Next time you're at the video store, be sure to look for these classic films--all based on great books.

A - M | N - Z
 

The Age of Grief
by Jane Smiley

The title novella in this collection is the wise and moving story of a dentist, who, aware that his wife has fallen in love with someone else, must comfort her when she is spurned, while maintaining the secret of his own complicated sorrow.

The basis for the 2002 film The Secret Lives of Dentists starring Campbell Scott, Denis Leary, Robin Tunney, and Hope Davis, and directed by Alan Rudolph.

 

All the Pretty Horses
by Cormac McCarthy

All the Pretty Horses--the first volume of the Border Trilogy--tells of young John Grady Cole, the last of a long line of Texas ranchers. Across the border Mexico beckons--beautiful and desolate, rugged and cruelly civilized. With two companions, he sets off on an idyllic, sometimes comic adventure, to a place where dreams are paid for in blood.

A 2000 film starring Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz.

 

Almost a Woman
by Esmeralda Santiago

The acclaimed author of When I Was Puerto Rican continues her memoir of growing up in New York--struggling to find a balance between her Puerto Rican heritage and her new American life and yearning for a sense of independence.

The sixth of nine films in Exxon Mobil Masterpiece Theatre's AMERICAN COLLECTION series (2002). Esmeralda Santiago is the only living author to have been selected.

 

American Psycho
by Bret Easton Ellis

In American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis imaginatively explores the incomprehensible depths of madness and captures the insanity of violence in our time or any other. Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while sepnding his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom.

A 1999 film starring Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Reese Witherspoon, and Chloe Sevigny.

 

Amy and Isabelle
by Elizabeth Strout

In her stunning first novel, Elizabeth Strout evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant motherÑand a parent's rage at the discovery of her daughter's sexual secrets.

A 2001 OPRAH WINFREY PRESENTS Movie on ABC, starring Elizabeth Shue and Hanna Hall.

 

Angels and Insects
by A. S. Byatt

In these breathtakingly accomplished novellas set in Victorian England, a shipwrecked naturalist is rescued by a family whose clandestine passions come to seem as inscrutable as the behavior of insects.

A 1995 film starring Patsy Kensit, Mark Rylance, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jeremy Kemp, and Douglas Henshall.

 

Anywhere But Here
by Mona Simpson

Mona Simpson's ambitious first novel tells the story of an eccentric mother and her practical daughter who move to Beverly Hills in search of a better life, all the while struggling to understand and accept one another.

A 1999 film starring Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman.

 

Asylum
by Patrick McGrath

In the summer of 1959 Stella Raphael joins her psychiatrist husband, Max, at his new posting--a maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane. But when Stella falls under the spell of a brilliant but dangerous patient, her passion threatens to consume her sanity and destroy her life.

A 2005 Paramount Classics film starring Sir Ian McKellen, Natasha Richardson, and Marton Csokas, and directed by David Mackenzie (Young Adam). Visit the official Web site.

 

Atonement
by Ian McEwan

Academy Award Winner: Original Score

On a summer day in 1935 a young girl witnesses a moment's flirtation between her older sister and the son of a servant. Her misinterpretation of the situation will bring about a crime that will change all their lives.

A 2007 film from Focus Features, starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Brenda Blethyn, Vanessa Redgrave, and Romola Garai, and directed by Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice). Visit the official movie site at www.focusfeatures.com.

 

Away From Her
by Alice Munro

"The Bear Came Over the Mountain"--the basis for Sarah Polley's film Away From Her--follows Grant, a retired professor whose wife Fiona begins gradually to lose her memory and drift away from him, revealing a lifetime of intimate details that create a marriage and the mysterious bonds of love that hold it together.

A 2007 film from Lionsgate titled Away from Her, starring Julie Christie, Michael Murphy, Gordon Pinsent, and Olympia Dukakis, and directed by Sarah Polley. Visit the official movie site.

 

Away We Go
by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida

A 2009 original screenplay from Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) and starring John Krasinski (The Office) and Maya Rudolph (Saturday Night Live). Visit the official movie site.

