Cinematic works and the books that inspired them.
On a day when everything goes wrong for him, Alexander is consoled by the thought that other people have bad days too.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by
The perennially popular tale of Alexander’s worst day is a storybook that belongs on every child’s bookshelf. Alexander knew it was going to be a terrible day when he woke up with gum in this hair. And it got worse... His best friend deserted him. There was no dessert in his lunch bag. And, on top of all that, there were lima beans for dinner and kissing on TV! This handsome new edition of Judith Viorst's classic picture book is sure to charm readers of all ages.
Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day
It follows the exploits of eleven-year-old Alexander as he experiences the most terrible and horrible day of his young life, a day that begins with gum stuck in his hair, followed by one calamity after another. But when Alexander tells his upbeat family about the misadventures of his disastrous day, he finds little sympathy and begins to wonder if bad things only happen to him.
Young warrior Keiji Kiriya is sent out on the battlefield to fight alien invaders, only to find himself in a cycle of dying and being reborn to fight again, until he meets a mysterious girl known as Full Metal Bitch, who may provide a way out. The film Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow is based on a screenplay adapted from this book.
All You Need is Kill (manga), Vol. 1 by
When the alien Mimics invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor called a Jacket and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to be reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On his fifth iteration, he gets a message from a mysterious ally—the female soldier known as the Full Metal Bitch. Is she the key to Keiji's escape or his final death?
Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow
In a near future, an alien race has hit the Earth in an unbeatable assault. Major William Cage has never seen a day of combat, but is dropped into a suicide mission and killed within minutes. Cage now finds himself thrown into a time loop-forcing him to live out the same day over and over, fighting and dying each time. With each "life", Cage learns more fighting skills, so that when he and warrior Rita Vrataski take the fight to the aliens, they are one step closer to defeating the enemy.
The story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, right after the publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite jest.' The film The End of the Tour is based on this novel.
Although of Course You End up Becoming Yourself by
SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, STARRING JASON SEGAL AND JESSE EISENBERG, DIRECTED BY JAMES PONSOLDT An indelible portrait of David Foster Wallace, by turns funny and inspiring, based on a five-day trip with award-winning writer David Lipsky during Wallace's Infinite Jest tour In David Lipsky's view, David Foster Wallace was the best young writer in America. Wallace's pieces for Harper's magazine in the '90s were, according to Lipsky, "like hearing for the first time the brain voice of everybody I knew: Here was how we all talked, experienced, thought. It was like smelling the damp in the air, seeing the first flash from a storm a mile away. You knew something gigantic was coming." Then Rolling Stone sent Lipsky to join Wallace on the last leg of his book tour for Infinite Jest, the novel that made him internationally famous. They lose to each other at chess. They get iced-in at an airport. They dash to Chicago to catch a make-up flight. They endure a terrible reader's escort in Minneapolis. Wallace does a reading, a signing, an NPR appearance. Wallace gives in and imbibes titanic amounts of hotel television (what he calls an "orgy of spectation"). They fly back to Illinois, drive home, walk Wallace's dogs. Amid these everyday events, Wallace tells Lipsky remarkable things--everything he can about his life, how he feels, what he thinks, what terrifies and fascinates and confounds him--in the writing voice Lipsky had come to love. Lipsky took notes, stopped envying him, and came to feel about him--that grateful, awake feeling--the same way he felt about Infinite Jest. Then Lipsky heads to the airport, and Wallace goes to a dance at a Baptist church. A biography in five days, Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself is David Foster Wallace as few experienced this great American writer. Told in his own words, here is Wallace's own story, and his astonishing, humane, alert way of looking at the world; here are stories of being a young writer--of being young generally--trying to knit together your ideas of who you should be and who other people expect you to be, and of being young in March of 1996. And of what it was like to be with and--as he tells it--what it was like to become David Foster Wallace. "If you can think of times in your life that you've treated people with extraordinary decency and love, and pure uninterested concern, just because they were valuable as human beings. The ability to do that with ourselves. To treat ourselves the way we would treat a really good, precious friend. Or a tiny child of ours that we absolutely loved more than life itself. And I think it's probably possible to achieve that. I think part of the job we're here for is to learn how to do it. I know that sounds a little pious." --David Foster Wallace
The End of the Tour
Jesse Eisenberg, Jason Segel, Anna Chlumsky, Mamie Gummer, Joan Cusack, Ron Livingston, Mickey Sumner.
