Think of this bit as a preview before the coming attractions. Fitting right? But I had to take the opportunity to share this with you: All week long redbox's redblog is focusing on "from page to screen," with Film Adaptation Week, and Erika Olson interviewed Dawn and me about our thoughts. I weighed in on children's and young adult movies, while Dawn passionately defended novels for adults. You might remember that last year I interviewed Erika Olson for our column here, about book to screen adaptations (Part 1: Adapting to Adaptations, and Part 2: Better than the Book), so we were thrilled to return the favor. Please check out both articles and let us know what you think! And now, back to the coming attractions. . . . Sometimes I see previews for so long before the movie actually comes out ...
Category Archives: Books on Screen
Books on Screen: Despicable Me Tie-ins
A kids' movie just isn't produced any more without all sorts of tie-ins. For a movie that we really enjoyed (as we did this one), I think of a tie-in as something to help us remember the movie -- a sort of souvenir. As part of my press junket goodie bag, I received a few neat tie-ins that I wanted to share. Sleepy Kittens Just the fact that this book exists makes me happy. The bedtime story theme is so sweet in the movie, and having this as a tie-in is a lot of fun. There is not a little brush that comes out of the book, like in the movie, but it's still a lot of fun. The little kitties are finger puppets like in the movie. And even though it's supposed to be the ...
Books on Screen: Let the Great World Spin/Man on Wire
Several months ago, I listened to the audiobook of Colum Mcann's Let the Great World Spin, a novel which shares the story of several different characters, specifically their responses to the wire walking that Philippe Petit's unsanctioned high wire walk between the twin towers in 1974. Immediately, I was pulled in by Colum McCann's writing and characters. However in books like this, regardless of how good the writing is and how compelling the characters are, if something doesn't pull the vignettes together, it doesn't stand up as a novel to me. Colum McCann did this masterfully. He pulled these characters together in ways that were not at all predictable, and the theme of the world turning in the midst of everyone's separate lives runs through it completely. I was intrigued by his ability to write ...
Books on Screen: Despicable Me movie
Again, I'm sort of bending the rules with this column. I was able to see a preview of Despicable Me on a Universal-sponsored Mom Blogger press junket (click through to 5 Minutes for Mom to read some more details and get a sneak peek of the fun interviews to come this week). It's a truly great movie that I wanted to share with you here as well. Though it's not technically a "book on screen," a lot of the story revolves around a bedtime story, and I'm excited to actually mention some real book tie-ins, but I will save that post for July 15 after some of you have seen the movie and will understand how cool and great these books are. The Review: I ...
Books on Screen: Stranger in the Woods
You might be aware of the book Stranger in the Woods. The photography of Carol R. Sams II and Jean Stoick, a husband and wife team, is striking, to be sure. Their books are referred to as "A Photographic Fantasy" and indeed they are! These two photographers love nature in the woods and their books and photographs reveal their passion. Our family had received a copy of the book First Snow in the Woods last fall and, as a photographer who lives in a wooded area, I enjoyed looking through the photographic artwork that is contained in this picture/story book about animals in nature. Therefore, when I stumbled upon the Stranger in the Woods booth at the ...
Books on Screen: The Fabulous Beekman Boys
The Fabulous Beekman Boys premieres on Planet Green (a part of the Discovery Channel family) on June 16. It is the story of Josh and Brent, two boys from Manhattan who are trying to grow a life and a business in New York state. I previewed two episodes of the show, and read the book about the first year on the farm, The Bucolic Plague (click over for my review and for a giveaway). I didn't only read the book, I loved the book. And as is almost always the case if you fall in love with "characters" in a book, and then see them portrayed on screen, you are going to say "the book is better." And yes, in this case, the book is better. If you become fans of ...
Books on Screen: Presumed Innocent
In the 1990's the legal thriller was king. There probably aren't many people who were reading in the 90's, whether confirmed bookworms or summer vacation readers, who haven't read a John Grisham book. But before any of John Grisham's bestsellers then movie blockbusters, there was a 1987 book and 1990 movie -- Presumed Innocent. I won't give the movie away, because I know that there are some of you reading this who were weren't old enough to watch a rated R movie in the early 90's, but I still remember the hype -- this suspenseful story of murder and betrayal with a surprise twist at the end. I recently watched the movie to prepare to read the brand new Scott Turow novel Innocent, which revisits the same character Rusty Sabich 22 years later. This movie keeps ...
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Jennifer Donovan
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