 

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
by Dai Sijie

Dai Sijie's international bestselling novel tells the story of two hapless city boys exiled to a remote mountain village for re-education during China's infamous Cultural Revolution. There they meet the daughter of the local tailor and discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation. As they flirt with the seamstress and secretly devour these banned works, the two friends find transit from their grim surroundings to worlds they never imagined.

A 2005 French-language film titled Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise from Empire Pictures.

 

Bee Season
by Myla Goldberg

No one expected much out of nine-year-old Eliza Naumann, until she unexpectedly sweeps her school and district spelling bees. Soon her previously distant father is lavishing attention on her previously reserved for her brother Aaron. And when her mother's secret life triggers a family crisis, it is Eliza who must order the chaos.

A 2005 major motion picture from Fox Searchlight Pictures starring Richard Gere, Juliette Binoche, Flora Cross, and Max Minghella, and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel. Visit the official Web site.

 

Big Bad Love
by Larry Brown

The compassionate regard for ordinary people that Larry Brown mastered in his highly praised novel Dirty Work shines on every page of his short story collection Big Bad Love, whose heroes have a fatal weakness for beer, fast women, and pick-up trucks, and who find a kind of salvation in the reckless pursuit of love.

A 2002 IFC Films production starring Debra Winger, and directed by Arliss Howard.

 

Breakfast at Tiffany's
by Truman Capote

In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany's. A classic!

A 1961 film starring Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, and Martin Balsam.

 

Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh

The novel Waugh thought of as his magnum opus, Brideshead Revisited is the story of the intense entanglement of a young, middle-class Englishman, Charles Ryder, with a wealthy, eccentric Anglo-Catholic family, the Marchmains: in particular, with Sebastian, the flamboyant young man Charles meets at Oxford in the 1920s; and Sebastian's sister Julia, who will become the great and unrequited love of Charles's life.

A 2008 film from BBC Films/Miramax, starring Ben Whishaw, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, and Matthew Goode. Directed by Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane). Visit the official movie site at www.bridesheadrevisited-themovie.com.

 

Buffalo Soldiers
by Robert O'Connor

A darkly comic war story about American soldiers stationed in Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

A 2002 Miramax film starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Anna Paquin, Briar Delate, Amani Gether, Kick Gurry, Gabriel Mann, Elizabeth McGovern, and Michael Pena, and directed by Gregor Jordan (Two Hands).

 

The Cement Garden
by Ian McEwan

After their parents died, four children are left alone in a house that looks like a castle. Free of supervision, free of restraint, they can do anything and be anything, as long as they keep the house's secret.

A 1992 film directed by Andrew Birkin, starring Andrew Robertson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alice Coulthard, Ned Birkin, Sinead Cusack, and Hanns Zischler.

 

Charlotte Gray
by Sebastian faulks

From the bestselling author of Birdsong comes Charlotte Gray, the remarkable story of a young Scottish woman who becomes caught up in the effort to liberate Occupied France from the Nazis while pursuing a perilous mission of her own.

A 2002 film from Warner Bros./Film Four starring Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth, The Gift), Billy Crudup (Almost Famous), Michael Gambon (The Insider), and Rupert Penry-Jones, and directed by Gillian Armstrong (Oscar and Lucinda).

 

The Children of Men
by P. D. James

The human race has become infertile, the last generation to be born is now adult, and an Oxford historian finds himself holding the key to survival for the human race.

A 2006 Universal Pictures/Strike Entertainment film, starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine, and directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Y tu mamá también). Visit the official movie site.

 

Children on Their Birthdays
by Truman Capote

A film from Crusader Entertainment starring Tom Arnold and Chris Mcdonald, and directed by Mark Medoff (playwright Children of a Lesser God).

 

Choke
by Chuck Palahniuk

A med school dropout struggling to care for his ailing mother comes up with the perfect plan--pretending to choke in upscale restaurants and guilting fellow diners into offering financial support.

A 2008 film from Fox Searchlight, starring Angelica Houston and Sam Rockwell, and written and directed by Clark Gregg (What Lies Beneath). Visit the official movie site at www.chokeonthis.net.

 

A Civil Action
by Jonathan Harr

A handful of working class parents whose children are dying of leukemia challenges two of the largest corporations in America in this overpowering courtroom drama.