Without her husband's knowledge, Christine, whose memory is damaged by a long-ago accident, is treated by a neurologist who helps her to remember her former self through journal entries until inconsistencies begin to emerge, raising disturbing questions.
Before I Go to Sleep by
"Thebest debut novel I've ever read."--Tess Gerritsen,bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series "Anexceptional thriller. It left my nerves jangling for hours after I finished thelast page." --Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author of Moonlight Mile S. J. Watson makes his powerful debutwith this compelling, fast-paced psychological thriller,reminiscent of Shutter Island and Memento, in which an amnesiac who,following a mysterious accident, cannot remember her past or form newmemories, desperately tries to uncover the truth about who she is--and whoshe can trust.
Before I Go to Sleep
Director, Rowan Joffe.
Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong.
English audio; French, Spanish subtitles.
Closed-captioned; English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
This is the story of two small-town former high school sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks. Now middle-aged, they have 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. When they are both called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter, they will be forced to confront the choices each has made, and ask whether love can truly rewrite the past.
The Best of Me by
"Everyone wanted to believe that endless love was possible. She'd believed in it once, too, back when she was eighteen." In the spring of 1984, high school students Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole fell deeply, irrevocably in love. Though they were from opposite sides of the tracks, their love for one another seemed to defy the realities of life in the small town of Oriental, North Carolina. But as the summer of their senior year came to a close, unforeseen events would tear the young couple apart, setting them on radically divergent paths. Now, twenty-five years later, Amanda and Dawson are summoned back to Oriental for the funeral of Tuck Hostetler, the mentor who once gave shelter to their high school romance. Neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever changed their lives. As Amanda and Dawson carry out the instructions Tuck left behind for them, they realize that everything they thought they knew -- about Tuck, about themselves, and about the dreams they held dear -- was not as it seemed. Forced to confront painful memories, the two former lovers will discover undeniable truths about the choices they have made. And in the course of a single, searing weekend, they will ask of the living, and the dead: Can love truly rewrite the past?
The Best of Me
The story of Dawson and Amanda, two former high school sweethearts who find themselves reunited after twenty years apart, when they return to their small town for the funeral of a beloved friend. Their bittersweet reunion reignites the love they've never forgotten, but soon they discover the forces that drove them apart twenty years ago live on, posing even more serious threats today.
A gripping, heart-wrenching true story that shocked the nation. May 5, 1993. West Memphis, Arkansas. Three young boys playing in the nearby woods never come home for dinner. In the rush to find and convict the killers, police focus on a trio of teenagers suspected of devil worship. It is only when an investigator reveals that the evidence doesn't all add up that the community is forced to face the reality that the true killer might still be out there.
Devil's Knot by
*SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING REESE WITHERSPOON AND COLIN FIRTH * The West Memphis Three. Accused, convicted…and set free. Do you know their story? In 2011, one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American legal history was set right when Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were released after eighteen years in prison. Award-winning journalist Mara Leveritt’s The Devil’s Knot remains the most comprehensive, insightful reporting ever done on the investigation, trials, and convictions of three teenage boys who became known as the West Memphis Three. For weeks in 1993, after the murders of three eight-year-old boys, police in West Memphis, Arkansas seemed stymied. Then suddenly, detectives charged three teenagers—alleged members of a satanic cult—with the killings. Despite the witch-hunt atmosphere of the trials, and a case which included stunning investigative blunders, a confession riddled with errors, and an absence of physical evidence linking any of the accused to the crime, the teenagers were convicted. Jurors sentenced Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley to life in prison and Damien Echols, the accused ringleader, to death. The guilty verdicts were popular in their home state—even upheld on appeal—and all three remained in prison until their unprecedented release in August 2011. With close-up views of its key participants, this award-winning account unravels the many tangled knots of this endlessly shocking case, one which will shape the American legal landscape for years to come.
Devil's Knot
Originally released as a motion picture in 2013.
Director, Atom Egoyan.
Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Stephen Moyer, Amy Ryan.
Like most teenage girls, Minnie Goetze is longing for love, acceptance and a sense of purpose in the world. Minnie begins a complex love affair with her mother's boyfriend, the handsomest man in the world, Monroe Rutherford. What follows is a sharp, funny and provocative account of one girl's sexual and artistic awakening, without judgment.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl by
"I don't remember being born. I was a very ugly child. My appearance has not improved so I guess it was a lucky break when he was attracted by my youthfulness." So begins the wrenching diary of Minnie Goetze, a fifteen-year-old girl longing for love and acceptance and struggling with her own precocious sexuality. Minnie hates school and she wants to be an artist, or maybe a speleologist, or a bartender. She sleeps with her mother's boyfriend, and yet is too shy to talk with boys at school. She forges her way through adolescence, unsupervised and unguided, defenseless, and yet fearless. The story unfolds in the libertine atmosphere of the 1970s San Francisco, but the significance of Minnie's effort to understand herself and her world is universal. This is the story of an adolescent troubled by the discontinuity between what she thinks and feels and what she observes in those around her. The Diary of a Teenage Girl offers a searing comment on adult society as seen though the eyes of a young woman on the verge of joining it. In this unusual novel, artist and writer Phoebe Gloeckner presents a pivotal year in a girl's life, recounted in diary pages and illustrations, with full narrative sequences in comics form.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Director of photography, Brandon Trost ; editors, Marie-Hélène Dozo, Koen Timmerman ; original score, Nate Heller.
Performers:
Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård, Christopher Meloni, Kristen Wiig.
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper starts sleeping with Wesley Rush, a notorious womanizer who disgusts her, in order to distract her from her personal problems, and to her surprise, the two of them find they have a lot in common and are able to help each other find more productive ways to deal with their difficulties.
The DUFF by
The New York Times bestseller is now a major motion picture! Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper may not be the prettiest girl in her high school, but she has a loyal group of friends, a biting wit, and a spot-on BS detector. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush, who calls Bianca the Duff--the designated ugly fat friend--of her crew. But things aren't so great at home and Bianca, desperate for a distraction, ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him. Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.
The Duff
Bianca is a content high school senior whose world is shattered when she learns the student body refers to her as ₁Designated Ugly Fat Friend₂ to her prettier, more popular friends. With her universe turned upside down, she ignores words of wisdom from her favorite teacher and enlists Wesley, a slick but charming jock, to help set her apart from the pack and erase her label forever. In doing so, she hopes to land her crush Toby, and to overthrow the school₂s ruthless label maker Madison.
Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life.
The Fault in Our Stars by
Now a Major Motion Picture TODAY Book Club pick TIME magazine's #1 Fiction Book of 2012 "The greatest romance story of this decade." --Entertainment Weekly -Millions of copies sold- #1 New York Times Bestseller #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller #1 USA Today Bestseller #1 International Bestseller #1 Indie Bestseller Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten. Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.
The Fault In Our Stars
Hazel and Gus are two extraordinary teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them on an unforgettable journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous, given that they met and fell in love at a cancer support group.
Victor Frankenstein discovers the secret of creating life and fashions an eight-foot monster, only to bring danger and destruction to the lives of those he loves.
Frankenstein by
Mary Shelley blurs the line between man and monster in this classic gothic masterpiece. The story of Victor Frankenstein and the monstrous creature he created has held readers spellbound ever since it was published almost two centuries ago. On the surface, it is a novel of tense and steadily mounting horr∨ but on a more profound level, it offers searching illumination of the human condition in its portrayal of a scientist who oversteps the bounds of conscience, and of a monster brought to life in an alien world, ever more desperately attempting to escape the torture of his solitude. A novel of hallucinatory intensity, Frankenstein represents one of the most striking flowerings of the Romantic imagination. With an Introduction by Douglas Clegg And an Afterword by Harold Bloom
Victor Frankenstein
Told from Igor's perspective, we see the troubled young assistant's dark origins, his redemptive friendship with the young medical student Viktor Von Frankenstein, and become eyewitnesses to the emergence of how Frankenstein became the man, and the legend, we know today.
Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
The Giver by
Lois Lowry's The Giver is the quintessential dystopian novel, followed by its remarkable companions, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son. When Jonas turns 12, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. Now, it's time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.
The Giver
Based on the book by Lois Lowry.
Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Brenton Thwaites, Alexander Skarsgard, Katie Holmes, Odeya Rush, Cameron Monaghan, Taylor Swift, Emma Tremblay.
By all appearances, Hector has it all. A successful psychiatry practice, a comfortable home, and a beautiful, loving girlfriend. However, he's frustrated that he can't provide his patients with real happiness. So, he decides to travel the world in search of the elusive emotion.
