Get ready for this years page-to-screen adaptations and polish your next BBQ debate on which was better, the book or the movie? Find out all the gossip here with our full list of affirmed and recent 2021 titles.
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Recently Released
Dune
Released October 2021 – this is one you may have already seen. An epic Sci-Fi movie directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, and Eric Roth.
What is it about?
A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, “Dune” tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence-a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential-only those who can conquer their fear will survive.—Warner Bros.
Prime Video released Liane Moriarty’s book Nine Perfect Strangers in August 2021 with a star line up including Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy.
What is it about?
“Nine Perfect Strangers” follows nine very different people who arrive at Tranquillum House, a mysterious wellness retreat that promises “total transformation”. Once there, the guests fall under the spell of the enigmatic Masha, who will stop at nothing to heal them. As the days unfold, however, Masha’s unorthodox methods threaten to push this combustible group over the edge. – Prime Video
A third Fantastic Beasts film, titled Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is expected to drop in 2022, expanding the Harry Potter universe. Mads Mikkelsen takes over for Johnny Depp in the role of the evil wizard Grindelwald, and Jude Law is back as the famous Albus Dumbledore.
Dakotah Johnston will lead in this new adaptation of the persuasion by Jane Austen. This one has made it to film before and follows protagonist 27 year old Anne Elliott on a love story with heartache.
Amazon have committed to 5 seasons with the TV series expected to be called “The Rings of Power”. Amazon has released some details about the series, including the original storyline coming from the period preceding The Fellowship of the Ring. Also a sneak peek of what to expect Amazon have quoted “we are not remaking the movies, but we’re also not starting from scratch, so it will be characters you love”.
A star studded line up including Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Michelle Yeoh, Laurence Fishburne, Ben Kingsley, and Patti Lupone. This is about two girls, you guessed it, one good and one evil. They find their roles reversed when they attend the School for Good and Evil and are placed in the same class. There are six books in this series and well worth the read before the film is released!
A highly anticipated release with Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People and War of the Worlds) as Kya. The movie is expected to be available on Netflix. Where the Crawdads Sing catapulted to popularity with Reese Witherspoon (Producer) including it in her Book Club selection in September 2018. By July 2020 more than 6 million copies had sold.
What is it about?
For years, rumours of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her. (Goodreads)
Check out the books that we have in the library that have been or are on their way to being a movie in 2020.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
First published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is regarded as Jack London’s masterpiece. Based on London’s experiences as a gold prospector in the Canadian wilderness and his ideas about nature and the struggle for existence, The Call of the Wild is a tale about unbreakable spirit and the fight for survival in the frozen Alaskan Klondike. (goodreads.com)
Emma by Jane Austin
Emma Woodhouse is one of Austen’s most captivating and vivid characters. Beautiful, spoilt, vain and irrepressibly witty, Emma organizes the lives of the inhabitants of her sleepy little village and plays matchmaker with devastating effect. (Goodreads.com)
P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
Lara Jean didnt expect to really fall for Peter. She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they werent. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever. When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jeans feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once? (Goodreads.com)
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
This masterpiece of science fiction is the fascinating story of Griffin, a scientist who creates a serum to render himself invisible, and his descent into madness that follows. (Goodreads.com)
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Hugely admired by Tolstoy, David Copperfield is the novel that draws most closely from Charles Dickens’s own life. Its eponymous hero, orphaned as a boy, grows up to discover love and happiness, heartbreak and sorrow amid a cast of eccentrics, innocents, and villains. Praising Dickens’s power of invention, Somerset Maugham wrote: “There were never such people as the Micawbers, Peggotty and Barkis, Traddles, Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick, Uriah Heep and his mother. They are fantastic inventions of Dickens’s exultant imagination…you can never quite forget them.” (Goodreads.com)
Artemis Fowl by Eion Colfer
Rumour has it ARTEMIS FOWL is responsible for every major crime of the new century.
Just twelve years old and already he’s a criminal genius, plotting to restore his family’s fortune with a spot of corruption and kidnapping.
Kidnapping a fairy for ransom, to be precise.
Artemis Fowl has discovered a world below ground of armed and dangerous — and extremely high-tech — fairies. But he may have underestimated their powers. They will fight back. Is the boy about to trigger a cross-species war? (Goodreads.com)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; “It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together…. ‘No wonder it is still,’ Mary whispered. ‘I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.’” As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin’s sour natures begin to sweeten. (Goodreads.com)
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
THE TURN OF THE SCREW, originally published in 1898, is a gothic ghost story novella written by Henry James.
