There are a whole slew of movies that are coming out (or that I have recently seen or am currently watching) that have been adapted to the big and small screen. As I want to see the movies and like to read the books first (in most cases) I feel like I need to start incorporating the books into my current reading.
I recently saw, not once but twice as I was so intrigued by it, Sophia Coppola's The Beguiled. It's not the first time the book has been made into a movie. In 1971 Clint Eastwood starred in it. Initially I just saw it out of curiosity but with no real desire to compare it to the older film or read the book, but now I want to do both. I have bought Thomas Cullinan's 1966 novel The Beguiled.
A number of years ago I watched the entire run of Prime Suspect with Helen Mirren (who I think is a most amazing actor). I was totally riveted to the show and as a coworker was also watching the DVDs we would chat about the episodes at length. Now PBS is airing Prime Suspect: Tennison, which I am finding equally as good. The show is about Jane Tennison's early days, so of course I have ordered Tennison: 1973 from the Book Depository as well as the first book in the Prime Suspect series. I'm not sure where to start with my reading. I like the show mostly because it is just a well done crime drama, but also because I love a show with a strong and smart female character and as weird as it may sound I like reading about the 1970s (my own kind of nostalgia, I guess).
Is My Cousin Rachel out yet? I am not sure it will ever come to Omaha, but if it does I plan on seeing it if it does. Otherwise . . . Netflix. I have read the book twice already, though I wouldn't mind reading it again I like Daphne du Maurier's books so much.
Same with Tulip Fever (the book by Deborah Moggach, who I love and want to read all her work), and The Zookeeper's Wife (the book by Diane Ackerman, who I have also read and enjoyed). I have a feeling the movies came and went (maybe not here where I live but to theaters in general?), but I still want to read both books.
And I have already had Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express out and in my reading pile. The movie is due out in the fall and it looks like it could be good. Granted M. Poirot's (Kenneth Branagh's) bushy moustache does absolutely nothing for me, I know that is how it is described in the book.
Next month I am going to have the chance to see Orlando on the big screen. As I had wanted to read Virginia Woolf earlier in the year (and my classic reading has been abysmal so far this year), I have to find my copy of the book. As part of the same film series, I plan on seeing Carol in September. There is Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt, which is the book the film is based on, to read, and wouldn't it be perfect to pair it with Jill Dawson's The Crime Writer?!
And I guess now I will be bumping up my copy of Invisible City by Julia Dahl to the top of my reading pile since it looks like the story is being turned into a (TV? or cable?) series. This mystery series is set in contemporary NYC in an Hasidic neighborhood and the sleuth is a journalist whose mother is part of that same community. I've heard good things about the books.
I still want to reread Tracks by Robyn Davidson and conveniently the film is streaming right now. I recently had the book in my hand and had started to read, but you know how it goes with so many books calling your name.
What am I missing? I think there must be loads of movies coming out that started as books. And then PBS's Masterpiece Theater is always good for adaptations. Not that I need any help finding books to read, of course. For now, I think I need to look for my copy of Orlando this weekend. It has a certain appeal (as I type anyway). I have plenty on my reading pile that I'll be dipping into, and I'll be watching the Liza Minnelli version of Cabaret and a very curious-sounding foreign film called Let the Right One In, on the big screen this weekend. (I've already read Cabaret and seen the Broadway production, and if I feel the desire after the fact I can read John Ajvide Lindqvist's book later, too--though whenever I would pick it up it always looked really creepy).
Have a great weekend and enjoy whatever you'll be reading (or watching)!