I recently got a MoviePass, and I have to tell you: it’s changing my life this summer!! For $10 a month, I can go see a new movie every single day if I want to. In practice, it’s about one a week – but that is approximately four more movies a month than I generally go to see in the theater. (I am receiving no credit at all from MoviePass if you click there, or if you sign up – it’s just a fun thing that I wanted to pass on to you.)
So movies have been on my mind a lot lately. Libraries are, of course, always on my mind – and the multitudes of books to be found there. And I started noticing, while sitting through interminable commercials and previews, that a LOT of movies started life as books.
This is awesome!!
Let’s share the love that Hollywood, and all of us, feel for books by reading them and encouraging patrons to read more fun books. Once we bring them in with movie/book combos, we can keep handing them other books they will enjoy!
If you want to share some of these on a display, feel free to Books to Movies Summer 2018 for your library!
(CMLE might get a small kickback from Amazon if you buy things after clicking on these links. In theory we do; in practice it doesn’t actually work – but we want you to enjoy books from any source that works for you!)
I’m really excited to see this – the previews are show a world that is huge, lush, and gorgeous!! And after hearing several of the cast talk about the good time they had filming this, it made me even more excited to see it!
“When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick has failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country’s most eligible bachelor.
On Nick’s arm, Rachel may as well have a target on her back the second she steps off the plane, and soon, her relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of old money, new money, nosy relatives, and scheming social climbers.”
Anna Kedrick is staring in this movie, and really – I’ll go see any of her movies! This one looks delightfully creepy, and though it doesn’t come out until September, I’m including it here because it looks so fun!
“It starts with a simple favor—an ordinary kindness mothers do for one another. When her best friend, Emily, asks Stephanie to pick up her son Nicky after school, she happily says yes. Nicky and her son, Miles, are classmates and best friends, and the five-year-olds love being together—just like she and Emily. A widow and stay-at-home mommy blogger living in woodsy suburban Connecticut, Stephanie was lonely until she met Emily, a sophisticated PR executive whose job in Manhattan demands so much of her time.
But Emily doesn’t come back. She doesn’t answer calls or return texts. Stephanie knows something is terribly wrong—Emily would never leave Nicky, no matter what the police say. Terrified, she reaches out to her blog readers for help. She also reaches out to Emily’s husband, the handsome, reticent Sean, offering emotional support. It’s the least she can do for her best friend. Then, she and Sean receive shocking news. Emily is dead. The nightmare of her disappearance is over.
Or is it? Because soon, Stephanie will begin to see that nothing—not friendship, love, or even an ordinary favor—is as simple as it seems.
A Simple Favor is a remarkable tale of psychological suspense—a clever and twisting free-fall of a ride filled with betrayals and reversals, twists and turns, secrets and revelations, love and loyalty, murder and revenge. Darcey Bell masterfully ratchets up the tension in a taut, unsettling, and completely absorbing story that holds you in its grip until the final page.”
While the movie here is not directly about the books, focusing instead on the fantasy that Christopher Robin has grown up and needs to have the magic of Pooh and friends back – how cool does this sound?? I know I’m not alone in my Winnie Pooh love, so join me at the theater after you browse the Pooh collection in your own library!
“Since 1926, Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends—Piglet, Owl, Tigger, Kanga, Roo, and the ever doleful Eeyore—have endured as the unforgettable creations of A. A. Milne, who wrote two books of Pooh’s adventures for his son, Christopher Robin, and Ernest H. Shepard, who lovingly gave them shape through his iconic and beautiful illustrations.
These characters and their stories are timeless treasures of childhood that continue to speak to all of us with the kind of freshness and heart that distinguishes true storytelling.”
I read a magazine article about this story a while ago, and it sounded so amazing that I wanted to know more – and here it is! Read the book, then enjoy the movie. The year is 1978, and the story is terrifying. A great way to get a more complete picture of our coutnry’s (very) recent past – with heroes we can all root for! (That’s key in summer movies!)
“When detective Ron Stallworth, the first black detective in the history of the Colorado Springs Police Department, comes across a classified ad in the local paper asking for all those interested in joining the Ku Klux Klan to contact a PO box, Detective Stallworth does his job and responds with interest, using his real name while posing as a white man. He figures he’ll receive a few brochures in the mail, maybe even a magazine, and learn more about a growing terrorist threat in his community.
A few weeks later the office phone rings, and the caller asks Ron a question he thought he’d never have to answer: “Would you like to join our cause?” This is 1978, and the KKK is on the rise in the United States. Its Grand Wizard, David Duke, has made a name for himself, appearing on talk shows and in major magazine interviews preaching a “kinder” Klan that wants nothing more than to preserve a heritage and to restore a nation to its former glory.
Ron answers the caller’s question that night with a yes, launching what is surely one of the most audacious and incredible undercover investigations in history. Ron recruits his partner, Chuck, to play the “white” Ron Stallworth while Stallworth himself conducts all subsequent phone conversations. During the months-long investigation, Stallworth sabotages cross burnings, exposes white supremacists in the military, and even befriends David Duke himself.
Black Klansman is an amazing true story that unfolds like a crime thriller and a searing portrait of a divided America and the extraordinary heroes who dare to fight back.”
The Darkest Minds, by Alexandra Bracken
You know that at CMLE, we are big fans of YA books – and Hollywood also understands that big adventures led by YAs can be exciting for everyone! Check out this series, and enjoy watching it translated to the big screen.
“When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something alarming enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that got her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.” She might have survived the mysterious disease that killed most of America’s children, but she and the others emerged with something far worse: frightening abilities they cannot control. Now sixteen, Ruby is one of the dangerous ones. But when the truth about Ruby’s abilities—the truth she’s hidden from everyone, even the camp authorities—comes out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with her life. On the run, she joins a group of kids who escaped their own camp: Zu, a young girl haunted by her past; Chubs, a standoffish brainiac; and Liam, their fearless leader, who is falling hard for Ruby. But no matter how much she aches for him, Ruby can’t risk getting close. Not after what happened to her parents. While they journey to find the one safe haven left for kids like them—East River—they must evade their determined pursuers, including an organization that will stop at nothing to use Ruby in their fight against the government. But as they get closer to grasping the things they’ve dreamed of, Ruby will be faced with a terrible choice, one that may mean giving up her only chance at a life worth living.””
Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, by John Callahan and David Kelly
I read my first book John Callahan many years ago. He totally upended any societal expectation that a disabled guy would be polite, quiet, or respectful in his cartoons that were surprising, sometimes rude, occasionally disturbing, and always funny! Enjoy his books, then go see the story behind the books.
“In 1972, at the age of 21, John Callahan was involved in a car crash that severed his spine and made him a quadriplegic. A heavy drinker since the age of 12 (alcohol had played a role in his crash), the accident could have been the beginning of a downward spiral. Instead, it sparked a personal transformation. After extensive physical therapy, he was eventually able to grasp a pen in his right hand and make rudimentary drawings. By 1978, Callahan had sworn off drinking for good, and begun to draw cartoons.
Over the next three decades, until his death in 2010, Callahan would become one of the nation’s most beloved—and at times polarizing—cartoonists. His work, which shows off a wacky and sometimes warped sense of humor, pokes fun at social conventions and pushes boundaries. One cartoon features Christ at the cross with a thought bubble reading “T.G.I.F.” In another, three sheriffs on horseback approach an empty wheelchair in the desert. “Don’t worry,” one sheriff says to another, “He won’t get far on foot.”
Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot recounts Callahan’s life story, from the harrowing to the hilarious. Featuring more than 60 of Callahan’s cartoons, it’s a compelling look at art, addiction, disability, and fame.”