Due to its original content, the novella became a favorite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive. Many critics have tried to determine the exact nature of the evil hinted at by the story. However, others have argued that the true brilliance of the novella comes with its ability to create an intimate confusion and suspense for the reader. (Goodreads.com)
WARNING: HORROR
The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
The lovable doctor and his devoted animal friends — including the two-headed pushmi-pullyu — head for Africa to combat a serious epidemic plaguing the primate population. (goodreads.com)
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
Release Date: August 6th, 2020
With lonely Ben aboard, brave dragon Firedrake seeks mythical place where silver dragons can live in peace. Over moonlit lands and sparkling seas, they meet fantastic creatures, summon up surprising courage – and cross a ruthless villain with an ancient grudge determined to end their quest. Only a secret destiny can save the dragons and bring them the true meaning of home. (goodreads.com)
The One and Only Ivan by K.A. Applegate
Release Date: August 14th, 2020
Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.
Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he’s seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line. (goodreads.com)
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Release date: 16th October, 2020
A REAL WITCH is easily the most dangerous of all the living creatures on earth.
What’s even more horrifying is that real witches don’t look like witches. They don’t ride around on broomsticks and they don’t even wear black cloaks and hats.
So how can you tell when you meet one? Read this story about the most gruesome gang of witches imaginable and you’ll find out all you need to know. (goodreads.com)
After We Collided by Anna Todd
Tessa has everything to lose. Hardin has nothing to lose except her.
After a tumultuous beginning to their relationship, Tessa and Hardin were on the path to making things work. Tessa knew Hardin could be cruel, but when a bombshell revelation is dropped about the origins of their relationship and Hardins mysterious past Tessa is beside herself. (goodreads.com)
SENIOR FICTION
Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness
Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him — something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn’t she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd’s gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is. (goodreads.com)
Release date: TBA
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Release Date: TBA
A celebration of nonconformity; a tense, emotional tale about the fleeting, cruel nature of popularity–and the thrill and inspiration of first love. Ages 12+
Leo Borlock follows the unspoken rule at Mica Area High School: don’t stand out–under any circumstances! Then Stargirl arrives at Mica High and everything changes–for Leo and for the entire school. After 15 years of homeschooling, Stargirl bursts into tenth grade in an explosion of color and a clatter of ukulele music, enchanting the Mica student body. (goodreads.com)
We have these books in our Libraries which are being released as movies during 2018.
You can read the book and compare it to the movie or visa versa. Is the book always better?
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I’ll call it what the lady who is the prosecutor called me. Monster.
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
When Ruby woke up on her tenth birthday, something about her had changed. Something frightening enough to make her parents lock her in the garage and call the police. Something that got her sent to Thurmond, a brutal government “rehabilitation camp.”
Every Day by David Levithan
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer,
Annie Barrows
Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.
“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.”
Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles #1) by Philip Reeve
“It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.”
The great traction city London has been skulking in the hills to avoid the bigger, faster, hungrier cities loose in the Great Hunting Ground. But now, the sinister plans of Lord Mayor Mangus Crome can finally unfold.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs
Orphaned Lewis Barnavelt comes to live with his Uncle Jonathan and quickly learns that both his uncle and his next-door neighbor are witches on a quest to discover the terrifying clock ticking within the walls of Jonathan’s house. Can the three of them save the world from certain destruction?
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed:
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
by
Maria Semple
A compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.
Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.
Movie trailer to come
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath’s shocking, realistic, and intensely emotional novel about a woman falling into the grip of insanity.
Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. In her acclaimed and enduring masterwork, Sylvia Plath brilliantly draws the reader into Esther’s breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes palpably real, even rational—as accessible an experience as going to the movies.
The Jungle Book
by
Rudyard Kipling
When Father Wolf and Mother Wolf find a man-cub in the jungle, they anger the greedy tiger Shere Khan by refusing to surrender it to his jaws, and rear the child as their own. But when little Mowgli grows up, the pack can no longer defend him. He must learn the secret of fire, and with the help of his friends Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear, he faces his nemesis at last.
In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize.
A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet #1)
by Madeleine L’Engle
Meg Murray and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg’s father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.
The Selection
by Kiera Cass
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.
The Knife of Never Letting Go
by Patrick Ness
Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee — whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not — stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden — a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.
Ophelia
by Lisa M. Klein
He is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; she is simply Ophelia. If you think you know their story, think again.
In this re imagining of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, it is Ophelia who takes center stage. A rowdy, motherless girl, she grows up at Elsinore Castle to become the queen’s most trusted lady-in-waiting. Ambitious for knowledge and witty as well as beautiful, Ophelia learns the ways of power in a court where nothing is as it seems. When she catches the attention of the captivating, dark-haired Prince Hamlet, their love blossoms in secret. But bloody deeds soon turn Denmark into a place of madness, and Ophelia’s happiness is shattered.
