The Book is Better than the Movie! 

Books and movies are like apples and oranges. 

They both are fruit but taste completely different.

Stephen King

With one click of a remote young adults have access to thousands of movie and TV show titles through a multitude of streaming services. 

Many young adults (18-25 yr olds) do not read for pleasure, instead, preferring to watch movies. Many memoir and autobiographical movies were in fact, books before they were adapted for the big screen. 

This blog will introduce the reader to several titles that have been adapted by Hollywood and turned into hugely successful films. All these titles are available for borrowing from Bayside Council Library - in a range of formats including audiobooks. 

Further information can be found at the Bayside Library website: https://library.bayside.nsw.gov.au/Montage/Default.aspx

 

Title: Julia and Julia

 Author: Julie Powell

 PublicationDetails: Bolinda audio 2010

 ISBN: 9781742606460

  

Citation: Powell, J. (2010). Julie and Julia. (J. Powell, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Bolinda audio. MP3 (104MB)  

Trapped in an unfulfilling job and living in a tiny apartment in New York, Julie Powell often  finds herself crying on the subway ride home from work. Then one night, Powell decides to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking over the course of a year and the "Julie /Julia  project" is born. To keep Powell on track, she decides to honestly blog her project, with all its failures and successes. Gradually she gains an online following as she tackles the delicate art of French cooking and takes her readers on a culinary journey, all while working as a secretary and dealing with the day to day matters of life. 

 

We discover that a delicious crepe makes a bad day better and surviving a runny soufflé means one can endure anything. Powell’s lively reading - and excellent French, bring drama to the scenes and pleasure to the listener. 

 

View movie trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozRK7VXQl-k 

Title: Molly’s game: high stakes, Hollywood's elite, hotshot bankers, my life in the world of underground poker

Author: Molly Bloom

Publication Details: New York: HarperCollins 2014

ISBN: 9780062213082

Citation: Bloom, M. (2014). Molly's game: high stakes, Hollywood's elite, hotshot bankers, my life in the world of underground poker. New York: HarperCollins.

Molly Bloom invites us to a world off limits to many of us - the most exclusive, high-stakes underground poker games in the world. This is a behind the scenes look at Molly’s game, the life she created, the life she lost, and what she learned in the process.

Hundreds of millions of dollars were won and lost at her table. Molly’s game became the game for the richest of the rich -celebrities, business moguls, and millionaires. She hosted her games in lavish suites with beautiful views and gorgeous amenities. She flew privately, dined at exclusive restaurants, rubbed elbows with the heads of Hollywood studios and dated famous wealthy men, until it all came crashing down around her. 

Bloom’s memoir is, at its core, is an American dream story, where an outsider takes initiative and enjoys success in an extravagant way and the criminal facet makes her just that little bit more appealing.

View movie trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu4UPet8Nyc 

Title: Wild: from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Author: Cheryl Strayed

Narrator: Bernadette Dunne

Publication Details: New York: Books on Tape p2012.; Library edition. 

Citation: Strayed, B.(2012). Wild: from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail. (B. Dunne, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Spoken Word Compact Disc (eAudiobook)

What do you do when you have nothing else left to lose? 

Struggling with the recent loss of her mother and her marriage on the brink of ending, Strayed was struggling with heroin addiction and a destructive lifestyle, when on a whim she decided to hike the gruelling Pacific Crest Trail. 

The beauty and the ugliness, of both the wilderness and herself is expressed in this memoir, where we discover her doubts and those tiny moments where she decides to keep going. 

Strayed’s thousand mile journey begins before the first step and each of her steps are brutal, offering transformation and Dunne’s narration captures the author's determination and heart in this absorbing memoir.

Watch movie trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn2-GSqPyl0 

 

Title: Jarhead: a Marine's chronicle of the Gulf War and other battles

Author: Anthony Swofford

Publication Details: New York: Scribner 2003

ISBN: 9780743244916

Citation: Swofford, A. (2002). Jarhead: a Marine's chronicle of the Gulf War and other battles. New York: Scribner.

"Anthony Swofford's Jarhead is the first Gulf War memoir by a frontline infantry marine, and it is a searing, unforgettable narrative." (Goodreads)

Swofford intertwines his experiences in war with intense accounts of boot camp and reflections on the ethics of the marines.

The U.S. Marines - also known as jarheads were sent to Saudi Arabia in 1990 for the first Gulf War and Swofford was there. He lived in sand for six months; he was endured fear and boredom; he contemplated suicide, pulled a gun on a fellow marine, and was targeted by both enemy and friendly fire. As battle with the Iraqis drew closer, he was forced to deliberate what it means to be an American, a soldier, and most importantly a man.

Watch movie trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aBP-c28_1M 

Title: Into the wild

Author: Jon Krakauer

Narrator: Phillip Franklin

Publication Details: New York: Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Citation: Krakauer, J. (2007). Into the wild. (P, Franklin, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Spoken Word Compact Disc (eAudiobook)

The true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who after graduating college in 1991, gave away his savings of $25,000 to charity, left behind all his belongings and possessions and hitchhiked to Alaska to explore its wilderness. Unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to explore all that nature has to offer, and he did so until his body was discovered four months later by a group of hunters inside a rusting bus.

There was a note taped to the door….

