At the Movies

Lots of movies are based on books – here are some that are recent, current or upcoming:

Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell (May 2008)
In this chronicle of the mating habits of New York's cultural elite, Bushnell infiltrates celebrity affairs, sex clubs, and posh suburbs to introduce us to "bicycle boys," "modelizers," and "toxic bachelors." Funny but sometimes bleak, this is an inside account of the quintessential '90s romance and the never-ending search for the perfect marriage partner in high society.

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (February 2008)
The daughters of a ruthlessly ambitious family, Mary and Anne Boleyn are sent to the court of Henry VIII to attract the attention of the king, who first takes Mary as his mistress, in which role she bears him an illegitimate son, and then Anne as his wife.

Marley & Me by John Grogan (December 2008)
Follows the life story of an exuberant Labrador retriever who gets into perpetual trouble and experiences a range of inspiring adventures, from shutting down an entire beach to guarding a seventeen-year-old neighbor after a stabbing attack.

Body of Lies by Davis Ignatius (October 2008)
Roger Ferris is one of the CIA's soldiers in the war on terrorism. His mission is to penetrate the network of a master terrorist known only as "Suleiman." His only hope is the urbane head of Jordan's intelligence service---a man who might be an Arab version of John le Carre's celebrated spy, George Smiley. But can Ferris trust him?

Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (October 2008)
After her "stand-in mother," a bold black woman named Rosaleen, insults the three biggest racists in town, Lily Owens joins Rosaleen on a journey to Tiburon, South Carolina, where they are taken in by three black, bee-keeping sisters.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy (November 2008)
From the author of No Country for Old Men comes this story of A father and his sonNothing moves in the ravaged landscape save
the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. They sky is dark. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-and each other.

Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich (March 2008)
(Movie: 21) Gambling pervaded the M.I.T. campus, and genius kids with money and glittering futures were just as likely to be found in a Paradise Island casino as in the school library. A highly elite group of mathletes was recruited to join The Club, a successful ring of card savants, backed by a mysterious ringleader and shadowy investors, they infiltrated Vegas and won millions.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (December 2008)
Passionately in love, Clare and Henry vow to hold onto each other and their marriage as they struggle with the effects of Chrono-Displacement Disorder, a condition that casts Henry involuntarily into the perilous world of time travel.

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk (October 2008)
Medical school dropout Victor Mancini comes up with a complicated but ingenious scam to pay for his mother's elder care, cruises sex addiction groups for action, and visits his zany mother, whose Alzheimer's disease hides the bizarre truth about his parentage.

The Dying Animal by Philip Roth (April 2008)
(Movie: Elegy) Freed from the Bastille of convention, an aging aesthete's encounter with female beauty turns tragic in an erotic novel of startling candor. David Kepesh's carefree adventure with Consuela Castillo turns into a maddening sexual possessiveness which plunges him into the depths of deforming jealousy.

Blindness by Jose Saramago (September 2008)
A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" which spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and raping women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides seven strangers through the barren streets, and the procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing.

The Reader by Bernard Schlink (December 2008)
At the age of fifteen, Michael Berg falls in love with a woman who disappears, and while observing a trial as a law student years later, he is shocked to discover the same woman as the defendant in a horrible crime.

The Ruins by Scott Smith (April 2008)
Two young couples are on a lazy Mexican vacation–sun-drenched days, drunken nights, making friends with fellow tourists. When the brother of one of those friends disappears, they decide to venture into the jungle to look for him. What started out as a fun day-trip slowly spirals into a nightmare when they find an ancient ruins site.

Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks (September 2008)
After her husband leaves her for a younger woman, forty-five-year-old Adrienne Willis reconsiders her life, until a trip to Rodanthe in North Carolina's Outer Banks leads to an encounter with successful surgeon Paul Flanner.

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne (July 2008)
When Axel deciphers an old parchment that describes a secret passage through a volcano to the center of the earth, nothing will stop his eccentric Uncle Lidenbrock. With silent Hans the guide, the men embark on a perilous, astonishing, terrifying journey through the subterranean world!

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (July 2008)
While at Oxford, Charles Ryder meets boyish, flamboyant Sebastian Flyte, who introduces Charles to a charmed and glamorous way of life that continues until Sebastian's health deteriorates.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates (January 2009)
The story of Frank and April Wheeler, a bright, beautiful, and talented couple who have lived on the assumption that greatness is only just around the corner. Yates shows how Frank and April mortgage their spiritual birthright, betraying not only each other, but their best selves.