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.
FICTION
Released: Feb. 1, 1961
"Though extension is possible, make no mistake about it; this is a ward and not a microcosm."
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: 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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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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