A 1998 film starring John Travlota, Robert Duvall, Kathleen Quinlan, John Lithgow, and William H. Macy.

 

The Civil War
by Geoffrey Ward with Ric Burns and Ken Burns

The bestselling narrative history of the Civil War, interweaving historical background with the voices of the men and women who lived through this cataclysmic trail of our nationhood.

The acclaimed PBS television series narrated by Shelby Foote.

 

Class Action
by Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy Gansler

Told at a thrillerÕs pace, this is the story of how one woman pioneered and won the first sexual harassment class action suit in the United States, a legal milestone that immeasurably improved working conditions for American women.

The inspiration for the 2005 major motion picture North Country from Warner Bros. Pictures starring Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, and Sissy Spacek, and directed by Niki Caro (Whale Rider). Visit the official Web site.

 

The Commitments
by Roddy Doyle

Roddy Doyle's first novel traces the short, funny and furious career or a group of working-class Irish kids who form a band called The Commitments, whose mission is to bring soul to Dublin.

A 1991 film starring Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne, Angeline Hall, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Dave Finnegan, Bronagh Gallagher, Felim Gormley, Glen Hansard, Dick Massey, and Kenneth McCluskey.

 

Corelli's Mandolin
by Louis de Bernières

Extravagant, inventive, emotionally sweeping, Corelli's Mandolin is the story of a timeless place that one day wakes up to find itself in the jaws of history. Against the backdrop of World War II, de Bernières also tells the emotional story of Pelagia, a beautiful young woman on the Greek island of Cephallonia, and the two suitors who compete for her love.

The basis for the Fall 2001 major motion picture Captain Corelli's Mandolin from Universal/Miramax, starring Nicholas Cage and Penelope Cruz, and directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love).

 

The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown

An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci.
A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe.
An astonishing truth concealed for centuries . . . unveiled at last.

Visit the official movie Web site and the book Web site.

 

Darkly Dreaming Dexter
by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter Morgan isn't your average serial killer: he only kills bad people. And his job as a blood splatter expert for the Miami police department puts him in the perfect position to identify his victims.

The basis for the Showtime® original series DEXTER starring Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under). Visit the official Showtime site.

 

Dead Man Walking
by Sister Helen Prejean

Sister Helen Prejean recounts her correspondence and friendship with Patrick Sonnier, a death row inmate and killer of two teenagers and brings up questions about the death penalty.

A 1995 film directed by Tim Robbins and starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn.

 

The Dancer Upstairs
by Nicholas Shakespeare

From secluded city streets to the paths of a mountain village policeman Agustí Rejas pursues the notorious Peruvian guerilla leader Ezequiel, tracking and anticipating his every move. Rejas' only reprieve is his love for his daughter's beautiful dance teacher--until he begins to pick up unmistakable signals that her circles--and Ezequiel's--intersect.

A 2003 film from Fox Seearchlight Pictures, starring Javier Bardem (Before Night Falls), and directed by John Malkovich.

 

The Defense
by Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov's classic novel comes alive in this chilling story of obsession and madness. A young, withdrawn boy takes up chess as a refuge from the anxiety of his everyday life rises to the rank of grandmaster--but at a cost: in Luzhin' s obsessive mind, the game of chess gradually supplants the world of reality, and his limits are tested during a crucial championship match.

A 2001 film from Sony Pictures Classics entitled The Luzhin Defence, starring Emily Watson and John Turturro.

 

The Devil Wears Prada
by Lauren Weisberger

2006 Academy Award® Nominee: Best Actress (Meryl Streep), Best Costume Design

A delightfully dishy novel about the all-time most impossible boss in the history of impossible bosses.

A 2006 major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep, and directed by David Frankel. Visit the official movie site.

 

The Diary of Anne Frank
by Anne Frank

Soon to be a TV movie on PBS' "Masterpiece Theater," co-produced with the BBC is The Diary of Anne Frank based on The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

The Diary of Anne Frank will air on April 11 and will be a two hour long program directed by Jon Jones starring Ellie Kendrick.

Learn more about the book here.

 

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
by Jean-Dominique Bauby

Academy Award Nominee: Directing, Cinematography, Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay

A memoir by the former editor of French Elle, who suffered a massive stroke that left him permanenetly paralyzed and able to communicate only by blinking his left eye.