Hector and the Search for Happiness by
Once upon a time there was a young psychiatrist called Hector who was not very satisfied with himself. . . . Hector is very good at treating patients in need of his help. But he cane(tm)t do much for those who are simply dissatisfied with life, and that is beginning to depress him. When a patient tells him he looks in need of a vacation, Hector takes a trip around the world to learn what makes people happye"and sad. As he travels from Paris to China to Africa to the United States, he lists his observations about the people he meets. Is there a secret to happiness, and will Hector find it? Combining the winsome appeal of The Little Prince with the inspiring philosophy of The Alchemist, Hectore(tm)s journey ventures around the globe and into the human soul. Lelorde(tm)s writing inspires us to consider lifee(tm)s great questions. Uplifting, empowering, and optimistic, this is a fable for our times and all time.
Hector and the Search for Happiness
Director, Peter Chelsom.
Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike, Tracy Ann Oberman.
English audio; Spanish subtitles.
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Welcome to Ratbridge. But beware—for there is skulduggery afoot. Young Arthur has fallen foul of the appalling outlaw, Snatcher, and is trapped alone in the town with every way home sealed. The film The Boxtrolls is based on this novel.
Here Be Monsters! by
Skulduggery is afoot! Welcome to Ratbridge. But beware -- for there is skulduggery afoot. Young Arthur has fallen foul of the appalling outlaw, Snatcher, and is trapped alone in the town with every way home sealed. Meanwhile Snatcher and his men are working tirelessly in secret on a fiendish and dastardly plan to take over -- and destroy -- the entire town. With the help of Willbury Nibble, QC; some friendly boxtrolls and cabbageheads; Marjorie the frustrated inventor; and the rats and pirates from the Ratbridge Nautical Laundry, can Arthur thwart Snatcher's evil plans -- and find his way home?
The Boxtrolls
Directed by Graham Amable and Anthony Stacchi.
Voice talents: Isaac Hempstead Wright, Ben Kingsley, Elle Fanning, Jared Harris, Tracy Morgan, Toni Colette.
Hassan is a culinary ingenue with the gastronomic equivalent of perfect pitch. Displaced from their native India, his family settles in a quaint village in the south of France. They plan to open an Indian restaurant, that is, until Madame Mallory, the owner of a classical French restaurant, gets wind of it. Her icy protests against the new Indian restaurant so near her own escalate to all out war; until Hassan's cooking talent and love for Mme. Mallory's assistant, Marguerite, cannot be ignored.
The Hundred-Foot Journey by
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Helen Mirren and Om Puri, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, and produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Juliet Blake, DreamWorks Studios, and Participant Media. "That skinny Indian teenager has that mysterious something that comes along once a generation. He is one of those rare chefs who is simply born. He is an artist." And so begins the rise of Hassan Haji, the unlikely gourmand who recounts his life’s journey in Richard Morais’s charming novel, The Hundred-Foot Journey. Lively and brimming with the colors, flavors, and scents of the kitchen, The Hundred-Foot Journey is a succulent treat about family, nationality, and the mysteries of good taste. Born above his grandfather’s modest restaurant in Mumbai, Hassan first experienced life through intoxicating whiffs of spicy fish curry, trips to the local markets, and gourmet outings with his mother. But when tragedy pushes the family out of India, they console themselves by eating their way around the world, eventually settling in Lumière, a small village in the French Alps. The boisterous Haji family takes Lumière by storm. They open an inexpensive Indian restaurant opposite an esteemed French relais—that of the famous chef Madame Mallory—and infuse the sleepy town with the spices of India, transforming the lives of its eccentric villagers and infuriating their celebrated neighbor. Only after Madame Mallory wages culinary war with the immigrant family, does she finally agree to mentor young Hassan, leading him to Paris, the launch of his own restaurant, and a slew of new adventures. The Hundred-Foot Journey is about how the hundred-foot distance between a new Indian kitchen and a traditional French one can represent the gulf between different cultures and desires. A testament to the inevitability of destiny, this is a fable for the ages—charming, endearing, and compulsively readable.
The Hundred-Foot Journey
Performers:
Helen Mirren, Om Puri, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon, Amit Shah.
While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weighs whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.
If I Stay by
In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck... A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make--and the ultimate choice Mia commands.
If I Stay
Based on the novel by Gayle Forman.
Chloe Grace Moretz, Mireille Enos, James Blackley, Joshua Leonard, Liana Liberato, Stacy Keach, Gabrielle Rose.
The incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship Essex, the inspiration for Melville's great classic, Moby Dick. In 1820, the Essex set sail from Nantucket on a routine voyage for whales. Fifteen months later, in the farthest reaches of the South Pacific, it was rammed and sunk by an eighty-ton bull sperm whale. Its twenty-man crew, fearing cannibals on the islands to the west, made for the 3,000-mile-distant coast of South America in three tiny boats.
In the Heart of the Sea by
From the author of the New York Times bestselling, Valiant Ambition, the riveting and critically acclaimed bestseller and a major motion picture starring Chris Hemsworth, directed by Ron Howard "With its huge, scarred head halfway out of the water and its tail beating the ocean into a white-water wake more than forty feet across, the whale approached the ship at twice its original speed--at least six knots. With a tremendous cracking and splintering of oak, it struck the ship just beneath the anchor secured at the cat-head on the port bow. . ." In the Heart of the Sea brings to new life the incredible story of the wreck of the whaleship Essex--an event as mythic in its own century as the Titanic disaster in ours, and the inspiration for the climax of Moby-Dick. In a harrowing page-turner, Nathaniel Philbrick restores this epic story to its rightful place in American history. In 1820, the 240-ton Essex set sail from Nantucket on a routine voyage for whales. Fifteen months later, in the farthest reaches of the South Pacific, it was repeatedly rammed and sunk by an eighty-ton bull sperm whale. Its twenty-man crew, fearing cannibals on the islands to the west, made for the 3,000-mile-distant coast of South America in three tiny boats. During ninety days at sea under horrendous conditions, the survivors clung to life as one by one, they succumbed to hunger, thirst, disease, and fear. In the Heart of the Sea tells perhaps the greatest sea story ever. Philbrick interweaves his account of this extraordinary ordeal of ordinary men with a wealth of whale lore and with a brilliantly detailed portrait of the lost, unique community of Nantucket whalers. Impeccably researched and beautifully told, the book delivers the ultimate portrait of man against nature, drawing on a remarkable range of archival and modern sources, including a long-lost account by the ship's cabin boy. At once a literary companion and a page-turner that speaks to the same issues of class, race, and man's relationship to nature that permeate the works of Melville, In the Heart of the Sea will endure as a vital work of American history.
In the Heart of the Sea
In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville2s Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. This story reveals the encounter2s harrowing aftermath, as the ship2s surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive.
Four strangers happen to meet on a London rooftop with the intent of committing suicide on New Year's Eve. They decide to call off their plans for six weeks and form an unconventional, dysfunctional family and friendship.
A Long Way Down by
A wise, affecting novel from the beloved, award-winning author of Funny Girl, High Fidelity, and About A Boy. Nick Hornby mines the hearts and psyches of four lost souls who connect just when they've reached the end of the line. In four distinct and riveting first-person voices, Hornby tells a story of four individuals confronting the limits of choice, circumstance, and their own mortality. This is a tale of connections made and missed, punishing regrets, and the grace of second chances.
A Long Way Down
Director of photography, Ben Davis ; editor, Barney Pilling, Chris Gill ; music, Dario Marianelli.
Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Aaron Paul, Imogen Poots, Rosamund Pike, Sam Neill.
An unlikely World War II platoon has been tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. With the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could they possibly succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time, they would risk their lives to protect mankind's greatest achievements.
The Monuments Men by
At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised. In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Momuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture. Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.
Monuments Men
Originally released as a motion picture.
George Clooney, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Hugh Bonneville, Bob Balaban, Jean Dujardin.
Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara meet while doing time for grand theft auto. Now that they're out, they join forces for one big score. They plan to kidnap the wife of a wealthy Detroit developer and hold her for ransom. But they don't count on her lowlife husband not wanting his lady back. So it's on to Plan B--with the unlikely help of a ticked-off housewife. The film Life of Crime is based on this novel.
The Switch by
"My favorite Leonard book....He writes the way Hammett and Chandler might write today, if they sharpened their senses of ironic humor and grew better ears for dialogue." --Dallas Morning News "The best writer of crime fiction alive." --Newsweek Dangerously eccentric characters, razor-sharp black humor, brilliant dialog, and suspense all rolled into one tight package--that's The Switch, Elmore Leonard's classic tale of a kidnapping gone wrong...or terribly right, depending on how you look at it. The Grand Master whom the New York Times Book Review calls, "the greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever," has written a wry and twisting tale that any of the other all-time greats--Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, John D. MacDonald, James M. Cain, Robert Parker...every noir author who ever walked a detective, cop, or criminal into a shadowy alley--would be thrilled to call their own. Leonard, the man who has given us U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (currently starring in TV's Justified) is at his storytelling best, as a spurned wife decides to take a rightful--and profitable--revenge on her deceiving hubby by teaming up with the two thugs he hired to abduct her.
