My ACCOUNT

Recommendations

Tags:

Good Books to Good Movies (and Television)

Apr 13, 2021

Many movie and television adaptions of books are sub-par, but there are some wonderful exceptions. Kristine, one of our Adult Services Reference Librarians, has put together a list of good movies and television shows inspired by good books.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – FIC LEE – (Book) (DVD)

The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man’s struggle for justice, in this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic that has been translated into more than 40 languages

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke – FIC CLA – (Book) (DVD)

English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. In this tale, they learn how to reclaim it

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens – FIC DIC – (Book) (DVD)

Hailed by George Bernard Shaw as Dickens’ “masterpiece among many masterpieces,” Little Dorrit offers a somber and complex portrait of debtors’ prisons and government bureaucracy.

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride by William Goldman – FIC GOL – (Book) (DVD)

William Goldman’s modern fantasy classic is a simple, exceptional story about quests–for riches, revenge, power, and, of course, true love–that’s thrilling and timeless.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie – MYS CHR – (Book) (DVD)

Ten people, each with something to hide and something to fear, are invited to a isolated mansion on Indian Island by a host who, surprisingly, fails to appear. On the island they are cut off from everything but each other and the inescapable shadows of their own past lives. One by one, the guests share the darkest secrets of their wicked pasts. And one by one, they die…

Which among them is the killer and will any of them survive?

Good Omens: the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett – FAN GAI – (Book) (DVD)

The classic collaboration from the internationally bestselling authors Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, now a Prime original series starring Michael Sheen and David Tennant.

“Good Omens . . . is something like what would have happened if Thomas Pynchon, Tom Robbins and Don DeLillo had collaborated. Lots of literary inventiveness in the plotting and chunks of very good writing and characterization. It’s a wow. It would make one hell of a movie. Or a heavenly one. Take your pick.”–Washington Post

Bleak House by Charles Dickens – FIC DIC – (Book) (DVD)

The complex story of a notorious lawsuit in which love and inheritance are set against the classic urban background of 19th-century London, where fog on the river, seeping into the very bones of the characters, symbolizes the corruption of the legal system and the society which supports it.

Miss Fisher Mysteries

Murder in Montparnasse: a Phryne Fisher Mystery by Kerry Greenwood – MYS GRE – (Book) (DVD)

Ten years after seven Australian soldiers, on leave in Paris in 1918, unknowingly witness a murder, two of the group turn up dead under suspicious circumstances, and two of their companions turn to their friend Phryne Fisher to investigate the crime, save their lives, and uncover a killer.

Going Postal: a Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett – FAN PRA – (Book) (DVD)

Arch-swindler Moist Van Lipwig never believed his confidence crimes were hanging offenses-until he found himself with a noose tightly around his neck, dropping through a trapdoor, and falling into-a government job? By all rights, Moist should have met his maker. Instead, it’s Lord Vetinari, supreme ruler of Ankh-Morpork, who promptly offers him a job as Postmaster. Watch the swindler gain a profession and lose his heart in this fantastic parody of progress.

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith – MYS MCC – (Book) (DVD)

This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to help people with problems in their lives.

RECENT RECOMMENDATIONS

ARCHIVES

Accessibility Toolbar