"The Smoking Book" is a dreamlike structure built on the solid foundation of two questions: how does it feel to smoke, and what does smoking mean? Lesley Stern, in an innovative, hybrid form of writing, muses on these questions through intersecting stories and essays that connect, expand, and contract like smoke rings floating through the air.
Stern writes of addictions and passionate attachments, of the body and bodily pleasure, of autobiography and cultural history. Smoking is Stern's seductive pretext, her way of entering unknown and mysterious regions. "The Smoking Book" begins with...

This text explores two aspects of Scorsese's films: the way he "remakes" other movies and the way in which we absorb and make sense of the films. Contrary to the emphasis on scopic regime in contemporary film theory, Stern puts stress on other senses, especially touch.