Life of Crime
The wife of a corrupt real estate developer is kidnapped by two common criminals, who intend to extort him with inside information about his crooked business and off-shore accounts. But the husband decides he'd actually rather not pay the ransom to get back his wife, setting off an unbelievable sequence of double crosses and twists.
Renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde. Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of -- time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science.
The Theory of Everything by
In physicist Stephen Hawking's brilliant opus, A Brief History of Time, he presented us with a bold new look at our universe, how it began, and how our old views of physics and tired theories about the creation of the universe were no longer relevant. In other words, Hawking gave us a new look at our world, our universe, and ourselves. Now, available for the first time in trade paperback, Hawking presents an even more comprehensive look at our universe, its creation, and how we see ourselves within it. Imagine sitting in a comfortable room listening to Hawking discuss his latest theories and place them in historical context with science's other great achievements--it would be like hearing Christopher Columbus deliver the news about the new world. Hawking presents a series of seven lectures in which he describes, more clearly than ever, the history of the universe as we know it. He begins with the history of ideas about the universe, from Aristotle's idea that the Earth is round to Hubble's discovery two millennium later that our universe is growing. Using this history as a launching pad, Hawking takes us on a fascinating journey through the telescopic lens of modern physics to gain a new glimpse of the universe--the nature of black holes, the space-time continuum, and new information about the origin of the universe. He uses this scientific basis to come up with a "unified theory of everything" that the author claims will be "the ultimate triumph of human reason."
The Theory of Everything
Directed by James Marsh.
Performers:
Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Tom Prior, Sophie Perry, Harry Lloyd, Alice Orr-ewing, David Thewlis, Thomas Morrison.
Set in the lower echelons of 1860s Paris, Therese Raquin, a sexually repressed, beautiful young woman, is trapped into a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin Camille by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin. After she meets her husband's alluring friend Laurent, she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences. The film In Secret, previously titled Therese, was based on this novel.
Thérèse Raquin by
In a dingy apartment on the Passage du Pont-Neuf in Paris, Therese Raquin is trapped in a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille. The numbing tedium of her life is suddenly shattered when she embarks on a turbulent affair with her husband's earthy friend Laurent, but their animal passion for each other soon compels the lovers to commit a crime that will haunt them forever. Therese Raquincaused a scandal when it appeared in 1867 and brought its twenty-seven-year-old author a notoriety that followed him throughout his life. Zola's novel is not only an uninhibited portrayal of adultery, madness and ghostly revenge, but also a devastating exploration of the darkest aspects of human existence.
In Secret
Director, Charlie Stratton.
Jessica Lange, Tom Felton, Oscar Isaac, Elizabeth Olsen.
When their father passes away, four grown siblings, bruised and banged up by their respective adult lives, are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week. Confronting their history and the frayed states of their relationships among the people who know and love them best, they ultimately reconnect in hysterical and emotionally affecting ways amid the chaos, humor, heartache and redemption that only families can provide.
This Is Where I Leave You by
The death of Judd Foxman's father marks the first time that the entire Foxman family--including Judd's mother, brothers, and sister--have been together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd's wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd's radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public. Simultaneously mourning the death of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch's dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a family. As the week quickly spins out of control, longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed, and old passions reawakened. For Judd, it's a weeklong attempt to make sense of the mess his life has become while trying in vain not to get sucked into the regressive battles of his madly dysfunctional family. All of which would be hard enough without the bomb Jen dropped the day Judd's father died: She's pregnant. This Is Where I Leave You is Jonathan Tropper's most accomplished work to date, a riotously funny, emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind--whether we like it or not. Watch a Video
This is Where I Leave You
Originally released as a motion picture in 2014.
Jane Fonda, Jason Bateman, Tina Fey.
Fourteen-year-olds Raphael and Gardo team up with a younger boy, Rat, to figure out the mysteries surrounding a bag Raphael finds during their daily life of sorting through trash in a third-world country's dump.