The Invisible Man
by H.G. Wells
This masterpiece of science fiction is the fascinating story of Griffin, a scientist who creates a serum to render himself invisible, and his descent into madness that follows.
Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy #1)
by Stephen King
In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging again. Eight people are killed; fifteen are wounded. The killer escapes.
The Dinner
by Herman Koch
An internationally bestselling phenomenon: the darkly suspenseful, highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives — all over the course of one meal.
It’s a summer’s evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the polite scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse — the banality of work, the triviality of the holidays. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.
It
by Stephen King
To the children, the town was their whole world. To the adults, knowing better, Derry, Maine was just their home town: familiar, well-ordered for the most part. A good place to live.
It was the children who saw – and felt – what made Derry so horribly different. In the storm drains, in the sewers, IT lurked, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each one’s deepest dread. Sometimes IT reached up, seizing, tearing, killing . . .
The Death Cure (The Maze Runner #3)
by James Dashner
It’s the end of the line.
WICKED has taken everything from Thomas: his life, his memories, and now his only friends—the Gladers. But it’s finally over. The trials are complete, after one final test.
Will anyone survive?
What WICKED doesn’t know is that Thomas remembers far more than they think. And it’s enough to prove that he can’t believe a word of what they say.
But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting. He’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming…
This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.
It wants the truth. (Goodreads)
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12—”Cupid Day”—should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is…until she dies in a terrible accident that night.
However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined. (Goodreads)
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
Late on a hot summer night in 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan.
Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress. Jasper takes him to his secret glade in the bush, and it’s here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper’s horrible discovery.
With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion as he locks horns with his tempestuous mother; falls nervously in love and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend, Jeffrey Lu. (Goodreads)
Beauty and the Beast (March 23) Beastly by Alex Flinn
I am a beast.
A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright—a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.
You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever—ruined—unless I can break the spell.
Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly. (Goodreads)
The Circle by Dave Eggers (May 4)
When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity.
Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in America–even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. (Goodreads)
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (May 18)
My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.
Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster. (Goodreads)
Diary of a wimpy kid – the long haul by Jeff Kenney
A family road trip is supposed to be a lot of fun . . . unless, of course, you’re the Heffleys.
The journey starts off full of promise, then quickly takes several wrong turns. Gas station bathrooms, crazed seagulls, a fender bender, and a runaway pig—not exactly Greg Heffley’s idea of a good time. But even the worst road trip can turn into an adventure—and this is one the Heffleys won’t soon forget.
The Sense of an Ending – by Julian Barnes
Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life.
Now Tony is retired. He’s had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove.
MOVIES TO COME
The Dark Tower by Stephen King (July 27)
Book I
In The Gunslinger (originally published in 1982), King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake. (Goodreads)
Trailer link:
Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey (September 14)
Two fourth-grade boys who write comic books and love to pull pranks find themselves in big trouble. Mean Mr. Krupp, their principal, videotapes George and Harold setting up their stunts and threatens to expose them. The boys’ luck changes when they send for a 3-D Hypno-Ring and hypnotize Krupp, turning him into Captain Underpants, their own superhero creation. (Goodreads)
Wonder by R.J. Palacio (November 17)
I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.
August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He’s about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you’ve ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie’s just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, despite appearances? (Goodreads)
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (November 23)
Just after midnight, a snowdrift stopped the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train was surprisingly full for the time of the year. But by the morning there was one passenger fewer. A passenger lay dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. (Goodreads)
Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle (November)
A Christmas Eve snowstorm transforms one small town into a romantic haven, the kind you see only in movies. Well, kinda. After all, a cold and wet hike from a stranded train through the middle of nowhere would not normally end with a delicious kiss from a charming stranger. And no one would think that a trip to the Waffle House through four feet of snow would lead to love with an old friend. Or that the way back to true love begins with a painfully early morning shift at Starbucks. (Goodreads)
Young and quirky Louisa “Lou” Clark moves from one job to the next to help her family make ends meet. Her cheerful attitude is put to the test when she becomes a caregiver for Will Traynor, a wealthy young banker left paralysed from an accident two years earlier.
The BFG (book by Roald Dahl) – 30 June, 2016
Based upon the well-loved novel by Roald Dahl, Sophie befriends a big friendly giant (the BFG), as they set out on an adventure to capture the evil, man-eating giants who have been invading the human world.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Book by Ransom Riggs) – 29 September, 2016
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.
