Book recommendations based off of movies? new to novels..

[darrelld]

I usually read poetry, always have. Been trying to find a good book but nothing has really caught my eye and idk authors. Movie wise im fond of your typical love story between two extremely unlikely people. Not some much the picture perfect Nicholas Sparks novels. For instance i love the movie garden state and one of my fav. movies is Mozart and The wale. Its about a high function autistic person who runs a support group. hes obsessed with numbers and probability and a new person has to join his group and she basically takes life as it comes and is highly impulsive. Never the less neither of them seem to fit in anywhere except for with each other and they make it work almost balancing each other out.

Well if anyone knows of any books like that pleeeaasseee pass it on =) much obliged! btw another of my fav movies is eternal sunshine on the spotless mind. (just incase there isint that many of the unlikely couples genre. Thank youuu!!

[bleachededen]

Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series, which is what the film The Golden Compass comes from. The movie is heavily altered and aimed more at children, but the actual books are anything but children's literature. They are beautiful and captivating and I have to admit that the main heroine, Lyra, is my personal hero.

I'd also recommend anything by Chuck Pahliniuk (Fight Club, Choke, Lullaby), whose couples fit your "unlikely" category, and definitely Neil Gaiman, whose book Coraline was made into a wonderful little movie in the style of The Nightmare Before Christmas (I'm watching it now ) Of his works, I'd most recommend Neverwhere or his co-authored Good Omens with Terry Pratchett. American Gods is also an amazing read.

Something more classic but still wonderful reads are Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude or Love in the Time of Cholera. I think you'd like magical realism, based on Eternal Sunshine, which has magical realism elements to it.

Hope that helps...I'm sure many others will jump to your aid and give you far more wonderful suggestions. Happy reading!

[darrelld]

i wrote all of them down ill check them all out next time i go to barnes and noble for a few hours lol. I do LOVE fight club so ill diff give him a good hard look. and im glad someone knew what eternal sunshine on the spotless mind was.. usually whenever i say that people are like... Whatttt??? haha. but yeah i like your typical story of two people who are both going through a hard time and just seem like they dont fit in anywhere but with eachother. ^mozart and the wale^ i figure that plot line makes good movies.. its gotta make a good book!!!

[wilde]

"Shutter Island" is a good book. It's got a million plot twists and turns, so you have to make sure you keep up. But it's a fantastic novel, one of my favorites. The movie was pretty good too.

[caseyjo]

Here are some books based on your movie choices....that were also made into movies. I enjoyed "Memoirs of a Geisha," it was a quick read that certainly seems to fit the bill. "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman is a fairy tale for adults dealing with the romance between a young man and a star who falls down to earth and becomes a woman; the movie was quite good as well. "Clueless" is based on Jane Austen's "Emma." Actually, Austen seems to be the quintessential "unlikely love story" writer, although many contemporary readers don't seem to pick up on her bitingly funny satire. "Bridget Jone's Diary" (the film is based on a book, which is well worth reading as it's so quick to read) is based on "Pride and Prejudice," which is both a classic and a fun read. I don't know if you're down to read some non-fiction, but biographies of kings and queens are often rife with scandalous affairs.

BUT, I would say that, quite often, the things you like about novels aren't what you like about films. I love thriller novels, but I'm not a huge fan of horror movies. And sometimes, the books that you love aren't exactly the ones you'd expect to even like. For example, a friend told me I had to read "Ender's Game." I looked at the back and thought, "wow, a book about kids in space, sounds kind of boring." I couldn't have been more wrong. My advice is to read widely.

[missyannlala]

Don't forget about the Stephen King novels! My personal favorites are, the shining, dreamcatcher, and misery!

oh and i'm currently reading Atonement.