Trash by
In an unnamed Third World country, in the not-so-distant future, three "dumpsite boys" make a living picking through the mountains of garbage on the outskirts of a large city. One unlucky-lucky day, Raphael finds something very special and very mysterious. So mysterious that he decides to keep it, even when the city police offer a handsome reward for its return. That decision brings with it terrifying consequences, and soon the dumpsite boys must use all of their cunning and courage to stay ahead of their pursuers. It's up to Raphael, Gardo, and Rat--boys who have no education, no parents, no homes, and no money--to solve the mystery and right a terrible wrong. Andy Mulligan has written a powerful story about unthinkable poverty--and the kind of hope and determination that can transcend it. With twists and turns, unrelenting action, and deep, raw emotion, Trash is a heart-pounding, breath-holding novel.
Trash
Credits:
Director of photography, Adreano Goldman ; music, Antonio Pinto.
Performers:
Wagner Moura, Rooney Mara, Martin Sheen, Selton Mello, Christiane Amanpour, Andre Ramiro.
Born a free man in New York State in 1808, Solomon Northup was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841. He spent the next 12 years as a slave on a Louisiana cotton plantation, and during this time he was frequently abused and often afraid for his life. This is his detailed description of slave life and plantation society.
12 Years a Slave by
The official movie tie-in edition to the winner of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, and Lupita Nyong’o, and directed by Steve McQueen New York Times bestseller “I could not believe that I had never heard of this book. It felt as important as Anne Frank’s Diary, only published nearly a hundred years before. . . . The book blew [my] mind: the epic range, the details, the adventure, the horror, and the humanity. . . . I hope my film can play a part in drawing attention to this important book of courage. Solomon’s bravery and life deserve nothing less.” —Steve McQueen, director of 12 Years a Slave, from the Foreword Perhaps the best written of all the slave narratives, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation. After his rescue, Northup published this exceptionally vivid and detailed account of slave life. It became an immediate bestseller and today is recognized for its unusual insight and eloquence as one of the very few portraits of American slavery produced by someone as educated as Solomon Northup, or by someone with the dual perspective of having been both a free man and a slave.
12 Years a Slave
Director, Steve Rodney Mcqueen.
Paul Giamatti, Dickie Gravois, Brad Pitt, Bryan Batt, Dwight Henry, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender.
Olympian and war hero Louis Zamperini survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, only to be caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
Unbroken by
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE * Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine * Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography and the Indies Choice Adult Nonfiction Book of the Year award On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane's bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. The lieutenant's name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he'd been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and hum∨ brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man's journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit. Praise for Unbroken "Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic."--The Wall Street Journal "[A] one-in-a-billion story . . . designed to wrench from self-respecting critics all the blurby adjectives we normally try to avoid: It is amazing, unforgettable, gripping, harrowing, chilling, and inspiring."--New York "Staggering . . . mesmerizing . . . Hillenbrand's writing is so ferociously cinematic, the events she describes so incredible, you don't dare take your eyes off the page."--People "A meticulous, soaring and beautifully written account of an extraordinary life."--The Washington Post "Ambitious and powerful . . . a startling narrative and an inspirational book."--The New York Times Book Review "Marvelous . . . Unbroken is wonderful twice over, for the tale it tells and for the way it's told. . . . It manages maximum velocity with no loss of subtlety."--Newsweek "Moving and, yes, inspirational . . . [Laura] Hillenbrand's unforgettable book . . . deserve[s] pride of place alongside the best works of literature that chart the complications and the hard-won triumphs of so-called ordinary Americans and their extraordinary time."--Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air "Hillenbrand . . . tells [this] story with cool elegance but at a thrilling sprinter's pace."--Time "Unbroken is too much book to hope for: a hellride of a story in the grip of the one writer who can handle it."--Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run
Unbroken
Director, Angelina Jolie.
Jack O'Connell, Takamasa Ishihara, Domhnall Gleeson.
A single mother who struggles with drug addiction is held hostage in her own apartment by a fugitive who has escaped from prison and murdered the judge who was assigned to his case. The 2015 American crime-drama thriller film Captive is based on this book.
Unlikely Angel by
On March 11, Brian Nichols, fleeing from an Atlanta courthouse after allegedly killing four people, held Ashley Smith hostage in her own home. Drawing on tremendous courage and faith, Ashley turned to her Bible and a bestselling book that has already revealed, to over 22 million people, their purpose in God's plan. As she read she convinced Nichols that God also had a purpose for him-to be captured alive and to spend his life in prison sharing the Word of God with others.Now Ashley tells us about her life, and the path that lead to this extraordinary event. Unlikely Angel, released just six months after her ordeal dominated national news, will be a blockbuster and we're promoting it aggressively with national advertising, sales promotion, and a major media blitz. This powerful book will obviously help build the success of your store. Just as important, it underscores how all of us-Zondervan authors, retailers, and readers-are instruments of change.