The basis for the 2007 French-language film Le Scaphandre et le Papillon from Miramax Films, starring Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, and Max von Sydow, and directed by Julian Schnabel. Visit the official movie site at www.thedivingbellandthebutterfly-themovie.com.

 

Don't Move
by Margaret Mazzantini

Called to the hospital when his fifteen-year-old daughter, Angela, is injured in a potentially fatal accident, a prominent surgeon sits and waits, silently confessing the affair he had the year Angela was born. As Angela's life hangs in the balance, Timoteo's own life flashes before his eyes, this time seen through the lens of the one time he truly lived.

A 2004 foreign-language film titled Non ti muovere from Northern Arts Entertainment starring Penelope Cruz and Sergio Castellitto, who also directs.

 

The Dying Animal
by Philip Roth

When a star professor gets involved with one of his female students, he finds himself dragged helplessly, bitterly, furiously into the quagmire of sexual jealousy and loss.

The inspiration for the 2008 major motion picture Elegy from Samuel Goldwyn Films/Lakeshore Entertainment, starring Penelope Cruz, Ben Kingsley, Patricia Clarkson, Peter Sarsgaard, Dennis Hopper and Deborah Harry, and directed by Isabel Coixet. Visit the official movie site at www.elegythemovie.com.

 

The Elegant Universe
by Brian Greene

In a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as the theories it explains, Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of 11 dimensions where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter--from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas--is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy.

The basis for the 3-part NOVA mini-series The Elegant Universe, hosted by Brian Greene.

 

Empire Falls
by Richard Russo

Acclaimed by critics and readers alike, Richard Russo's Empire Falls delves deep into the blue-collar heart of America with a story about small-town life with all its hilarity and heartache.

A 2005 mini-series event from HBO Films®, starring Ed Harris, Paul Newman, Helen Hunt, Joanne Woodward, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dennis Farina, Robin Wright Penn, and Lou Taylor Pucci, and directed by Fred Schepsi. Screenplay adapted by Richard Russo.

 

Enduring Love
by Ian McEwan

On a windy spring day in the English countryside, a man's life is changed in an instant when he witnesses a tragic accident and unwittingly becomes the object of a stranger's obsession.

A 2004 Pathé Pictures and FilmFour film, starring Daniel Craig, Rhys Ifans, and Samantha Morton, and directed by Roger Mitchell (Notting Hill).

 

The English Patient
by Michael Ondaatje

In an abandoned Tuscan villa during the last days of war in 1945, four people are brought together and held in place by the riddle of the hideously burned man known only as "the English patient."

A 1996 film directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Willem Dafoe.

 

Evening
by Susan Minot

After three marriages and five children, Ann Lord lies in an upstairs bedroom of a house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. What comes to her is a rush of memories from a weekend 40 years ago in Maine, when she fell in love with a passion that changed her life.

A 2007 Focus Features film, starring Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Patrick Wilson, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Eileen Atkins, Mamie Gummer, Natasha Richardson, and Hugh Dancy. Screenplay by Susan Minot and Michael Cunningham. Directed by Lajos Koltai. Visit the official movie site.

 

Fatelessness
by Imre Kertész

At the age of fourteen Georg Koves is plucked from his home in a Jewish section of Budapest and without any particular malice, placed on a train to Auschwitz. Considered an outsider for his lack of Yiddish, Georg tries in vain to make sense of what's going on around him.

A 2005 Hungarian-language film titled Sorstalanság (Fateless) from ThinkFilm Inc. Visit the UK Web site.

 

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
by Hunter S. Thompson

A cult classic of gonzo journalism, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page.

A 1998 film starring Johnny Depp Benicio Del Toro, and Christina Ricci.

Also a tie-in to the 2008 major motion picture from Magnolia Pictures/HDNet Films titled Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Documentary film, narrated by Johnny Depp. Directed by Alex Gibney. Visit the official movie site at www.huntersthompsonmovie.com.

 

Feast of July
by H.E. Batesn

Set amid the fields and villages of 19th century England, Feast of July is a brooding, suspenseful novel of sensuality and vengeance, where Bella Ford, jilted by her unscrupulous lovers, plans revenge that ends in a catastrophic act of violence.

