If it weren’t for books, movie theaters would be a whole lot less interesting. The most talked-about movies are usually based on books—and every year, adaptations promise more of the same delights for readers and filmgoers. Make sure you’re part of the conversation: a brief read before the book hit the screen.
In a brilliant stroke of screenwriting, the Goosebumps movie
pulls legendary kids’ and teen horror author R.L. Stine (Jack Black)
into the fray, in a story that reimagines (OR DOES IT) Stine as menaced
by his scary creations, whom he manages to keep locked up in their
books. When the monsters are released, it’s up to two plucky kids to
save the day.--Goosebumps, by R.L. Stine
Four best-selling Classic Goosebumps with bonus materials in eBook
format! A collection of four best-selling Classic Goosebumps books
including Night of the Living Dummy, Deep Trouble, Monster Blood, and
The Haunted Mask. Compiled together for the first time in an eBook
format! Release date: August 7
Movie Goosebumps; An upcoming 2015 American 3D live-action/computer-animated
supernatural horror comedy film directed by Rob Letterman and written by
Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, and Darren Lemke. It is based on
the children's book series of the same name by R. L. Stine and stars
Jack Black as Stine. The film is scheduled to be released on October 16,
2015, by Columbia Pictures.
After moving into a small town, a
teenage boy named Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) meets Hannah (Odeya
Rush), his new neighbor. Hannah's father R. L. Stine (Jack Black), who
writes the Goosebumps stories, keeps all the ghosts and monsters in the
series locked up in his manuscripts. Zach unintentionally releases the
ghouls and the monsters from the manuscripts. Now Zach, Hannah, and
Stine team up in order to put the monsters back where they came from,
before it's too late.
In the new trailer for Goosebumps,
every single one of Stine’s creations manages to crawl their way out of
the books and take over the town of Greendale, Maryland, but since
around 200 Goosebumps books have been published it’s going to
be a challenge to fit them all on screen. Iconic characters like Slappy
the Dummy and the Abominable Snowman play significant roles, but this
movie also promises to be a treasure trove of references and Easter
eggs.
The movie, rather than turning one of the series books into a film, instead has Black portray Stine, the author of the scary children-books, and creates a new story that incorporates many of the author's creations coming to life to wreak havoc. In the movie the original manuscripts of Stine's books have monsters and scary creature trapped inside them. If the manuscripts are opened then monsters are unleashed. Spoiler alert: manuscripts are opened.
R.L. Stine says he has a great job: "My job is to give kids the CREEPS!"
The World of R.L. Stine, his books are read all over the world. So far, he has sold over 350 million books, making him one of the best-selling children's authors in history. An American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.
He was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1943. No one in his family ever called him R.L. Everyone calls him Bob.―Who 'love getting snail mail'.
Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt has become an entrancing Cannes premiere directed by Todd Haynes, beautifully made and outstandingly intelligent– It is a creamily sensuous, richly observed piece of work, handsomely detailed and furnished: the clothes, the hair, the automobiles, the train carriages, the record players, the lipstick and the cigarettes are all superbly presented. The combination of all this is intoxicating in itself. CAROL– First Look Review by Peter Bradshaw
Todd Haynes’s Carol is an amour fou which plays out with sanity and generosity: it is a superbly realised companion piece to his 50s Sirkian drama Far From Heaven and an overt homage to Lean’s Brief Encounter.
The film is based on Patricia Highsmith’s1952 novel The Price of Salt, about the love affair between a virginal shopgirl and the beautiful older married woman that she serves in the pre-Christmas rush in a Manhattan department-store: they are played here by Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett. Just occasionally, along with the classic echoes, Carol has the obsessive frisson of Nic Roeg’s Bad Timing and – with the flourishing of a revolver – Haynes conjures a fraught kind of Nabokovian despair and futile melodrama.A chance encounter between two lonely women leads to a passionate romance in this lesbian cult classic. Therese, a struggling young sales clerk, and Carol, a homemaker in the midst of a bitter divorce, abandon their oppressive daily routines for the freedom of the open road, where their love can blossom. But their newly discovered bliss is shattered when Carol is forced to choose between her child and her lover.
Official Website: Watch SHOWTIME® TV shows Dexter, Weeds and much more online. Watch hit movies, sports, comedy, reality & documentaries. Free with your SHOWTIME subscription.
