Miracle on 34th Street
The film was released in 1947, and the book was published in the very same year and it was written by the same man who wrote the story for the film, Valentine Davies.
Film
Books that are closely related to a film. Whether they are adaptations of a film, have been adapted into a film, or are extensions of a film, they can be found here.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark trilogy was one of my favourite sets of books when I was growing up. I especially loved books that presented stories and the folklore they were based on.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The play is three acts and at its core is about lost potential and the regrets that follow it. To some extent it is also about the corruption and power dynamics that can flourish in academia.
The Fan
The amount of correspondence included here seems nearly silly when you think that this is before the age of internet and the two-line email and all of them — other than the telegrams and internal memos — required stationary, stamps, and envelopes.
The Amityville Horror
I have a very old movie-tie in edition of The Amityville Horror and it was printed back when it was able to put the whole ‘based on a true story’ claim on the cover.
Psycho
Bloch writes a twisting thriller that manages to surprise, even when you’ve watched the film first.
All the President’s Men & Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail
I often read as much about American politics as I do about the politics about my own country. Though it feels like I’m on the outside looking in when I read books like this, it to some extent feels closer than is comfortable as well.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
On the surface, he’s travelling with his attorney and a trunk full of drugs in order to document a racing event and later on to attend a convention for law enforcement on drugs and drug culture. Below the surface, it’s a journey to figure out the purpose of journalism, idealism, and its role in the shifting tide of American culture. This is a review of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
In Cold Blood
It’s a fast-paced narrative that critics and readers alike agree has literary merit. The debate comes from the author’s proclamation of being perfectly factual. This is a review of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.
Five Noir Novels of the 1940s & 1950s
I found noir as a genre relatively late. I’ve always been interested in true crime, but for some reason, my younger self just wasn’t drawn to the black and white grit of classic movies until it was included in our cable package. This is a review of five collected noir novels by David Goodis.