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What New Book Would Make A Great Movie?

I.M.

New Member
Hello, everyone. I’m new to this board.

I work in the film industry, and I thought I’d do a post about books that are being made into movies, and then ask all of you what books you think would make for great movies (I’m always looking for new books to option).

Here are two books I adore that are being made into major movies:

The Kite Runner – Most of you certainly know of this book. It’s a tale of redemption set in Afghanistan. The novel unfolds in the early ‘70s (in what was a relatively calm and normal Afghanistan) and follows the novel’s protagonist, Amir, as he grows up in a country that starts to disintegrate around him. Amir and his father later flee for America for a time, but Amir returns to Taliban-run Afghanistan to try and redeem himself for a cowardly act he committed as a young boy. This is a powerful, vivid book that is set in a fascinating land and that revolves around very memorable characters. If you haven’t read it yet, you should before it hits the big screen. The Kite Runner should make a remarkable movie.

Beneath a Marble Sky – This novel isn’t nearly as well known as The Kite Runner. But it should be. This is a wonderful, beautiful, and pulse-quickening novel about the creation of the Taj Mahal. Beneath a Marble sky is narrated by Jahanara, the daughter of the emperor who built the Taj Mahal. In Beneath a Marble Sky, Jahanara tells of her parents’ fabled love story, of her own forbidden affair with the architect of the Taj Mahal, and of the civil war that consumed India immediately after the Taj Mahal was completed. This is an amazing debut novel. At its core it’s a love story, but it’s also a page-turner. This is a beautifully written novel, and I only wish I had discovered it earlier – before the film rights were optioned by someone else.

OK, so those are two recommendations from me. If you like big-canvas types of novels, these will be a great fit for you.

So now, has anyone read anything lately that they think would make an amazing movie? I’m interested to hear what’s out there.

Thanks.

- I.M.
 
"Blindness" would be good.

Also I'd be surprised if no one makes a movie of the Ukrainian Tractor History one (I can't remember the name or the author right now).

Boat.
 
I would recommend The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue, if you can afford the special effects. It's the story of a boy named Henry Day, who one day hides in the hollow of a tree where he is taken by changelings (a pack of wild-child fairy sprites) and is made one of their own. Stuck forever as a child, he tries to remember the family and life that was stolen from him. Meanwhile the changelings have left one of their own to take over Henry Day's identity, and the boy struggles to find his place in this new world while trying to fool Henry Day's family and keep his real identity a secret. Excellent book.
 
I think Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre would make a great movie, but given that one of its big themes is the corrupted portrayal of life by the media, it might have a hard time getting made. :)
 
Relentless By. Robin Parrish is the only new book I've read lately that I think is movie worthy. Although I read a lot more classics than anything else.
 
The Barrytown Trilogy..specially The Van or The Snapper. I understand there was a movie made from The Committments, but that it was low budget. These books are hilarious and the characters seem so real.
 
The Barrytown Trilogy..specially The Van or The Snapper. I understand there was a movie made from The Committments, but that it was low budget. These books are hilarious and the characters seem so real.

The movie of The Commitments is fantastic - it captures the spirit of the book perfectly. If it did have budgetary constraints then it doesn't show. The Snapper and The Van have also been made into movies, but I haven't seen them.
 
The movie of The Commitments is fantastic - it captures the spirit of the book perfectly. If it did have budgetary constraints then it doesn't show. The Snapper and The Van have also been made into movies, but I haven't seen them.


Oh, then I guess I'll have to see if I can find them..did they clean up the language at all? That was my main quibble with the books, not exactly for everyone, but wonderful just the same.
 
did they clean up the language at all? That was my main quibble with the books
But if you take out the language then you no longer have it being realistic.

Returning to the original post, I think The Kite Runner may fare better as a movie than it did as a book. Since the main character was so lack-lustre in the book he'd probably translate better on the screen as one of those voiceovers that crop up every now and again to end major scenes.

With it being set in both America and Afghanistan I would hope that the script writers try not to fit some 'yay, we whooped their ass' comments about the Afghanis into some throwaway scene. And perhaps keep the flag waving to a minimum in the Afghan community. I can just see popular film makers making every immigrant kissing the US flag as if they are all grateful to be there.
 
I'm reading The Memory of Running right now, and I could see it as a movie. I'm enjoying the story, but the details are rather light (and poorly researched, having lived in the main setting). I think those books make the best movies. Long, difficult books with a ton of details and excellent characters make terrible movies because so much has to be left out.
 
The Historian. I can never get tired of vampire movies, and this book is a far cry from the handsome yet tormented vampire story that we seem to be getting lately.
 
I read this great book-a wizard guy, some piece of jewellery...oh yeah! The Lord of the Rings!

Oh, wait...
 
OK. I've got another one. I just finished listening to an audio tape of Gods in Alabama that I got at a yardsale. I suppose it was partially because I was driving instead of reading, but I couldn't help picturing different actors in the parts and wondering how they would handle the constant back and forth between past and present, truth and un-truth.
 
But if you take out the language then you no longer have it being realistic.

Returning to the original post, I think The Kite Runner may fare better as a movie than it did as a book. Since the main character was so lack-lustre in the book he'd probably translate better on the screen as one of those voiceovers that crop up every now and again to end major scenes.

With it being set in both America and Afghanistan I would hope that the script writers try not to fit some 'yay, we whooped their ass' comments about the Afghanis into some throwaway scene. And perhaps keep the flag waving to a minimum in the Afghan community. I can just see popular film makers making every immigrant kissing the US flag as if they are all grateful to be there.

as a mod now you should know better than to make such an inciting political statement! but now that you opened the can of worms . . . if they aren't happy to be here then they can leave and go somewhere else. and saying "yay! we whooped their ass!" is not a fair statement. most americans wouldn't say that to begin with. that wasn't the purpose.

also, if you knew anything about typical hollywood elitist, they would be the last to portray americans (or what we have done there) or living here as anything positive. they are about as jaded as you can get. they are all pretty much ingrained with moveon.org and the likes of george souros (sp?)
 
i loved Fried Green Tomatoes! and another good book from this author that might translate well on film is Welcome to the World Baby Girl.

Also, a great biography (that i believe got a pulitzer) would be John Adams by David McCullough. I also think three books about the Russian Gulag would be great (the first two would probably be the easiest to bring to screen - it is really told more like a riveting story):

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch (by Solzhenitzin) - fiction

An American in the Gulag (by Alexander Dolgun) - autobiography

The Gulag Archipalego (by Solzhenitzin) - autobiography
 
also, if you knew anything about typical hollywood elitist, they would be the last to portray americans (or what we have done there) or living here as anything positive. they are about as jaded as you can get. they are all pretty much ingrained with moveon.org and the likes of george souros (sp?)

If only this were true of television ... I might find a little more of interest.
 
I Thought Of A Great Movie Series

The Wrinkle In Time series (there were four total books, I believe), by Madeline L'Engle. They were great and would be great now when fantasy movies are so popular.
 
Along that line Susan Cooper's Over Sea Under Stone series. Wonderful and would make a great film series.
 
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