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The Reader
Book By: Bernhard Schlink
Summary: 15-year-old Michael Berg starts up a surprising and torrid affair with Hanna Schmitz, an enigmatic, older woman in post-WWII Germany. Years later as an adult, he runs into her again as a defendant in a Nazi war crimes trial.
Why We're Interested: You may have heard a little bit about this one recently -- Nicole Kidman was set to star as Hannah, but then dropped out due to her pregnancy. The book (which was on Oprah's book club before ours) was decent, but the steamy love scenes and subject matter may actually translate better to screen. Plus, a screenplay by David Hare (The Hours), Stephen Daldry (The Hours, Billy Elliott) behind the camera, and Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes in the leads all bode very well for a high-class adaptation-even if those steamy love scenes will feature German newcomer David Kross instead of Fiennes. Sigh.
Movie Stats: In production right now, scheduled release for Dec. 12, 2008.
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The Time Traveler's Wife
Book By: Audrey Niffenegger
Summary: A sweeping, powerful love story about Henry De Tamble, a librarian at Chicago's Newberry Library who has a genetic anomaly that makes him take periodic, involuntary trips through time, and his lifelong love affair with his wife Clare.
Why We're Interested: I just finished reading this book (or rather, listening to it on my iPod while I drove around town) and let me tell you, it had me weeping behind the wheel. To say it sounds a little too epic and complicated to make a successful translation to film is an understatement, but the stills of Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana in the lead roles have me hopeful.
Movie Stats: Scheduled for release on June 6, 2008.
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The Lovely Bones
Book By: Alice Sebold
Summary: A searing, dark and poignant story of Susie Salmon, a young girl who is brutally raped and murdered and watches from heaven as her family tries to cope.
Why We're Interested: While The Lovely Bones certainly sounds a little heavy for many people's taste, for my money it was as poetic as it was painful and one of the most simultaneously gorgeous and gutting books I have ever read, earning every minute it spent on the bestseller list. And while I haven't been much for Peter Jackson's previous efforts, I have a feeling he is going to do this one right. Plus, you know Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz will look better with furry toes.
Movie Stats: Started shooting last October in Pennsylvania. Scheduled release date of March 13, 2009.
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Choke
Book By: Chuck Palahniuk (i.e., the dude who wrote Fight Club)
Summary: Meet Victor Mancini, a colonial re-enactor/sex addict who fakes choking in restaurants to bilk his 'saviors' of money to support his mother's mounting nursing home bills.
Why We're Interested: Okay, I admit that an offering by Palahniuk -- a.k.a.the king of nihilism himself -- isn't the most girly of choices. But sometimes you need to shake things up a little, and Palahniuk writes some seriously kick-ass stories-including this one. Although typical of Mr. P, the book was bleaker and angrier than it was funny, the movie is being billed as a dark comedy, which seems like it could very well work. It's the directorial debut of Clark Gregg (In the Land of Women, In Good Company) -- who also adapted the script -- and I'm intrigued to see how it shakes out.
Movie Stats: Starring Kelly Macdonald, Sam Rockwell, and Anjelica Huston. Choke screened at Sundance Film Festival last week, and was just sold. No theatrical release dates set yet.
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Marley & Me
Book By: John Grogan
Summary: A memoir about journalist John Grogan's experiences when he and his wife bought the world's dumbest, least controllable, and most loveable monster of a dog.
Why We're Interested: Remember that red book with the big dopey yellow lab on the cover that was in every airport bookstore? Well, we read it and, okay, it was a little fluffy but it was also rather sweet. Plus, this will be Owen Wilson's first foray back into film after last summer's hospitalization--opposite Jennifer Aniston no less. And it was adapted by Scott Frank (The Lookout) and will be directed by David Frankel -- who already improved on a fluffy book with The Devil Wears Prada.
Movie Stats: Set to start shooting this spring, with a scheduled release date of Dec. 19, 2008.
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Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
Book By: David Foster Wallace
Summary: To process a recent breakup, a female graduate student decides to conduct... well... the title says it all, doesn't it?
Why We're Interested: As an author, David Foster Wallace may be a little to cerebral for anyone's good, but maybe a movie version can cut to the compelling quick of it all. Plus, The Office cutie John Krasinski is making his feature writing and directing debut with it -- so ambitious!
Movie Stats: It's in post-production, and should be coming out sometime during 2008.
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Motherless Brooklyn
Book By: Jonathan Lethem
Summary: Lionel Essrog, a 'detective' with Tourette's Syndrome, must actually live up to his title when the mob boss for whom he (and three other alums from the St. Vincent's Home for Boys) must solve his murder.
Why We're Interested: It's like Monk, but better. Plus, the book rocked and Edward Norton is writing the script, starring, and directing, so it promises to be great -- if it can get off the ground.
Movie Stats: This one has been pending for a while. Right now it's listed as having a potential 2008 start date.
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Garlic and Sapphires
Book By: Ruth Reichl
Summary: New York Times food critic Ruth Reichl's memoir about going undercover in disguises to get the real skinny on what it was like to eat at the restaurants she was reviewing.
Why We're Interested: Reichl's 'foodie' memoirs are much more about her personal life than they are about being obsessed with food, which suits me just fine. I'm not sure how her experiences are going to translate to the big screen, but I love everything she's ever written so I have hope.
Movie Stats: This one started out as a half-hour comedy series at HBO, which honestly I think it would have been better suited for. Right now it's set up at Fox 2000 for a feature, but all is pretty quiet on the Western Front -- not even a director attached -- so it might be a while, if ever.
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The Frog King
Book By: Adam Davies
Summary: A twentysomething Manhattan publishing plebe tries not to screw things up with his girlfriend, which is difficult since he keeps cheating on her.
Why We're Interested: Davies scratches my chick-lit itch just right, and we're happy to see others like his book enough to think it would make a good movie-especially with Darren Star (Sex and the City) at the helm. Think The Devil Wears Prada with a male lead. Then again, the adaptation is by Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho, Less than Zero), which frankly sounds terrifying.
Movie Stats: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is attached to star, but no real info on when it will start shooting.
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