New Leaf Nominations for March 2018 • The Book Came First

[June]

Oh, lovely nominations Dngrsone! I’ve already used my three votes, but I hope you get the second and third for one or both of these!

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

Okay, so when I read the theme for the month, my mind went straight to Philip K. Dick, whose writing has had enormous impact on modern science fiction.

His book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep begat the movie Blade runner, which set the standard for the dystopian future in the 1980's and was an early entry in what became known as the cyberpunk sub-genre.

Then there was The Minority Report, Paycheck, Impostor, A Scanner Darkly, and We can Remember it For You Wholesale, which became the movie Total Recall; to name a few.

Only two of these were actual novels: A Scanner Darkly and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, so I guess that would be my two recommendations.

Did you forget this one: Minority Report?

I'll second A Scanner Darkly, as I've read Androids and seen Bladerunner multiple times.

[CRussel]

OK, one more nomination, this time a Canadian book, Still Life, the first of Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series, set in Quebec. This first book was made into a movie, starring the totally inappropriate Nathaniel Parker playing Gamache, who is a bilingual Francophone for goodness sakes! But forget the movie, the books are excellent, except for the 4th and/or 5th in the series where I think she sort of lost her way. But they pick up again after. And Three Pines, the fictional Quebec town where this book takes place is too quaint for words, but delightful none-the-less.

From Goodreads:
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montréal and yet a world away. Jane Neal, a long-time resident of Three Pines, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it's a tragic hunting accident and nothing more but Gamache smells something foul this holiday season…and is soon certain that Jane died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.

With this award-winning first novel, Louise Penny introduces an engaging hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces--and this series--with power, ingenuity, and charm.

AmazonCA -- $3.99 CAD (Best Price)
AmazonUK -- £2.99
AmazonUS -- $7.99 USD
AmazonAU - $4.99 AUD

AudibleUS -- 1 Credit or $12.99 WhisperSync or $19.59 Member Price
AudibleUK -- £6.49 WhisperSync

KoboUS -- $7.99
KoboUK -- £2.99
KoboAU -- $4.99AUD
KoboCA -- $3.99 CAD

Overdrive -- Audio book only

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I'm late to the party, but I nominate Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train.

It is $7.64USD on Amazon
It is $11.99 on Kobo

The book was adapted into film by Alfred Hitchcock.

ETA to add the description:

Strangers on a Train (1950) is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith about two men whose lives become entangled after one of them proposes they 'trade' murders. He then goes ahead and fulfills his end of the imaginary bargain, leading to fatal consequences for both.

It was adapted as a film in 1951 by director Alfred Hitchcock. It has since been adapted in whole or in part for film and television several times. The novel was adapted for radio in 2004 by Craig Warner, and adapted for the stage in 2013 (also by Warner). In 2015, it was announced that director David Fincher and writer Gillian Flynn are working on a remake for Warner Bros. that is said to be a "modern take" of the Hitchcock version.

[GA Russell]

I second Electric Sheep.

[Catlady]

A second nomination: The Best of Everything, by Rona Jaffe.

When Rona Jaffe’s superb page-turner was first published in 1958, it changed contemporary fiction forever. Some readers were shocked, but millions more were electrified when they saw themselves reflected in its story of five young employees of a New York publishing company. Almost sixty years later, The Best of Everything remains touchingly—and sometimes hilariously—true to the personal and professional struggles women face in the city. There’s Ivy League Caroline, who dreams of graduating from the typing pool to an editor’s office; naïve country girl April, who within months of hitting town reinvents herself as the woman every man wants on his arm; and Gregg, the free-spirited actress with a secret yearning for domesticity. Jaffe follows their adventures with intelligence, sympathy, and prose as sharp as a paper cut.

The book was made into a wonderfully trashy, glossy soap-opera-ish movie, with a star-studded cast: Joan Crawford, Hope Lange, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker, Stephen Boyd, Louis Jourdan, Martha Hyer.

In the U.S., it's available for $12.99, but it's also in the Overdrive catalog.
Amazon
Kobo
Google

Inn the UK, the price is £4.99.
Amazon UK
Kobo UK

[astrangerhere]

I'll third Electric Sheep

[Catlady]

Was there a third for Frankenstein? If not, I'll third it.

[Alohamora]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

Only two of these were actual novels: A Scanner Darkly and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, so I guess that would be my two recommendations.

A Scanner Darkly has been sitting in my tbr pile for a long time, so I will third it.

[JSWolf]

I'll second Still Life. Here's a link for Overdrive for both eBook and audiobook https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=s...Armand+Gamache

And with that, my nominations are done.

[CRussel]

Thanks, Jon. I can't see that eBook version on my OverDrive so glad for the link.

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by orlok

Did you forget this one: Minority Report?

I'll second A Scanner Darkly, as I've read Androids and seen Bladerunner multiple times.

The Minority Report is a short story, and as such not really a book.

Plus, I am holding my third option for seconding or thirding someone else's recommendation.

... also, Minority Report has the taint of Cruise.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

[...]Plus, I am holding my third option for seconding or thirding someone else's recommendation.

... also, Minority Report has the taint of Cruise.

Yes, Cruise has tainted a lot of things, about the only thing worse would be a tinge of Smurf - just imagine if Cruise had done one of the voices ! (That is NOT a nomination.)

[gmw]

Okay, so I'm going to nominate a novella (so another part of a larger publication like my first nomination): The Body by Stephen King, from his collection of four novellas Different Seasons.

My reasons for nominating this are: it is one of my favourite Stephen King stories; it is not really horror so should not be offensive to those sensitive to such things; and the movie is one of the best book-to-screen adaptations that I've ever seen (movie is called "Stand By Me").

I specifically nominate just this story (it's a novella, not just a short story) even though this collection also carries Rita Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption, which yet another favourite of mine - for much the same reasons. (The other two stories, Apt Pupil and The Breathing Method, are nothing to get worked up about.)

Description of The Body (from me):

Gordon Lachance, the narrator 20 years on, tells how he and three other 12yo boys, Chris Chambers, Vern Tessio and Teddy Duchamp, went to see a dead body. The body was that of Ray Brower, a boy much their own age, he had been hit by a train - he was known to be missing, the police were still searching for him.

Description of Different Seasons (from Amazon):

Read the original stories which became the celebrated films STAND BY ME, APT PUPIL and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, voted the world's most popular movie.

In this classic collection of four novellas, the grand master takes you on irresistible journeys into the far reaches of horror, heartache and hope.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is the story of two men convicted of murder - one guilty, one innocent - who form the perfect partnership as they dream up a scheme to escape from prison.

In Apt Pupil a golden schoolboy entices an old man with a past to join in a dreadful union.

The Body sees four young boys venture into the woods and find life, death . . . and the end of innocence.

The Breathing Method is the tale of a doctor who goes to his club and discovers a woman determined to give birth - no matter what.

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU | Kobo US | Kobo UK | Kobo CA | Kobo AU

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

The Minority Report is a short story, and as such not really a book.

Plus, I am holding my third option for seconding or thirding someone else's recommendation.

... also, Minority Report has the taint of Cruise.

Fair point. And nothing has been as tainted as the Jack Reacher franchise, but I'm not going there...