Books into Film: 2013

With the release of “Les Miserables” on Christmas Day, “Jack Reacher,” based on Lee Child’s character on Dec. 21 and “The Hobbit” and “Life of Pi” earlier in December, the year winds down with yet more books into movies. Earlier this year we saw films based on such books as The Hunger Games, One for the Money and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.


Once the holidays finish, here are some books you may want to explore before their film versions are released in 2013.

Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

World War Z by Max Brooks

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card



 

Kid-Lit for Middle Graders

Looking for a great book for a young reader this holiday season? National Public Radio’s Backseat Book Club recently randomly polled some librarians and booksellers on this year’s best “middle-grade” fiction (The Year's Outstanding "Backseat" Reads, for Ages 9 to 14, Dec. 10, 2012). Here are a few of their top choices:

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech

The Best of 2012

It’s that time of year again. Lists of 2012’s best books are beginning to appear. Here is a sampling from The Christian Science Monitor’s fiction and non-fiction choices released this week ("10 Best Books of 2012--Fiction," Dec. 3, 2012 and "15 Best Books of 2012--NonFiction," Dec. 3, 2012):

Arcadia by Lauren Groff

The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer by Anne-Marie O’Connor

Canada by Richard Ford

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Eisenhower in War and Peace by Edward Smith