The Book To Film Adaptations That I’m Excited About in 2016
Books have the ability to completely transport me to another world. I like escaping into the lives and surroundings of the characters so much. Film adaptations can bring what is in your imagination even more to life (and sometimes completely annoy you if not done properly.)
A lot of the films being released right now seem to be adapted from novels and I wanted to share some of the book to film adaptations that I am looking forward to with you.
Ambling Entertainment, Walt Disney Pictures, Walden Media, Reliance Entertainment & The Kennedy Marshall Company. Distributed by Entertainment One.
The first book to film adaptation I am excited about this year is The BFG and is based on the novel from Roald Dahl
This was one of my favourite books growing up (it was tied with Charlie and The Chocolate Factory in terms of my favourite Dahl stories.) For those few who are not familiar, it’s about a young orphan named Sophie who one night discovers that a giant delivers dreams to children. Sophie is soon introduced to the big friendly giant who takes her on an adventure through Giant country.
I loved everything about this book from the plot to the big friendly giant to the illustrations. I wanted to meet the BFG so much. The imagery scared me and was exciting at the same time. I also was a big fan of the animated version. Anyone remember that?
The film version stars Mark Rylance (who I believe was in Bridge of Spies,) Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader and Ruby Barnhill. It was released in July and I’ve not yet got a chance to go and see it. I can be sceptical of adaptations of books from my childhood but if the trailer is anything to go by, it’s going to be excellent. Mark Rylance looks like he makes the perfect BFG.
(The BFG was released on 22nd July 2016.)
Another book to film adaption that is due out this year is Inferno which is adapted from the novel by Dan Brown.
Yes, for many, Dan Brown may not be the best writer in the world (he’s certainly ahead of me. He’s written a book and I haven’t…yet. I don’t mind his books.) However, he is incredibly good at picking an interesting subject matter and the man can definitely do cliff-hanger chapter endings. I am not sure what it is about Dan Brown’s novels that gets me completely hooked on them. These novels are certainly a guilty pleasure of mine.
Columbia Pictures
Inferno is not my favourite of Brown’s novels in all honesty but I am looking forward to seeing the film. I think Tom Hanks makes an OK Robert Langdon and the movies are perfect escapism.
The general gist of Inferno is that Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with no idea how he got there. Along with Sienna Brooks (who is being played by Felicity Jones who was in The Theory of Everything,) has to stop someone from releasing a deadly virus that has the capability to wipe out half the world’s population.
(Inferno is due to be released in cinemas on 14th October 2016.)
The third adaptation I am looking forward to seeing this year is the film adapted from JoJo Moyes novel, Me Before You. I remember being blown away by this novel (although I didn’t cry at the end. My friend thinks I’m a Vulcan because of it.) JoJo has written the screenplay for this so as a fan of the book, it can’t be in safer hands really.
This tells the story of Lou who is hired by the family of Will who is confined to a wheelchair after a motorcycle accident. She soon forms a bond with Will that she never expected.
This was released in June (and I’m so slow off the mark in going to see it.) I’ve heard some wonderful things about the film. It stars Emilia Clarke as Lou. It’s not quite how I pictured her but from the preview trailers I’ve seen, she suits the role well. It also stars Sam Claflin as Will (he was in the Hunger Games and Love, Rosie.) He makes a very handsome Will in my opinion. I look forward to catching this one when I can.
(Me Before You was released in cinemas on 3rd June 2016.)
by 
Blog Tour: No Turning Back by Tracy Buchanan – Extract and Review
I’m very happy to be welcoming Tracy Buchanan back to Novel Kicks and her blog tour for her new novel which is called No Turning Back (published by Avon on 28th July 2016.)
When radio presenter Anna Graves and her baby are attacked on the beach by a crazed teenager, Anna reacts instinctively to protect her daughter.
But her life falls apart when the schoolboy dies from his injuries. The police believe Anna’s story, until the autopsy results reveal something more sinister.
A frenzied media attack sends Anna into a spiral of self-doubt. Her precarious mental state is further threatened when she receives a chilling message from someone claiming to be the ‘Ophelia Killer’, responsible for a series of murders twenty years ago.
Is Anna as innocent as she claims? And is murder forgivable, if committed to save your child’s life…?
I have reviewed it below but thanks to Tracy and Avon, here is an extract from chapter seven of the book. Enjoy. (Warning, small amount of bad language.)
The Third One
‘My friends call me Coolio,’ the boy says.
I laugh.
‘Not for the reasons you think though,’ he adds. ‘It’s ’cos I once got my fingers stuck in a freezer door.’