A 1995 film directed by Christopher Menaul, starring Embeth Davidtz, Tom Bell, Gemma Jones, James Purefoy, Greg Wise, Kenneth Anderson, and Ben Chaplin.

 

The Feast of Love
by Charles Baxter

Late one night, a man wakes from a bad dream and decides to take a walk through his neighborhood. He comes upon Bradley Smith, friend and fellow insomniac, and Bradley begins to tell a series of tales--a luminous narrative of love in all it's complexity.

A 2007 film from MGM/Lakeshore Entertainment starring Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinear, Radha Mitchell, Jane Alexander, Alexa Davalos, Toby Hemingway, Selma Blair, Stana Katic, Billy Burke, Fred Ward, and Erika Marozsan, and directed by Robert Benton. Visit the official movie site.

 

Founding Brothers
by Joseph J. Ellis

In a landmark work of history, the National Book Award-winning author of American Sphinx explores how a group of greatly gifted but deeply flawed men set the course for our nation.

The basis for the History Channel documentary, narrated by Edward Herrmann and hosted by Roger Mudd. Voiceovers contributed by Brian Dennehy, James Woods, Burt Reynolds, Beau Bridges, and Hal Holbrook.

 

The Forgetting:
Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic

by David Shenk

The Forgetting is a scrupulously researched, multilayered analysis of Alzheimer's and its social, medical, and spiritual implications, capturing the disease's impact on its victims and their families.

The basis for the 2004 PBS presentation consisting of a 90-minute documentary featuring the author and 30-minute panel discussion hosted by David Hyde Pierce.

 

Fugitive Pieces
by Anne Michaels

In 1940 a boy escapes from the rubble of a war-torn city and is rescued by a Greek geologist. As the boy grows older, we witness his transformation from a half-wild casualty of the Holocaust to an artist who extracts meaning from its abyss.

A 2008 film from Samuel Goldwyn Films, starring Rosamund Pike, Stephen Dillane, Rachelle Lafevre, Larissa Laskin, Yorgos Karamihos, Robbie Kay, Jennifer Podemski, Monika Schurmann, and Rade Serbedzija. Written and directed by Jeremy Podeswa. Visit the official movie site at samuelgoldwynfilms.com.

 

Ghost Soldiers
by Hampton Sides

Ghost Soldiers is the inspiring and heroic story of how, on January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission was to march thirty rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them the last survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March.

The basis for the 2005 major motion picture from Miramax Films titled The Great Raid, starring Benjamin Bratt and James Franco, and directed by John Dahl (Rounders). Visit the official Web site.

 

Girl, Interrupted
by Susanna Kaysen

Placed into a mental hospital for two years by a psychiatrist she'd seen only once, Girl, Interrupted is a clear-sighted, unflinching, and brilliantly moving memoir of one girl's passage into womanhood.

A 1999 film directed by James Mangold and starring Winona Ryder, Academy Award-winner Angelina Jolie, Clea DuVall, Brittany Murphy, Vaness Redgrave, and Whoopi Goldberg.

 

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson

An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played with Fire picks up where The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo left off.

An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.

Now a major motion picture from Music Box Films/Nordisk Film, starring Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, and Peter Haber, and directed by Niels Arden Oplev. In theaters March 19.

Visit the official movie site at dragontattoofilm.com.

 

A Good Year
by Peter Mayle

When things go bad with his job, Max Skinner moves to his late uncleÕs vineyard in Provence. Unfortunately, the wine produced on his new property is swill. Why then are so many people interested in it? Fizzy with intrigue, bursting with local color and savor, A Good Year is Mayle at his most entertaining.

A 2006 major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox starring Russell Crowe and Albert Finney, and directed by Ridley Scott. Visit the official movie site.

 

¡Goool!
by Robert Rigby

Santiago Muñez arrives in Los Angeles from Mexico with nothing more to his name than a soccer ball and a tattered picture of the World Cup. Offered a trial at one of England's top Premiership clubs, he leaves behind his struggling family and modest home to test his stamina--and personal strength--against the best in the world.