Captive
Credits:
Cinematographer, Luis David Sansans ; production designer, Sandra Cabriada ; editor, Melissa Kent ; music, Lorne Balfe.
Performers:
Kate Mara, Michael Kenneth Williams, Mimi Rogers, David Oyelowo, Leonor Varela.
Two years after a horrible incident made them run away, vampire princess Lissa and her guardian-in-training Rose are found and returned to St. Vladimir's Academy, where one focuses on mastering magic, the other on physical training, while both try to avoid the perils of gossip, cliques, gruesome pranks, and sinister plots.
Vampire Academy by
Prepare to be Tested. The story that kicked off the international #1 bestselling Vampire Academy series is NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE. Read it Before it Hits Theaters February 14th, 2014! St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding schoolit’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’sthe very place where they’re most in danger. . . . Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoithe world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampiresmake Lissa one of them forever. Watch a Video Is your school a Vampire Academy? Take the quiz and find out! Get the Spirit Bound Countdown widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info) .
Vampire Academy
Based on the critically acclaimed 6-book series by Richelle Mead.
Gabriel Byrne, Olga Kurylenko, Sarah Hyland, Cameron Monaghan, Lucy Fry, Zoey Deutch, Danila Kozlovsky.
High-volume dope dealers make an easy mark for kidnappers. After all, what are they going to do, call the cops? But Kenan Khoury, heroin wholesaler to the five boroughs, haggled over the price, and his wife came back in pieces. The only person he can trust to avenge her is Matt Scudder, ex-cop, sober alcoholic, who wields his own brand of guerrilla justice.
A Walk among the Tombstones (Movie Tie-In Edition) by
WHEN YOU CAN'T CALL THE COPS, YOU CALL SCUDDER. Kenan Khoury's wife went out grocery shopping and never came home. Alive, anyway. But because Kenan Khoury buys and sells drugs for a living he can't go to the police for help. He goes to Matthew Scudder instead -- an alcoholic ex-cop and unlicensed private eye who will stop at nothing to bring the brutal killers to justice before another innocent woman falls beneath their knives. One of the most acclaimed detectives of all time, Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder returns to the big screen in his most shocking case ever, courtesy of international superstar Liam Neeson (TAKEN) and writer/director Scott Frank (GET SHORTY, OUT OF SIGHT).
A Walk Among the Tombstones
Performers:
Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour, Boyd Holbrook.
The story of Bill Bryson's walk on the Appalachian trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine.
A Walk in the Woods by
A laugh-out-loud account of an outrageously rugged hike--by the beloved comic author of Lost Continent and Notes from a Small Island. Published in the 75th anniversary year of the Appalachian Trail. Father's Day merchandising.
A Walk in the Woods
Performers:
Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Kristen Schaal, Nick Offerman, Mary Steenburgen, Emma Thompson.
Set in a mythic New York City and spanning more than a century, follow a story of miracles, crossed destinies, and the age-old battle between good and evil.
Winter's Tale by
Now a major motion pictureNew York Times bestseller"Utterly extraordinary . . . A piercing sense of the beautiful arising from narrative and emotional fantasy is everywhere alive in the novel . . . Not for some time have I read a work as funny, thoughtful, passionate or large-souled . . . I find myself nervous, to a degree I don't recall in my past as a reviewer, about failing the work, inadequately displaying its brilliance." - Benjamin DeMott,New York Times Book Review Mark Helprin's masterpiece will transport you to New York of the Belle Epoque, to a city clarified by a siege of unprecedented snows. One winter night, Peter Lake - master mechanic and second-storey man - attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side. Though he thinks it is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the affair between a middle-aged Irish burglar and Beverly Penn, a young girl dying of consumption. It is a love so powerful that Peter Lake, a simple and uneducated man, will be driven to stop time and bring back the dead. His great struggle is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary stories of American literature."He creates tableaux of such beauty and clarity that the inner eye is stunned." -Publishers Weekly "This novel stretches the boundaries of contemporary literature. It is a gifted writer's love affair with the language." -Newsday
Winter's Tale
Performers:
Russell Crowe, Colin Farrell, Matthew Bomer, Jessica Brown Findlay.
Amanda Griffin
Head of Circulation, Carlstadt's William E. Dermody Free Public Library