Book recommendations

[Guest DragonflyKid]

Well, I haven't read a novel in years, but I am looking forward to reading one now. To start myself off I want to read a book that was made into a movie such as The Green Mile and Fight Club. Are those worth reading to someone who has seen the movies?, or are there any other books in general that you'd recommend as I have to catch up on the classics but don't know where to start.

[Guest LooseCannon]

I'd probably recommend fight club.  I haven't read that specific book, but I read Choke which is another of his books and is very good.

 

I'd also recommend American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.  Also by Ellis, The Rules of Attraction and Glamorama are both also very good and are currently being made into movies.  I'd probably read Rules of Attraction first, as its kind of an easier read than the other two, and would help you become acclimated to his style.  Also all three books have the same characters (esp. Rules of Attraction and Glamorama) and Rules of Attraction occurs first chronologically.

[Guest starvenger]

Read Elmore Leonard's "Out of Sight" and "Get Shorty" to start.  As fun as the movies are, the books are great as well.

 

I'd also recommend Lord Of the Rings if you're into fantasy.  And if you liked Lord of the Rings, Terry Brooks' Shannara books is another excellent fantasy series.  Start with Sword of Shannara and go from there.

 

Finally, The Running Man (Stephen King as Richard Bachman) is much, MUCH better than the movie.

[Guest dreamer420]

Dawn, I was going to suggest Leonard.  A few of his books have made successfuls jumps to the bigscreen.

 

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one that I would put high on my list of great books that have made the transition to film.

[Guest Kwik]

The Running Man was basically a different story than the movie, there had to be major adaptations to that one before Arnold got the part there.  

If you're looking for other books that spawned movies, I'd look at both "It" and "The Stand".  Both were better, in my opinion, than the movies/miniseries that came from them, but they are both very long, if excellent, reads.

[Guest Narcoleptic Jumper]

A Clockwork Orange.

[Guest Kinetic]

As far as I know, no Kurt Vonnegut Jr. novels have been made into good movies.  "Slaughterhouse-Five" maybe, but I can't personally attest to that.  Nonetheless, Vonnegut is a fucking awesome writer and you'd be doing yourself a major favor by picking up anything he's written.

[Guest Prime Time Andrew Doyle]

I Would say "The Rainmaker","A Time to Kill" and "The Firm" by John Grisham are fairly good books

[Guest Anorak]

Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson is a great book by a great writer which was made into a film a couple of years back. I have not seen the film but it's meant to be pretty good from what i have heard. Another great Denis Johnson novel, 'Already Dead', is brilliant as well but i just can't imagine them making it into a film which would do it any justice. Jesus' Son was a good choice for an adaption. 'Fight Club' is worth reading as well.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

A Clockwork Orange.

I'd definitely recommend A Clockwork Orange, although there are actually two different versions of the book.  The original American printing only had 20 chapters instead of author Anthony Burgess' original 21.  Kubrick's movie is also based on this 20 chapter version.  I've never read the 21 chapter version, but since it's the authors original, unabridged intentions, it's probably the version to read.