A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow – impossible though it seems – they may still be alive. (Goodreads)
A Monster Calls (Book by Patrick Ness) – 20 October, 2016
A young boy, Conor, escapes into a fantasy world of monsters and fairy tales as a way to cope with his mother’s terminal illness and bullies at school. One night, at 12:07am he meets a tree monster, who insists that Connor summoned it, and that it will help Conor by telling him three short stories, and in exchange Connor must tell his own story afterwards. (Wikipedia)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Newt Scamander, Book by J.K. Rowling) – 17 November, 2016
As Albus Dumbledore says, “A copy of Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find them resides in almost every wizarding household in the country. Now Muggles too have the chance to discover where the Quintaped lives, what the Puffskein eats and why it is best not to leave milk out for a Knarl”.
It follows the adventures of Newt Scamander, who when attending a meeting at the Magical Congress of the United States of America, a number of dangerous creatures escape from a magically expanding suitcase. Which sends the American wizarding authorities after Newt, and threatens to strain even further the state of magical and non-magical relations. (Wikipedia)
From Books to Movies (Already Released)
Alice Through the Looking Glass (Book by Lewis Carroll) – 26 May, 2016
Alice Kingsleigh has spent the past few years following in her father’s footsteps and sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London, she comes across a magical looking glass and returns to the fantastical realm of Underland and her friend the White Rabbit, Absolem, the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter, who is not himself. The Hatter has lost his Muchness, so Mirana (the White Queen) sends Alice on a quest to borrow the Chronosphere, a metallic globe inside the chamber of the Grand Clock which powers all time. (Event Cinemas)
The 5th Wave (Book by Rick Yancey)
The human race stands on the brink of extinction as a series of alien attacks decimate the planet, causing earthquakes, tsunamis and disease. Separated from her family, Ohio teenager Cassie Sullivan will do whatever it takes to reunite with her brother Sam. Fate leads her to form an alliance with Evan Walker, a mysterious young man who may be her last hope. Forced to trust each other, Cassie and Evan fight for survival during the fifth assault from the invaders. (Wikipedia)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Book by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith)
In the 19th Century, a mysterious plague turns the English countryside into a war zone. No one is safe as the dead come back to life to terrorise the land. Fate leads Elizabeth Bennet, a master of martial arts and weaponry, to join forces with Mr Darcy, a handsome but arrogant gentleman to save their country against the undead.
Warm Bodies (Book by Isaac Marion)
A terrible plague has left the planet’s population divided between zombies and humans. An unusual zombie named R sees his walking-dead brethren attacking a living woman named Julie and rescues her. Julie sees that R is different from the other zombies, and as their bond grows and R becomes more and more human, a chain of events unfolds that could transform the entire lifeless world. (Wikipedia)
The Jungle Book (Book by Rudyard Kipling)
Based on Rudyard Kipling’s novel, when Mowgli was found as a baby in the jungle he is taken in to be raised by a pack of wolves. On his journey, which he shares with a free-spirited bear named Baloo and a ‘no-nonsense’ panther named Bagheera, he discovers the wonders of the jungle and meets new animal friends, while relentlessly pursued by the fearsome tiger Shere Khan.
Brooklyn (Book by Colm Toibin)
An Irish immigrant discovers a new culture and world when she moves from her home country to Brooklyn, in 1950s New York. Eilis Lacey falls for a tough Italian plumber, but when her past catches up with her, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within them for her.
Mao’s Last Dancer (Book by Li Cunxin)
“In order to fly, you have to be free”.
Based upon the real-life autobiography by Li Cunxin, it tells his story of growing up in rural China and being selected to train as a ballet dancer during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Then later, as he becomes an adult and visits the Houston Ballet in America, and sees the differences between their cultures.
Confessions of a Shopaholic (Book by Sophie Kinsella)
Like many New York City gals, Rebecca Bloomwood loves to shop. The problem is, she shops so much that she is drowning in debt. Rebecca would love to work at the city’s top fashion magazine, but, so far, has not been able to get her foot in the door. Then she lands a job as an advice columnist for a financial magazine owned by the same company. Her column becomes an overnight success, but her secret threatens to ruin her love life and career.
Howl’s Moving Castle (Book by Diana Wynne Jones)
“It’s all so familiar yet I know I’ve never been here before. I feel so at home”.
Sophie, a young hatmaker is cursed by a Wicked Witch, to look like an old woman but is unable to tell anyone about the magic spell placed on her. She seeks refuge in a moving castle, but as she takes up her role as cleaning lady for the infamous wizard Howl and his demon Calcifer she realises the truth of the place she has started to see as home. HOWEVER, WE DO NOT HAVE THE BOOK FOR THIS ONE.
