From the Page to the Screen - Books that have become films
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300by Frank Miller
The Battle of Thermopylae ranks as one of the ancient world's most important events, where Spartan King Leonidas and his 300-man bodyguard met the massive army of Emperor Xerxes of Persia, who intended to add Greece to his empire. To no one's surprise, the Spartans were destroyed. While the battle bought the Greeks enough time to defeat the mighty Persians, it was more important for the metaphor it created: occasionally one has to lose to win. This is clearly the inspiration behind Miller's attempt to place this epic tale in the context of a graphic novel. A renowned comics artist and writer known for hard-boiled stories of almost operatic intensity and stylishly overwrought violence, Miller (Sin City) injects his own brand of graphic sensationalism into this ancient tale of national survival.
300 (DVD)by
Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley
Babylon A.D. [DVD]by Maurice Dantec
Based on the novel Babylon Babies by Maurice G. Dantec-Éditions Gallimard.
Babylon Babiesby Maurice Dantec
The rules are simple: kill or be killed. A ruthless mercenary is hired to smuggle a mysterious young woman from the post-apocalyptic confines of Eastern Europe to the glittering megalopolis of New York City.
Bridge to Terabithiaby Katherine Paterson
The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.
Charlie Wilson's Warby George Crile
The untold story behind the last battle of the Cold War and how it fueled the rise of militant Islam. George Crile tells how Charlie Wilson, a maverick congressman from east Texas, conspired with a rogue CIA operative to launch the biggest, meanset, and most successful covert operation in the Agency's history.
I Am Legendby Richard Matheson
Robert Neville is the last human survivor in what is left of New York City. A pandemic has left only 1% of the population alive and most of those who survived are no longer human. The infected, now lurking in the shadows, watch Neville's every move. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by the only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood.
I Am Legend (DVD)by
Based on the novel by Richard Matheson and the 1971 screenplay by John William Corrington & Joyce Corrington.
Into the Wildby Jon Krakauer
Freshly graduated from college with a promising future ahead, Christopher McCandless walked out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure. What happened to him on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring symbol for countless people, a fearless risk-taker who wrestled with the precarious balance between man and nature.
Jumperby Steven Gould
Blessed with the ability to "jump"--to teleport himself to any place on Earth that he has been to before--Davy is determined to locate others like himself, but interference from the government could prevent him from doing so.
Jumper [DVD]by Steven Gould
Based on the novel by Steven Gould
Oil!by Upton Sinclair
Oil! is a novel by Upton Sinclair published in 1927. It is a third person narrative, with its main character being James Arnold Ross Jr., nicknamed Bunny, son of an oil tycoon. Bunny's sympathetic feelings towards oilfield workers and socialists provoke arguments with his father throughout the story. The book was written in the context of the Harding administration's Teapot Dome Scandal and takes place in Southern California.
Oil! (Movie:There Will Be Blood) (DVD)by
Loosely based on Upton Sinclair's "Oil!", it tells the story of a silver-miner-turned-oil-man on a ruthless quest for wealth during Southern California's oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Stardustby Neil Gaiman
Tristran Thorn falls in love with the prettiest girl in town and makes her a foolish promise: he says that he'll go find the falling star they both watched streak across the night sky. She says she'll marry him if he finds it, so he sets off, leaving his home of Wall, and heads out into the perilous land of faerie, where not everything is what it appears.
Stardust (DVD)by Neil Gaiman
Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess
The Diving Bell and the Butterflyby Jean-Dominique Bauby
We've all got our idiosyncrasies when it comes to writing--a special chair we have to sit in, a certain kind of yellow paper we absolutely must use. To create this tremendously affecting memoir, Jean-Dominique Bauby used the only tool available to him--his left eye--with which he blinked out its short chapters, letter by letter. Two years ago, Bauby, then the 43-year-old editor-in-chief of Elle France, suffered a rare stroke to the brain stem; only his left eye and brain escaped damage. Rather than accept his "locked in" situation as a kind of death, Bauby ignited a fire of the imagination under himself and lived his last days--he died two days after the French publication of this slim volume--spiritually unfettered.
The Last Sin Eaterby Francine Rivers
All that matters for Cadi Forbes is finding the one man who can set her free from the sin that plagues her, the sin that has stolen her mother's love from her and made her wish she could flee life and its terrible injustice. But Cadi doesn't know that the "sin eater" is seeking as well. Before their journeys are over, Cadi and the sin eater must face themselves, each other, and the One who will demand everything from them in exchange for the answers they seek. A captivating tale of suffering, seeking, and redemption.
The Other Boleyn Girlby Philippa Gregory
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 and then Anne as his wife.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.
Springfield-Greene County Library District
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (DVD)