The Spanish-language novel based on the 2006 movie Goal! from Touchstone Pictures starring Kuno Becker and a cast that includes cameos from soccer greats--Beckham, Zidane, Ronaldo, and Robinho--and directed by Danny Cannon (CSI). Visit the official movie site.

 

The Grass Harp
by Truman Capote

Set on the outskirts of a small Southern town, Capote tells the story of three endearing misfits--an orphaned boy and two whimsical old ladies--who one day take up residence in a tree house where they come together to teach us about the sacredness of love.

A 1996 film starring Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, and Mary Steenburgen.

 

Green Zone
by Rajiv Chandrasekaran

The fullest, most intimate account of life in the Green Zone, the sheltered bubble where idealistic Americans planned the occupation while Iraq fell apart. In this acclaimed firsthand account, the former Baghdad bureau chief of The Washington Post gives us an intimate and remarkably dispassionate portrait of life inside this Oz-like place, which continued unaffected by the growing mayhem outside.

The inspiration for the major motion picture from Universal Pictures, starring Matt Damon, Amy Ryan, and Greg Kinnear, and directed by Paul Greengrass. Produced by Working Title's Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (A SERIOUS MAN, UNTIED 93). Screenplay by Brian Helgeland. Coming to theaters March 12.

Visit the official movie site at www.greenzonemovie.com.

 

The Hottest State
by Ethan Hawke

When William meets Sarah at a bar appropriately called the Bitter End, he is a few months short of his twenty-first birthday and used to getting what he wants. But all of that is about to change.

A 2007 film from ThinkFilm/IFC Films starring Mark Webber, Jesse Harris, Laura Linney, Ethan Hawke, and Michelle Williams, and directed by Ethan Hawke. Visit the official movie site.

 

House of Sand and Fog
by Andre Dubus III

In this riveting novel of almost unbearable suspense, three fragile yet determined people become dangerously entangled in a relentlessly escalating crisis over a house in the California hills.

A 2003 film from Dreamworks starring Ron Eldard, Jennifer Connelly, and Ben Kinglsey, and written and directed by Vadim Perelman.

 

Howard's End
by E. M. Forster

In Howards End, an English country house influences the lives of the wealthy and materialistic Wilcoxes, the cultured, idealistic Schlegel sisters, and the poor bank clerk, Leonard Bast.

A 1992 film directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant, starring Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Helena Bonham-Carter.

 

The Human Stain
by Philip Roth

In a small New England town, an aging classics professor, Coleman Silk, is forced to retire when his colleagues decree that he is a racist. The charge is a lie, but the real truth about Silk would have astonished even his most virulent accuser.

A 2003 film from Miramax Films and Paramount Pictures starring Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Gary Sinise, and Ed Harris, and directed by Robert Benton.

 

I'm Not Scared
by Niccolò Ammaniti

In a tiny village in southern Italy, nine-year-old Michele Amitrano enters an old abandoned farmhouse, where he stumbles upon a secret so terrible that he can't tell anyboy. As the truth emerges, Michele learns that the horror in the creepy old house is closer to home than he ever imagined.

A 2004 Alquimia Cinema S.A./Cattleya/Colorado Film Production/Miramax U.S. film release, starring Giuseppe Cristianno, Mattia Di Pierro, Aitana Sanchez Gijon, and Dino Abbrescia, directed by Gabriele Salvatores. Screenplay by Niccolò Ammaniti and Francesca Marciano.

 

In the Bedroom
based on the short story "Killings," included in In the Bedroom: Seven Stories by Andre Dubus

Set on the coast of Maine, the film tells the story of a couple whose only child is involved in a love affair that ends tragically, with each of the characters forced to confront their evolving loss.

A 2001 film from Miramax starring Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl, Marisa Tomei, and William Mapother, and directed by Todd Field.

 

In Cold Blood
by Truman Capote

On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered. A true story that reads like a thriller, Capote has generated a work of mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy.

Tie-in to the 2005 film Capote from Sony Pictures Classics starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and directed by Bennet Miller. Visit the official movie site.

 

The Informers
by Bret Easton Ellis

A 2009 film from Senator Entertainment, starring Brad Renfro, Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Winona Ryder, Mickey Rourke, Amber Heard, Chris Isaak, Ashley Olsen, and Lou Pucci. Directed by Gregor Jordan from a screenplay by Nicholas Jarecki and Bret Easton Ellis.