Life of Pi (Book by Yann Martel)
After deciding to sell their zoo in India and move to Canada, Santosh and Gita Patel board a freighter with their sons and a few remaining animals. Tragedy strikes when a terrible storm sinks the ship, leaving the Patels’ teenage son, Pi, as the only human survivor. However, Pi is not alone; a fearsome Bengal tiger has also found refuge aboard the lifeboat. As days turn into weeks and weeks drag into months, Pi and the tiger must learn to trust each other if both are to survive.
The light between oceans (Book by M.L Stedman)
The years-long New York Times bestseller and Goodreads Best Historical Novel that is “irresistible…seductive…with a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page” (O, The Oprah Magazine)—soon to be a major motion picture from Spielberg’s Dreamworks starring Michael Fassbender, Rachel Weisz, and Alicia Vikander, and directed by Derek Cianfrance.
Twelve-year-old Dylan Webber lives in outback Western Australia in a small country town. When he discovers he has a talent for folding and flying paper planes, Dylan begins a journey to reach the World Junior Paper Plane Championships in Japan.
It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) saved the Allies from the Nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decades–all before his suicide at age forty-one. This classic biography of the founder of computer science, reissued on the centenary of his birth with a substantial new preface by the author, is the definitive account of an extraordinary mind and life. A gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution, Andrew Hodges’s acclaimed book captures both the inner and outer drama of Turing’s life.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
The Lovely Bones is the story of a family devastated by a gruesome murder — a murder recounted by the teenage victim. Upsetting, you say? Remarkably, first-time novelist Alice Sebold takes this difficult material and delivers a compelling and accomplished exploration of a fractured family’s need for peace and closure.
Audrey Niffenegger’s dazzling debut is the story of Clare, a beautiful, strong-minded art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: his genetic clock randomly resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future.
1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.
Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.
When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he’s not alone. He’s surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade – a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they came to be there – or what’s happened to the world outside
Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, didn’t expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.
In Ethan Wate’s hometown there lies the darkest of secrets . . .
There is a girl. Slowly, she pulled the hood from her head . . . Green eyes, black hair. Lena Duchannes.
There is a curse. On the Sixteenth Moon, the Sixteenth Year, the Book will take what it’s been promised. And no one can stop it.
In the end, there is a grave.
Lena and Ethan become bound together by a deep, powerful love. But Lena is cursed and on her sixteenth birthday, her fate will be decided. Ethan never even saw it coming.
Jonas’s world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.
New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness.
Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukaemia that has plagued her since childhood.
A prince fights for his crown. Narnia… where animals talk… where trees walk… here a battle is about to begin. A prince denied his rightful throne gathers an army in a desperate attempt to rid his land of a false king. But in the end, it is a battle of honor between two men alone that will decide the fate of an entire world.
THE BEST OF ME is the heart-rending story of two small-town former high school sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks. Now middle-aged, they’ve taken wildly divergent paths, but neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever altered their world.
Introduction and Notes by Keith Wren. University of Kent at Canterbury The Man in the Iron Mask is the final episode in the cycle of novels featuring Dumas celebrated foursome of D Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, who first appeared in The Three Musketeers. Some thirty-five years on, the bonds of comradeship are under strain as they end up on different sides in a power struggle that may undermine the young Louis XIV and change the face of the French monarchy.
Now in bite-size mantras, the abridged empathetic wit and wisdom of the number one New York Times bestseller He’s Just Not That Into You will recharge and inspire your dating outlook one wake-up call at a time.
A chilling psychological thriller portraying the disintegration of a relationship down to the deadliest point when murdering your husband suddenly makes perfect sense.
Todd Gilbert and Jodie Brett are in a bad place in their relationship. They’ve been together for twenty-eight years, and with no children to worry about there has been little to disrupt their affluent Chicago lifestyle.
Soul Surfer – A True Story Of Faith, Family, And Fighting To Get Back On The BoardbyBethany Hamilton
They say Bethany Hamilton has saltwater in her veins. How else could one explain the tremendous passion that drives her to surf? How else could one explain that nothing — not even the loss of her arm in a horrific shark attack — could come between her and the waves?
Me Before You (Book by Jojo Moyes) – 16 June, 2016
Young and quirky Louisa “Lou” Clark moves from one job to the next to help her family make ends meet. Her cheerful attitude is put to the test when she becomes a caregiver for Will Traynor, a wealthy young banker left paralysed from an accident two years earlier.