We’re not a crew of stuffed shirts at Kirkus; you’ll never hear us argue that you should always read the book instead of seeing the film version. Some movies, in fact, are hands-down more memorable than the book they were adapted from. But some movies that are adapted from books are so successful as movies and linger so vividly in the public imagination that it’s easy to forget they began life as a vibrant, beloved book. Here’s our list of Oscar-winning or –nominated movies based on books you'll love reading.
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 1, 2005
"Illuminating and well-written, as are all of Goodwin's presidential studies; a welcome addition to Lincolniana."
Well-practiced historian Goodwin, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in history for
No Ordinary Time (1994), examines Abraham Lincoln as a practical politician, focusing on his conversion of rivals to allies.
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FICTION
Released: July 25, 2005
"Magnificent writing, nonetheless, makes the best case yet for putting McCarthy on a pedestal just below the one occupied by William Faulkner. "
Almost as frustrating as it is commanding, McCarthy's ninth (and first since the completion of his Border Trilogy:
Cities of the Plain, 1998, etc.) is a formidable display of stunningly written scenes that don't quite cohere into a fully satisfying narrative.
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FICTION
Released: Sept. 1, 1996
"A sly, sharp portrait of an amoral but appealing figure, and of the declining world of privilege that has shaped him."
An elegant, precise, droll novel about a lawyer's startling transformation, by the author of Wartime Lies (1991) and The Man Who Was Late (1993).
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FICTION
Released: June 28, 1982
"A lovely, painful book: Walker's finest work yet."
Walker (In Love and Trouble, Meridian) has set herself the task of an epistolary novel—and she scores strongly with it.
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FICTION
Released: March 10, 1969
"A Mafia Whiteoaks, bound for popularity, once you get past the author's barely concealed admiration for the "ethics" and postulates of primitive power plays."
Ten years in the workaday progress of a New York Mafia sort of family dynasty tale with all the attendant flurries of great houses at war.
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FICTION
Released: Feb. 1, 1961
"Though extension is possible, make no mistake about it; this is a ward and not a microcosm."
