A Book Adapted into a Movie or Show: Staff Picks for the 2019 Reading Challenge
Are you participating in our reading challenge? So are library staff all across the city. These are some of their recommendations for the category "A book that has been adapted into a movie or show".
Alice's Recommendations:
Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich
Why did Alice pick it?
Can it go either way? Dear Evan Hansen was a show first, and then adapted (very well, I might add) into a book that felt very much like a YA novel, not something forced into that form. The really charming thing was that it used lyrics from the show as well, so the things work quite seamlessly together.
What other categories can you use it for?
- A book about mental health
- A book recommended to you by library staff
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Why did Alice pick it?
Netflix has been busy with the YA world, and did a very cute (and very popular) adaptation of Jenny Han's To All The Boys I've Loved Before. I'm not usually a romantic comedy fan, but Lara Jean was adorable and charming and utterly relatable in her awkwardness and missteps.
Myrna adds:
Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Why did Alice pick it?
YA has also been mined pretty heavily for movies, some good, some surprisingly terrible. I would say standouts include Love, Simon (Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda in book form), which was super cute. I heard some heart-warming stories from some in the LGBTQ+ community of how much it meant to them to see a gay relationship given a light, fairly issue-free romantic-comedy treatment very much like any traditional straight rom-com.
Cursed by Thomas Wheeler and Frank Miller
Why did Alice pick it?
Also interestingly, the forthcoming book Cursed (a collaboration between Thomas Wheeler and Frank Miller in which the sword chooses a girl, not Arthur) already has a scheduled Netflix show coming in the spring! I'm excited, because I'm enjoying the book a lot. It is really a full reimagining rather than a simple gender-swap.
Amy's Recommendation:
- A book recommended to you by library staff
Nalini's Recommendation:
What other categories can you use it for?
- A book recommended to you by library staff
Wendy's Recommendations:
The Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St. Aubyn
Why did Wendy pick it?
These five short, semi-autobiographical novels trace upper-class Brit Patrick Melrose's life from horrific abuse, through addiction, to a kind of happiness. I'm picking it because St. Aubyn relates these dark events with merciless flat-affect wit, which is conveyed with great precision in the show by Benedict Cumberbatch.
What other categories can you use it for?
- A book about mental health
- A book recommended to you by library staff
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
Why did Wendy pick it?
Where the Netflix adaptation of the Melrose novels was faithful, the film version of Annihilation cheats. Director Alex Garland interpreted his source material, Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, very loosely. The result is something like a dream based on a partial memory of another dream: moody, puzzling, hugely, surreally enjoyable. You should read the source material to see why some VanderMeer fans get so upset about it.
What other categories can you use it for?
- A book recommended to you by library staff
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Why did Wendy pick it?
There was a time when The Handmaid's Tale was just a novel and Gilead, its patriarchy-gone-haywire setting, seemed like a far-fetched satire. Then, more recently, there was a time when it was a TV show that felt extremely sad and a little too on-the-nose. Then for a while there were sexy Handmaid Hallowe'en costumes and nobody knew what to think. Now, Margaret Atwood has published The Testaments, which has been longlisted for a Giller and shortlisted for a Booker, and basically you should read and watch all of them if you want to understand what's happening in the world right now.
What other categories can you use it for?
- A book recommended to you by library staff
- A book by a Canadian award-winning author
More Staff Recommendations:
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Recommendations from the Facebook Discussion Group:
These are just a few of the picks from the Facebook discussion group. Visit the group to see the full list!
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman
- The Martian by Andy Weir
- Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
- My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
- The Price of Salt (aka Carol) by Patricia Highsmith
- Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews
- The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (made into an opera)
Do you have a favourite book-to-screen recommendation? What did you read for the challenge? Share in the comments below!
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