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for criticism and made film reviewing a national television format with Gene Siskel.
- 1942
- Born in Urbana, Illinois
- 1967
- Film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times
- 1975
- Pulitzer Prize for criticism
- 2002
- The Great Movies
- 2013
- Dies in Chicago, aged 70
- Born
- 18 June 1942, Urbana, Illinois; his father was an electrician at the University of Illinois
- Education
- University of Illinois (journalism, 1964); a year at the University of Cape Town
- Worked
- Film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, 1967–2013
- Television
- With Gene Siskel from 1975 (Sneak Previews, At the Movies, Siskel & Ebert), then with Richard Roeper
- Honours
- Pulitzer Prize for criticism (1975); star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2005)
- Married
- Chaz Ebert, in 1992
- Died
- 4 April 2013, Chicago, aged 70
The red mark is 2002: The Great Movies, his essays on 100 films.
How Roger Ebert Writes: Plain Sentences, Personal Stakes
Ebert wrote for a daily newspaper, for readers deciding what to see that weekend, and the books keep that discipline: short paragraphs, plain words, a clear verdict. He often said that a film is judged not by its subject but by its treatment: “It’s not what a movie is about, it’s how it’s about what it’s about.”
The Great Movies essays work differently from his reviews. Instead of a verdict on something new, each looks back at a single established film and asks what still works and why. The negative collections show the other side: reviews built around one memorable line, often addressed directly to the film’s makers.
After 2006, when he could no longer speak, his blog became, in his words, his voice. Life Itself and The Pot and How to Use It both grew out of that period, and they are more personal than anything he wrote before: about Chicago, drinking, friendship and illness.
Frequently asked questions about Roger Ebert’s books
How many books has Roger Ebert written?
More than 20. This page lists 12 key books, from Two Weeks in the Midday Sun (1987) to The Great Movies IV (2016), plus his other books, anthologies and the annual Movie Yearbook.
What are Roger Ebert’s books in order?
Two Weeks in the Midday Sun (1987), I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie (2000), The Great Movies (2002), The Great Movies II (2005), Awake in the Dark (2006), Your Movie Sucks (2007), Scorsese by Ebert (2008), The Great Movies III (2010), The Pot and How to Use It (2010), Life Itself (2011), A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length (2012) and The Great Movies IV (2016).
Where should I start with Roger Ebert?
The Great Movies (2002): 100 essays on single films, each readable on its own after watching. If you are more interested in the man than the films, start with Life Itself.
What is Roger Ebert’s most famous book?
The Great Movies, the first of four volumes of essays, and his memoir Life Itself (2011), which became the 2014 documentary of the same name.
How many Great Movies books are there?
Four: The Great Movies (2002), II (2005), III (2010) and IV (2016), the last published after his death. The first and third each contain 100 essays.
Did Roger Ebert win a Pulitzer Prize?
Yes. In 1975 he won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, the first awarded to a film reviewer.
Is there a film of Life Itself?
Yes. Steve James directed Life Itself (2014), a documentary based on the memoir, with Martin Scorsese and Steven Zaillian as executive producers. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won a News & Documentary Emmy for editing.
Did Roger Ebert write a screenplay?
Yes. In 1969 he took leave from the Sun-Times to write Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) with the director Russ Meyer. It was rated X and became a cult film.
When did Roger Ebert die?
On 4 April 2013 in Chicago, aged 70. He had been treated for cancer since 2002, and surgery on his jaw in 2006 left him unable to speak, eat or drink; he kept writing until the end.
Did Roger Ebert say video games are not art?
Yes. He argued in 2005 that video games could not be art, which drew objections from the writer Clive Barker and many players. In 2010 he kept his position but said he should not have judged the medium without more experience of playing, and allowed that a game might one day be great art.
Footnotes
- Roger Ebert — Wikipedia
- Life Itself (2014 film) — Wikipedia
- Famed movie critic Roger Ebert dies — MPR News, 2013
- Awake in the Dark — University of Chicago Press
- Two Weeks in the Midday Sun — University of Chicago Press blog, 2016
- The Pot and How to Use It — Andrews McMeel
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.
“To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts.”
— Roger Ebert, “Go Gentle into That Good Night”, his blog (2009)
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