AuthorPatricia Highsmith is best known for her psychological thrillers Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Originally published in 1952 under a pseudonym, The Price of Salt was heralded as "the novel of a love society forbids." Highsmith's sensitive treatment of fully realized characters who defy stereotypes about homosexuality marks a departure from previous lesbian pulp fiction. Erotic, eloquent, and suspenseful, this story offers an honest look at the necessity of being true to one's nature. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
“Their eyes met at the same instant moment, Therese glancing up from a box she was opening, and the woman just turning her head so she looked directly at Therese. She was tall and fair, her long figure graceful in the loose fur coat that she held open with a hand on her waist, her eyes were grey, colorless, yet dominant as light or fire, and, caught by them, Therese could not look away. She heard the customer in front of her repeat a question, and Therese stood there, mute. The woman was looking at Therese, too, with a preoccupied expression, as if half her mind were on whatever is was she meant to buy here, and though there were a number of salesgirls between them, There felt sure the woman would come to her, Then, Then Therese saw her walk slowly towards the counter, heard her heart stumble to catch up with the moment it had let pass, and felt her face grow hot as the woman came nearer and nearer.― She tried to keep her voice steady, but it was pretense, like pretending self-control when something you loved was dead in front of your eyes. They would have to separate here.”
― CAROL .
“If people have bought something of mine, they know by now that I will decline writing it for the movies.”―Patricia Highsmith
Based on the literary classic by Thomas Hardy, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD is the story of independent, beautiful and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan), who attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), a sheep farmer, captivated by her fetching willfulness; Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge), a handsome and reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood (Michael Sheen), a prosperous and mature bachelor. This timeless story of Bathsheba’s choices and passions explores the nature of relationships and love – as well as the human ability to overcome hardships through resilience and perseverance. Meet visionary director Thomas Vinterberg in this featurette from the set of his new romantic period drama, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD!
The first of Thomas Hardy’s great novels, Far From the Madding Crowd
established the author as one of Britain’s foremost writers. It also
introduced readers to Wessex, an imaginary county in southwestern
England that served as the pastoral setting for many of the author’s
later works. Hardy described his new novel to Leslie Stephen as “a pastoral tale,”
and the very title of the novel announced its rural pedigree. The author
derived his title from the nineteenth stanza of Thomas Gray’s
well-known “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” (1751), a pastoral
meditation on the undistinguished but not undignified lives of rural
dwellers:
Far from the madding [that is, frenzied] crowd’s ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;
Along the cool sequester’d vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
Hardy’s novel hardly presents characters whose “sober wishes never learned to stray”;
indeed, misdirected and thwarted desires are the very stuff of the
novel’s drama. But he nevertheless gives his rural characters the kind
of dignity and humanity that Gray commemorates in his pastoral elegy and
that Hardy was bestowing on a new fictional domain based on his native
Dorset.
The borrowed lines from Gray’s poem may be said to act as a
generic marker for Far from the Madding Crowd in that many of the
basic elements of plot, characterization, setting, and imagery in
Hardy’s novel can be directly linked to the traditions of the literary
pastoral. In Far from the Madding Crowd, as in the pastoral
tradition generally, humanity lives largely in harmony with nature, and
the year is marked by the natural rhythms of the seasons and the labors
of agricultural life. In order fully to appreciate the novel as a
manifestation of pastoral, it is necessary briefly to review the long
literary tradition to which it belonged.