Visit the official movie site at www.theinformers.com.

 

Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer

Academy Award Nominee: Supporting Actor (Hal Holbrook), Film Editing

The true story of a young man who gave his $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself by hiking into the Alaskan wilderness in April 1992.

A 2007 film from Paramount Vantage starring Emile Hirsch. Written for the screen and directed by Sean Penn. Visit the official movie site at www.intothewild.com.

 

Joe Gould's Secret
by Joseph Mitchell

Joseph Mitchell was a legendary New Yorker writer and the author of the national bestseller Up in the Old Hotel, in which these two pieces appeared. What Joseph Mitchell wrote about, principally, was New York. In Joe Gould, Mitchell found the perfect subject. And Joe Gould's Secret has become a legendary piece of New York history.

A 2000 film directed by and starring Stanley Tucci.

 

The Killer Inside Me
by Jim Thompson

An underground classic since its publication in 1952, The Killer Inside Me is the book that made Jim Thompson's name synonymous with the roman noir.

Now a major motion picture from IFC Films, Starring Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Casey Affleck, Bill Pullman, Ned Beatty, and Simon Baker. Directed by Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People) from a screenplay by Robert D. Weinbach and John Curran.

 

The Kiss of the Spiderwoman
by Manuel Puig

In this graceful, intensely compelling novel, Molina, a gay window dresser and Valentin, an articulate, fiercely dogmatic revolutionary share a cell in an Argentine prison where their growing friendship is threatened when prison officials try to enlist one of them to betray the other.

A 1985 film directed by Hector Babenco, starring William Hurt, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga, and Jose Lewgoy.

 

The Last King of Scotland
by Giles Foden

A young, naive Scottish doctor working in Uganda becomes Idi Amin's personal physician, slowly becoming aware of the dictator's barbarism and his own complicity in it.

A 2006 Fox Searchlight Pictures film starring Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington, Simon McBurney, and Gillian Anderson, and directed by Kevin Macdonald. Visit the official movie site.

 

Last Orders
by Graham Swift

Four men gather in a London pub to carry out the last orders of Jack Dodds, master butcher, and deliver his ashes to the sea. Braiding these men's voices, and that of Jack's widow, into a choir of sorrow and resentment, passion and regret, Swift creates a testament to a changing England and to enduring mortality.

A 2002 Winchester Entertainment/Sony Pictures Classics film starring Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Tom Courtenay, and David Hemmings, and directed by Fred Schepsi.

 

The Last September
by Elizabeth Bowen

Set in Ireland in 1920, Elizabeth Bowen's masterful novel depicts the tensions between love and the longing for freedom, between tradition and the terrifying prospect of independence, both political and spiritual.

A 1999 film from Trimark Pictures, starring Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon.

 

The Last Station
by Jay Parini

As Leo Tolstoy's life draws to a close, his tempestuous wife and most cunning disciple are locked in a whirlwind battle for the great man's soul. Torn between his professed doctrine of poverty and chastity and the reality of his enormous wealth and thirteen children, Tolstoy dramatically flees his home, only to fall ill at a tiny nearby rail station.

Now a major motion picture from Sony Pictures, starring Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, and Paul Giamatti, and directed by Michael Hoffman. In theaters December 4.

Visit the official movie site at www.thelaststationmovie.com.

 

Lolita
by Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze, aka, Lolita.

A 1997 film directed by Adrian Lyne, starring Jeremy Irons, Dominique Swain, Melanie Griffith, Frank Langella, and Suzanne Shepherd. Also a 1962 film directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring James Mason, Shelley Winters, Peter Sellers, Sue Lyon, Jerry Stovin, Gary Cockrell, and Diana Decker.

 

Love in the Time of Cholera
by Gabriel García Márquez

In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love only to be separated when Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor. Fifty years later, Florentino will have another chance to declare his love.

A 2007 flm from New Line/Stone Village Pictures, starring Javier Bardem, Benjamin Bratt, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, John Leguizamo, Hector Elizondo, and Fernanda Montenegro, and directed by Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral). Visit the official movie site at www.loveinthetime.com.