I laugh again. This one’s funny.
‘I like it here,’ the boy says. We’re sitting in his garden, looking out towards the sea through the broken panels of his fence. It’s boiling hot and we’re both trying to huddle under a small tree, the one piece of shade out here. He’s new here, only been living in The Docks for three weeks.
I can’t help but look towards his pond. It shimmers under the bright exhausting sun and I have a flashback to the week before and the pale body that had lain prone in filthy water.
Guilt swirls with excitement. You said that will change, the guilt will eventually fade. I think you’re right, I’m starting to feel braver, fingers tingling with excitement.
by Blog Tour: A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams – Review
Harper, July 2016
The blog tour train has arrived. Hello to Beatriz Williams who’s new novel, A Certain Age was released earlier this month by Harper. Here’s the blurb:
As the freedom of the Jazz Age transforms New York City, the iridescent Mrs. Theresa Marshall of Fifth Avenue – a beautiful socialite of a certain age – has done the unthinkable: she’s fallen in love with her young lover, Captain Octavian Rofrano, a handsome aviator and hero of the Great War. But though times are changing, divorce for a woman of Theresa’s wealth and social standing is out of the question.
When Theresa’s bachelor brother, Ox, decides to tie the knot with the youngest daughter of a newly wealthy inventor, Theresa enlists her lover to present the family’s diamond rose ring to pretty ingénue, Miss Sophie Fortescue – and to check into the background of this little-known family. Yet even as he uncovers a shocking secret, Octavian falls under Sophie’s spell…
Divided loyalties and dangerous revelations lead to a shocking transgression and eventually Theresa must make a choice that will change them all forever.
My verdict on A Certain Age…
It took me a couple of chapters to settle into this book but once I had, I found it to be very compelling to the point where I couldn’t stop reading. This book beautifully captures what I imagine the twenties to have been like and the imagery is so vivid. I felt like I was in New York at the beginning of the 1920’s witnessing the lives of these characters.
The plot is developed well and has a good number of twists and turns. It didn’t turn out quite the way I imagined. There is mystery surrounding this story. You know me, I love a good mystery.
The story is told from the point of view of two women; Theresa (she’s been married to a wealthy husband for a number of years,) and 19 year old Sophie.
by June/July Book Haul
I’ve acquired some fantastic books recently. My TBR pile has never looked so good. I wanted to share some of the titles with you.
Mount by Jilly Cooper (Bantam Press, 8th September 2016. Review copy received.)
Rupert Campbell-Black is back!
I was so excited to receive this book in the post. Riders was such a guilty pleasure of mine and Rupert is the bad boy we all hate to love. He’s of course been in other novels but this is the first time he has taken centre stage for a while.
Mount sees an older Campbell-Black but is he wiser? This new book from Jilly brings together old and new characters and is set in the competitive world of flat racing.
Fans of Jilly Cooper… there is not long to wait.
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge (MacMillan, May 2015)
This book was recently a pick for one of the subscription boxes I subscribe to. The cover is so wonderfully atmospheric and almost gothic. The plot sounds so interesting I just couldn’t resist buying it.
Faith is searching through the belongings of her recently deceased father and discovers a strange tree. The tree only grows healthy fruit if you whisper a lie to it. In return, once the fruit is consumed, it will deliver a hidden truth to the person who has eaten it.
The bigger the lie, the bigger the truth and the more people believe it.
This book sounds so ace and right up my street. I am looking forward so much to reading it.
by Book Review: Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett
In 1960s London, Margaret’s fiancé, John is hospitalised for depression. At this point she has two choices; stay, get married and carry on with life together knowing what she knows, or leave to help prevent any heart ache and suffering, his condition may cause.
She decides to stay and this is where the story starts. The pair go on to have three children; Michael, who copes with life through his music and his use of parody; Alec; the smart son who is a high achiever and is devoted to looking out for his family and Celia, the daughter who lives to help other people succeed.
The story follows the highs and lows of this family from Michael’s struggle to cope in the real world to Margaret’s love and affection for her children and her willingness to do anything to help them, especially her eldest, Michael.
Imagine me gone is a wonderfully-written, at times heart breaking story of a family who are haunted by mental illness and their struggle to survive.
The topic of mental illness and especially depression is a difficult one to cover. For many it is such a sensitive issue and so is not written so much in books until recently. Adam Haslett has succeeded at an impossible task of portraying mental health in a sensitive, sombre way without completely lowering the morale of the whole book.
by Book Club
