Unlike the holiday season, when studios are eager to release movies with somewhat decent plots copied from sometimes decent books, summer movies tend to get their ideas from other movies. There will be, of course, some that come from books, but this does not do a lot for the books’ circulation. Here’s a rundown of how this summer’s books-into- movies are faring as the summer box offices open for business.
A Slipping-Down Life by Anne Tyler
1 – Available
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (English) by J. K. Rowling
5 – Available
10 – Checked out
4 – Missing
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Spanish) by J. K. Rowling
3 – Available
1 – Checked out
The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
Not Available
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
1 – Available
1 – Missing
A Widow for One Year by John Irving (inspired the film The Door in the Floor)
1 – Available
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
2 – Available
1 – Missing
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
5 – Available
1 – Checked out
The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum
1 – Checked out
A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham
Not Available
Princess in the Spotlight by Meg Cabot (inspired the film The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement)
2 – Available
3 – Checked out
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
1 – Available
Notable Librarians in Sometimes Notable Films:
Betty Lou, The Gun in Betty Lou’s Handbag (played by Penelope Ann Miller)
Bertha Anderson, Citizen Kane (played by Georgia Backus)
John Lewis, Only Two Can Play (played by Peter Sellers)
Alicia Hull, Storm Center (played by Bette Davis)
Lily, Lily of the Dust (played by Pola Negri)
Notable Library Scenes in Sometimes Notable Films:
Ghostbusters – New York Public Library is featured
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Philadelphia – Furness Building at the University of Pennsylvania is featured