 

Lust, Caution
by Eileen Chang

In the midst of the Japanese occupation of China and Hong Kong, two lives become intertwined: Wong Chia Chi, a young student active in the resistance, and Mr. Yee, a powerful political figure who works for the Japanese occupational government.

A 2007 film from Focus Features and directed by Oscar winner Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Brokeback Mountain). Visit the official movie site.

 

Madame Bovary
by Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary is Flaubert's devastatingly realized tale of a young married woman destroyed by the reckless pursuit of an adulteress affair.

A 1992 film directed by Claude Chabrol starring Isabelle Hubert, Jean-Francois Balmer, Christopher Malavoy, Jean Yanne, Lucas Belvaux, and Jean-Claude Bouillard. Also made into film in 1949 and 1934.

 

A Man for All Seasons
by Robert Bolt

This classic play is a brilliant dramatization of Sir Thomas More's (the long-time friend of Henry VIII) rebellion against Parliament's bill requiring all subjects to take an oath acknowledging the supremacy of England's king over all foreign sovereigns.

A 1988 film directed by Charlton Heston, starring John Gielgud, Charlton Heston, and Vanessa Regrave.

 

A Map of the World
by Jane Hamilton

From the author of the widely acclaimed The Book of Ruth comes a harrowing, heartbreaking drama about a rural American family and a disastrous event that forever changes their lives.

A 1999 film starring Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, and David Strathairn.

 

Marie Antoinette
by Antonia Fraser

Academy Award® Winner: Best Costume Design

For centuries France's iconic queen, Marie Antoinette, has been the object of debate, speculation, and fascination. Antonia Fraser's lavish and engaging portrait excites compassion and regard for all aspects of the queen, immersing the reader not only in the coming-of-age of a graceful woman, but in the culture of an unparalleled time and place.

The inspiration for the 2006 major motion picture Marie Antoinette from Columbia Pictures/American Zoetrope, starring Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Asia Argento, Rip Torn, and Molly Shannon, and directed by Sofia Coppola. Visit the official movie site.

 

Memoirs of a Geisha
by Arthur Golden

Taking readers inside the exotic and mysterious world of a celebrated Japanese geisha, Arthur Golden's novel is a triumphant work--suspenseful, and utterly persuasive.

A 2005 film directed by Rob Marshall and starring Ziyi Zhang (House of Flying Daggers), Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai), Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Koji Yakusho (Shall We Dance?), Youki Kudoh (The Wind Carpet), Kaori Momoi (Solntse), and Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern).

Also available in a mass market edition.

 

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
by John Berendt

John Berendt's classic tale of murder and intrigue in Savannah is the longest-running hardcover bestseller in history.

A 1997 film directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Kevin Spacey, John Cusack, and Lady Chablis.

 

Midwives
by Chris Bohjalian

A midwife is accused of inadvertently causing the death of one of her patients after performing an emergency Caesarean section.

A 2001 made-for-TV movie on the Lifetime television network directed by Glenn Jordan and starring Sissy Spacek and Peter Coyote.

 

My Dog Skip
by Willie Morris

In 1943 in a sleepy town on the banks of the Yazoo River, a boy fell in love with a puppy with a lively gait and an intellectual way of listening. A classic story of a boy, a dog, and small-town America, My Dog Skip belongs on the same shelf as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Russell Baker's Growing Up.

A 2000 film from Warner Brothers starring Kevin Bacon, Diane Lane, Luke Wilson, Frankie Muniz, and "Eddie" from the TV show Frasier (as Skip).

 

My Life in France
by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme

Meryl Streep is Julia Child and Amy Adams is Julie Powell in writer-director Nora Ephron's adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: My Life in France, by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme and Julie & Julia by Julie Powell. Visit the official movie site.

 

The Mystic Masseur
by V. S. Naipaul

In this slyly funny novel--his first--Nobel Prize winner V. S. Naipaul traces the unlikely career of Ganesh Ramsumair, a failed schoolteacher and impecunious village masseur who in time becomes a revered mystic, a thriving entrepreneur, and the most beloved politician in Trinidad.

A 2002 Merchant Ivory Productions film, directed by Ismail Merchant. Screenplay by Caryl Phillips.

 

 

 


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