This year’s screen adaptations also happen to be some of the book industry’s most compelling reads. TAN MIN YAN delves between the covers.
This year’s screen adaptations also happen to be some of the book industry’s most compelling reads. TAN MIN YAN delves between the covers.
RED SPARROW BY JASON MATTHEWS
THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US BY CHARLES MARTIN
THE BOOK:
What would otherwise have been your standard-issue love story between two strangers meeting under strange circumstances (a bride-to-be and a surgeon share a charter plane after a snowstorm causes their flights to be cancelled) takes a bad turn when they crash-land in the harsh wilderness of the Uinta Mountains in Utah. Stranded and badly injured, the two have to fend off nature’s wrath and their own personal demons. The inevitable falling in love between the two could have been a cringe-worthy cliche if not for the well fleshed-out characters that bring very real emotions to the forefront of t he story.
THE MOVIE:
Scheduled to hit cinemas on Oct 20 in the US, it features Kate Winslet and Idris Elba as the couple.
A DOG’S PURPOSE BY W. BRUCE CAMERON
THE BOOK:
Dog lovers hardly need any reminder that their canine friends are probably the most loyal beings in their lives, but why not let a heart-warming read told from a dog’s perspective drive home the point anyway? The New York Times’ 2010 bestseller chronicles the canine protagonist’s search for purpose in his own existence as he’s reincarnated numerous times through different lives and fates, before – spoiler alert – he finds himself reunited with his first owner in a full-circle-moment ending. An expected tear-jerker that will make you want to give your pet a hug at the end of it.
THE MOVIE:
Mark your calendar for March 2, when the film arrives in Singapore. Dennis Quaid plays the lead character, Ethan, the first owner.
“That’s the lesson of the dogs, that it’s important to both live in the moment and then go on to the next wonderful thing.” – Excerpt from A Dog’s Purpose.
LOST IN THE JUNGLE: A HARROWING TRUE STORY OF SURVIVAL BY YOSSI GHINSBERG
BEFORE I FALL BY LAUREN OLIVER
THE BOOK:
Think Groundhog Day meets Mean Girls. Protagonist and high-school queen bee Samantha is killed in a car accident, but finds herself alive and well in her own bed the next morning. Eventually, she realises that she’s trapped in a time loop, seemingly destined to have her life cut short over and over again. In the course of the next week, she tries to uncover the details behind the accident, but at the same time, she discovers the impact of her actions on the people around her and makes amends. Nothing quite like a do-over story to get you feeling introspective.
THE MOVIE:
Slated for a March 3 release in the US. Rising star Zoey Deutch portrays Samantha.
“I shiver, thinking how easy it is to be totally wrong about people – to see one tiny part of them and confuse it for the whole, to see the cause and think it’s the effect or vice versa.” – Excerpt from Before I Fall.