The pastoral tradition in European literature began with the Idylls
of the third-century B.C. Greek writer Theocritus, whose poems often
focused on the simple lives and loves of shepherds and goatherds,
nostalgically recalled from the writer’s native Sicily. The rural
subjects of Theocritus’ verse included musical and poetic contests,
mythological narratives, seasonal celebrations, and elegiac laments. The
tradition of classical pastoral poetry was further elaborated by the
first-century B.C. Roman writer Virgil in his ten Eclogues, based on Theocritan models, as well as the Georgics,
a four-part didactic poem on the required labors of the agricultural
year regarding crops, trees, vines, livestock, and bees. Following
Virgil, an implicit assumption of pastoral poetry was that rural life
was morally superior to urban civilization. Pastoral literature was
revived in the English Renaissance in the work of three of the era’s
leading writers:
Edmund Spenser’s Shepheardes Calendar (1579), a medley of twelve poems based on Virgil’s Eclogues
and featuring song contests, elegies, laments of scorned lovers and
frustrated poets, and criticisms of corruption in the
late-sixteenth-century English church and state; Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia
(1590), a long prose narrative, set in an imaginary Greek provincial
realm, combining chivalric romance with traditional pastoral interludes,
and structured around the principle of rustic retreat from the outside
world; and William Shakespeare’s As You Like It (c.1600), a
romantic comedy representing the sentimental benefits— and ironic
deficiencies— of withdrawal to a sylvan retreat, the imaginary Forest of
Arden, from the perilous environs of the court. Pastoral poetry
continued to be written through the eighteenth century by Alexander Pope
and others, but at the risk of becoming artificially restricted to the
classically defined rules of the era. Although anticipated in some of
the poetry of Gray, Oliver Goldsmith, and George Crabbe, it was only
with William Wordsworth’s re-creation of the pastoral using realistic
rural characters and simplified diction that the tradition was renewed
and made available to Hardy’s influential precursor George Eliot in her
novels Adam Bede (1859) and Silas Marner (1861), and then to Hardy himself, beginning with his second novel, Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), the title of which was based on a line from a song in As You Like It.
In essence, literary pastoral
presents an idealized portrait of rural life, in the process offering a
systematic preference for country over city life, simplicity over
complexity, nature over artifice, and tradition over innovation.
Explicitly named after the shepherds who formed its first subject
matter, pastoral poetry often traced the romantic aspirations and
disappointments of simple herders of sheep and goats, whose outdoor work
allowed time for music, especially on the panpipes or flute, song
contests, and debate on various sentimental, agricultural, political,
and folkloric topics. The English pastoral novel of the nineteenth
century blended some of the idealized themes and motifs of classical and
Renaissance pastoral tradition with the more realistic contemporary
conditions of the English rural community and natural landscape.
In writing Far from the Madding Crowd,
Hardy combined many of the basic themes and motifs of classical
pastoral tradition, but synthesized them with a realistic portrayal of
contemporary rural English life. The novel’s grounding in pastoral
tradition appears in the various farm laborers who perform a choral role
in the narrative and exemplify the symbiotic existence of nature and
humanity in the novel. It is also evident in the novel’s major
characters: the faithful shepherd Gabriel Oak; his “mistress,” the
beautiful but capricious farm owner Bathsheba Everdene; her love-sick
older admirer, the gentleman farmer William Boldwood; and her selfish,
predatory husband, Sergeant Troy, a disruptive antipastoral figure in
the novel. In keeping with the seasonal structure underlying some
examples of the literary pastoral, the action of the novel mirrors the
seasons, as seen, for example, in Oak’s loss of his sheep in the winter,
Boldwood’s preliminary courtship in the spring, Bathsheba’s involvement
with Troy in the summer, and Fanny Robin’s death in the fall. Also
indicative of the pastoral tradition in the novel are the descriptions
of the phases of the agricultural year, including lambing,
sheepshearing, hay-cutting, beekeeping, and harvesting, as well as of
the rural institutions of market and fair.― Jonathan A. Cook’s Introduction to Far From the Madding Crowd.
This timeless story of Bathsheba’s choices and passions explores the nature of relationships and love – as well as the human ability to overcome hardships through resilience and perseverance. FoxSearchlight Presents: ―
“It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.”
―
Thomas Hardy,
Far from the Madding Crowd Quotes
Last summer, the adaptation of John Green’s tearjerkerThe Fault in Our Stars became a historic hit. This July, a second John Green book will make the jump to the big screen. Paper Towns
is a love story, a road trip movie, and a cautionary tale. Like all of
Green’s books, it’s the perfect blend of funny and sad, specific and
universal, with characters that are relatable, articulate, and weird in
all the right ways. After obsessing over the killer trailer, we’re more
excited than ever to see this adaptation on July 24. Before you join
us, read up on the John Green canon.— Posted by Melissa Albert
Adapted from the bestselling novel by author John Green, PAPER TOWNS is a coming-of-age story centering on Quentin and his enigmatic neighbor Margo, who loved mysteries so much she became one. After taking him on an all-night adventure through their hometown, Margo suddenly disappears--leaving behind cryptic clues for Quentin to decipher. The search leads Quentin and his quick-witted friends on an exhilarating adventure that is equal parts hilarious and moving. Ultimately, to track down Margo, Quentin must find a deeper understanding of true friendship--and true love. 20th Century FOX: Paper Towns — In Theaters - July 24, 2015!
Paper Towns debuted at #5 on the New York Times bestseller list
and won the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery. It is taught
in many high school and college curricular, often in conjunction with
Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, which is an important text within the novel.
“A suspenseful mystery, a compelling central metaphor, and one of those
road trips that every senior hopes he or she will have round out this
exploration of the kind of relationship that can’t help but teach us a
little bit about ourselves.”
-Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books, starred review.
“A powerfully great read.” -VOYA
“If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all.” — Paper Towns hits theaters July 24, 2015. Watch the magic and chemistry unfold.
Challenging the adage that the truth will set you free,Younger is a hilarious and insightful story that proves that you're only as young as you feel.
Alice has always looked young for her age, even with her graying hair and her dowdy New Jersey housewife style. Make that ex-housewife:
Now that her husband's gone and her daughter is grown, Alice is in
desperate need of a whole new life. So she lets her best friend Maggie, a
hip New York City artist, transform her on New Year's Eve. Soon, thanks
to the wonders of hair dye and tight jeans, Alice looks really young, as one night in a Manhattan bar confirms. At midnight, she kisses a boy who was in diapers when she was in high school.
She’s having too much fun to care.
The white lie Alice tells Josh
gets her thinking that if no one asks her age, she doesn’t have to tell.
So she applies for a job she had briefly before becoming a full-time
mom—and gets it. Meanwhile, Josh is falling head over heels for Alice,
who’s just way cooler than girls his age. He figures she’s about
twenty-nine—and for the first time since she was twenty-nine, or
possibly ever, Alice feels that life is ripe with possibility.
Unfortunately one possibility is that she’s gonna get caught.
PAMELA REDMOND is, as Pamela Redmond Satran, the author
of five othernovels published by Simon & Schuster and the creator
of the online fictional world Ho Springs.
Her books have been published around the world and optioned for film
and television by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and ABC.
Read more about Pamela Redmond Satran’s other work at her general website.
“Younger” follows 40-year old Liza (Sutton Foster), a suddenly single
mother who tries to get back into the working world, only to find it’s
nearly impossible to start at the bottom at her age. When a chance
encounter with the sexy Josh (Nico Tortorella), a young tattoo artist,
convinces her she looks younger than she is, Liza tries to pass herself
off as 26 – with the help of a makeover, courtesy of her best friend
Maggie (Debi Mazar). Armed with new confidence, she lands a job as an
assistant to the temperamental Diana (Miriam Shor) and teams up with her
new co-worker and 20-something Kelsey (Hilary Duff) to make it in the
career of her dreams. Now she just has to make sure no one discovers her
secret. Take a peek at this season of Younger! New episodes are on every Tuesday night at 10/9c. on TV Land.
“Every woman should have a youth she's content to leave behind and a
past juicy enough that she's looking forward to telling it in her old
age” ―
Pamela Redmond Satran
Things go from bad to worse for Tris and Four in the second volume of Veronica Roth’s dystopian Divergent trilogy ,and the film version looks to be upping the stakes as well. If the teaser trailer is any indication, expect action sequences that are even bigger and better than those in the original.
#1 New York Times
bestselling author Veronica Roth's second book in the dystopian
Divergent series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich
with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about
human nature. As war and unrest surge in the factions all around her,
Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and
herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and
forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love. Exclusive Edition.
This enhanced deluxe collector's edition of the #1 New York Times bestselling dystopian sensation is perfect for new fans and collectors alike. It includes:
An exclusive, never-before-seen video interview with Veronica Roth
The official Insurgent book trailer
"Free Four": This pivotal thirteen-page scene from Divergent,
retold from Tobias's point of view, reveals unknown facts and
fascinating details about Four's character, his past, his own
initiation, and his thoughts about new Dauntless initiate Tris Prior.
A gallery of favorite quotations from Insurgent
An interactive "Choose Your Faction" quiz
Faction manifestos
A Dark Days of Summer book tour video interview with Veronica Roth
More than fifty additional pages
of bonus content, including an extensive Q&A with Veronica Roth,
author playlists for the series, discussion questions, faction party
tips and recipes, and much more!
THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT raises the stakes for Tris as she
searches for allies and answers in the ruins of a futuristic Chicago.
Tris (Woodley) and Four (James) are now fugitives on the run, hunted by
Jeanine (Winslet), the leader of the power-hungry Erudite elite. Racing
against time, they must find out what Tris’s family sacrificed their
lives to protect, and why the Erudite leaders will do anything to stop
them. Haunted by her past choices but desperate to protect the ones she
loves, Tris, with Four at her side, faces one impossible challenge after
another as they unlock the truth about the past and ultimately the
future of their world.
One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you.
But every choice has
consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris
Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while
grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and
loyalty, politics and love.
Veronica Roth discusses the features of the Divergent Collector’s
Edition including the evolution of Caleb, how she went from narrating as
Tobias to narrating as Tris, and the way that fans have influenced, and
now contributed, to the series with 8 pages of fan illustrated quotes
from four divergent fans.
INSURGENT, an intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich
with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about
human nature.
Following the tragic and sudden
death of Whitney Houston, author James Robert Parish's updated
biography takes a look at the amazing career of the superstar and her
tumultuous life.
Whitney Houston burst onto the international music scene in 1985 with
her début album, winning a Grammy Award for the single "Saving All My
Love For You." After that, the acclaimed artist released only a limited
amount of new material, yet her preeminence in the industry and her
enormous popularity with music fans was unwavering.
This comprehensive
biography reflects on the extraordinary journey which took the
controversial personality from a problematic childhood in a broken New
Jersey home, to becoming the talented protégée of powerful Arista
producer Clive Davis, to the height of her diva days mired with peculiar
behavior and drug abuse.
Parish explains how the shy, pretty young girl
from a devoutly religious background turned into the subject of lurid
tabloid gossip, much of it concerning her turbulent relationship with
Bobby Brown, and pays tribute to her incredible talent and legacy.
Fans worldwide identified with the artistry of Whitney Houston and
mourned her death, but none of them can claim the access or intimacy
shared by "Cissy" Houston. Until now, the singer's mother has not
written or spoken about the full story of her daughter's life, rise to
fame, drug abuse, and tragic demise. Thus, her Remembering Whitney
becomes both an Emmy winning-performer's heartfelt memoir about a
beloved, world-famous daughter and a unique eyewitness view of an icon
in rapid decline.
Cissy has said little publicly about Whitney’s heart-breaking death.
Now, for the first time, she opens up and shares the unbelievable story
of her daughter’s life, as well as her own, and addresses Whitney’s
brightest and darkest moments.
The definitive account of Whitney Houston’s astonishing life,
ground-breaking career, and tragic death — complete with
never-before-seen photographs — from the only one who truly knows the
story behind the headlines: her mother, Cissy Houston.
The Night the Music Stopped, the world lost one of the most beautiful
voices, an extraordinarily beautiful and charitable woman. A mother's
story of tears, joy, and her greatest love of all, Whitney.
Bereaved after the death of her mother and recovering from a bad
relationship and a flirtation with heroin, Cheryl Strayed set out to
walk the entire length of the Pacific Coast Trail. Years later, she
wrote a memoir about her journey: Wild,
which turned into an unlikely bestseller. Now the little book that blew
up is about to become the film of the season, as Reese Witherspoon
steps into Strayed’s hiking boots for Wild‘s
cinematic adaptation. If the trailer’s any indication, it looks to be a
faithful take on Strayed’s struggle to claw her way up from her own
personal rock-bottom. Strayed’s book is the memoir to read this season.
The official movie tie-in edition to the major motion picture, starring Reese Witherspoon and based on this sensational #1 New York Times Bestseller.
At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed
thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her
family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years
later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision
of her life.
With no experience or training, driven only by blind will,
she would hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through
California and Oregon to Washington State—and she would do it alone.
Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild
captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead
against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and
ultimately healed her.
Critics Consensus:
Powerfully moving and emotionally resonant, Wild
finds director Jean-Marc Vallée and star Reese Witherspoon working at
the peak of their respective powers. RT
Looking for Wild (2014) info? Find movie times, trailers, reviews, tickets, cast photos and more on Fandango.
Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead. A National Bestseller.-- Wild.
“The best thing you can possibly do with your life is to tackle the motherfucking shit out of it.”
―
Cheryl Strayed >
Quotes
Founded in 2010 by filmmaker Ava DuVernay, ARRAY is a grassroots distribution, arts and advocacy collective focused on films by people of color and women.