Into the Wild examines several theories of how Chris died. Was it starvation? Did he consume a poisonous plants or seeds? Will Chris’ diary offer any insights? 

Like a jigsaw - the pieces will begin to fit together - but one question remains - why? 

Watch movie trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LAuzT_x8Ek 

 

Title: Running with scissors

Author: Augusten Burroughs

Publication Details: NewYork: Picador, 2002.

ISBN: 9780312425418

Citation: Burroughs, A. (2002). Running with scissors. New York: Picador.

Burroughs's description of his deranged adolescence is unbelievable and wildly funny. At the age of 12, Burroughs is sent to live with a mentally unstable psychiatrist and his odd family, which include several of the psychiatrist’s patients. In this fiasco of a household everything was permitted and rules were unheard of, "the Christmas tree stayed up all year round, Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull an electroshock therapy machine could provide entertainment" (Goodreads)

This is a darkly humorous and harrowing account of a normal boy’s survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.

You will cry, laugh and most importantly never forget the story of Augusten.

Every home has it’s cracks and some even have crackpots!

Watch movie trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXRtYyKH1AI

 

Title: Girl, interrupted 

Author: Susanna Kaysen

Publication Details: New York: Turtle Bay Books 1993.

ISBN: 9780679423669

Citation: Kaysen, S (1993). Girl, interrupted. New York: Turtle Bay Books.

This harrowing and deep memoir recounts the story of 18 year old Susanna Kaysen, and her two year hospitalisation in the teenage ward of the McLean Psychiatric Hospital in 1967. Kaysen’s extraordinary memoir embodies horror and sharp insight while offering intense depictions of her fellow patients and the hospital staff. Kaysen reflects on her illness and suggests that sanity is a myth created to help the healthy feel normal She also questions how doctors treat mental illness, and whether they are treating the brain or the mind.

An unflinching memoir that provokes questions about our definitions of sane and insane, and the fine line that divides the two. A story that will challenge all you thought you knew about mental health.

View movie trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHeqq6b6Vtw 

 

Title: Wiseguy: life in a Mafia family

Author: Nicholas Pileggi

Publication Details: New York: Simon and Schuster 1985.

ISBN: 9780671447342

Citation: Pileggi, N (1985). Wiseguy: life in a Mafia family. New York: Simon and Schuster.

If you liked Goodfellas then you have to read this book!

Pileggi, a crime reporter for New York writes this novel with the cooperation of gangster Henry Hill. He artfully tells the story the mobster who started out as an errand boy at the age of 12 on the tough streets of Brooklyn in the 50’s. "At the age of twelve my ambition was to become a gangster. To be a wiseguy. Being a wiseguy was better than being President of the United States. To be a wiseguy was to own the world." Henry Hill told Pileggi in 1985. 

For more than 25 years, Mr. Hill worked with mob bosses and took part in many criminal schemes including robbing $6 million in cash and jewels from a cargo facility at JFK airport. After an arrest and facing a lifetime in jail, Hill decided to cooperate with the authorities and talk. This resulted in him having a price on his head and needing to enter the witness protection program for his own safety. Wiseguy tells Hill’s story in a lot more detail and accuracy than the film Goodfellas and it is very hard not to find Hill endearing

View movie trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo5jJpHtI1Y 

 

Title: Catch me if you can: the amazing true story of the youngest and most daring con man in the history of fun and profit

Author: Frank W. Abagnale

Narrator: Barrett, Whitener

Publication Details: Blackstone Audio Inc. 2001.

Citation: Abagnale, FW (2001). Catch me if you can: the amazing true story of the youngest and most daring con man in the history of fun and profit. (B, Whitener, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Blackstone Audio Inc.8 sound discs: digital.

"The amazing true story of the most extraordinary liar in the history of fun and profit!" (Penguin Books)

This astonishing true story of how one man fooled multi-national companies, banks, universities, hospitals, and law enforcement organisations and lived a life of opulence and luxury while doing so. In his short but infamous criminal career, Abagnale co-piloted a Pan Am jet, impersonated a supervising doctor of a hospital, practiced law without a license, pretended to be a college sociology professor, and cashed over $2.5 million in counterfeit cheques, all before he was twenty-one. This is his story. A story of how a conman deceived others, was eventually caught and is now revered as one of world's leading experts in fraud prevention. 

A book that reads like fiction, is in fact Abagnale’s memoir.

View movie trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71rDQ7z4eF

 Title: The Glass castle

Author: Jeannette Walls 

Publication Details: New York: Scribner 2005.

ISBN: 9780743247542

Citation: Walls, J (2005). The Glass castle. New York: Scribner.

A young girl - the daughter of an eccentric mother and an alcoholic father, comes of age in this powerful memoir of family dysfunction and poverty. For years, as she pursued success in education and her career, Walls was ashamed of her family roots, but in her memoir, she gives us revelatory look into a family that is deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant at the same time. 

When sober, Wall’s brilliant father, taught his children physics, literature and how to embrace life fearlessly, while capturing their imagination with his fanciful stories. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who detested the idea of home life and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family. 

Walls describes her parents with affection and kindness in this story of unconditional love in a family. A family that gave Walls the strong determination to create a successful life for herself despite her unconventional upbringing. This is a memoir that will shine a light on family trauma and the struggles to shed the stigma of growing up in an unconventional family.

View movie trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdNiNhSeSDk