Best-Selling Books to Blockbuster Movies

By Pamela

Two of my favorite pastimes are reading books and watching movies. So when those two passions collide, it's a good thing--somewhere between chocolate/caramel and Dubliner cheese/apples.

Last week I saw the movie Begin Again and today I'm already aligning my calendar and commitments so I might see it again.

Yes, it's that good and, as a writer, I could relate to the underlying current of artist vs. business that runs throughout the movie. I'll not spoil the ending, but it's a must-see for any creative spirit. During the trailers, we got a look at some upcoming movies which prompted this post: three books that I've LOVED are soon-to-be movies. If you haven't read these titles, I encourage you to read them before seeing the movie. If, like me, it's been years since you've read The Giver, reread it.

The Giver | Opens August 15

Over 15 years ago, I read Lois Lowry's Newbery Medal winner The Giver and have reread it a few times. In anticipation of the movie's release (what took them so long?), I'm reading it again with my book club at the retirement home. My sons read it for their English class, my 10-year-old read it recently and my 30-year-old niece said she reads it every few years. So, I'm really jazzed to see Meryl Streep step into this project of a dystopian society that has such a mass readership. 

Gone Girl | October 3

I read Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl over a year ago and spent days contemplating the story. How does her husband sleep next to her? I thought of the author. Why did she end it like that? I wondered. After I mulled the story around, I knew it was a perfect telling of a marriage where one spouse is a sociopath. I learned recently that Flynn not only wrote the screenplay, but she changed the ending! I'm not sure if that's in response to readers' reactions or simply it better fit the parameters of telling the story on the screen, but that makes me want to see the movie even more. Which could likely be the real reason she changed the ending!

Wild | December 5

I read Cheryl Strayed's captivating memoir Wild last year, too, and at the time never thought about the prospects of making it a movie. In April last year, Susan, Joan and I went to see Cheryl at the DMA and learned more about Reese Witherspoon's production company making the story a film with Reese portraying Cheryl. Last week I watched the trailer for the first time and thought Reese the perfect person for the role (which I didn't at first, even though I thought she did great in Mud).

 I'm almost giddy with anticipation. Aren't you?

Linklater's Boyhood Movie

by Joan

Every so often a book or movie comes along that is quiet yet profound, a story that makes you slam your back against the chair, stare at the ceiling and wonder how something so simple and understated can be so insightful. That book might be Cheryl Strayed’s Tiny Beautiful Things, Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry or Megan Mayhew Bergman’s Birds of a Lesser Paradise.

I’m a fan of Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise series, also simple and understated. Now in his latest achievement, Boyhood, writer-director Linklater delivers a brilliant look at a boy’s life from age six to eighteen. He filmed the movie over twelve years, a few days each year with the same actors, including Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, the director’s daughter, Lorelei Linklater, and Ellar Coltrane as the boy, Mason.

Watching  Mason navigate his dysfunctional world is a study in how life shapes us, how we’re deeply affected by our own decisions and by those around us, by our joys and mistakes and missteps.

When bowling gutter balls with his every-other-weekend dad (Ethan Hawke), Mason pleads for bumpers so he can knock down some pins. “You don’t want the bumpers,” his dad says. “Life doesn’t give you bumpers.” And Mason’s surely doesn’t.

Patricia Arquette ages on screen in a raw and heartbreaking role as she makes one bad decision after another, both for herself and her kids. Toward the end of the movie, she says goodbye to Mason as he leaves for college, reflecting on their years together. After divorcing three husbands, getting her degree and landing a teaching job, after birthdays and graduations, she thought there would be more. She is left staring at her final milestone: death.

It’s the type of movie you want to talk about, to text your son about, to see again. It’s the type of movie that makes you want to write an understated and insightful story of your own, a culmination of your experiences and heartaches, your joys and mistakes and missteps, your quiet life.

Sister life

by Joan

I’m fascinated by the idea that single moments in time affect destiny. A missed train, a lost letter, a betrayal, an un-forgiven insult, a lost job, a war; these are the heartaches and tragedies of fiction and life.

As writers, we understand the power of words. Words spoken and words left unsaid. Recently, the Good Men Project shared a post, “A First Love Found Me on Facebook 30 Years Later. What He Confessed Took My Breath Away,” written by Robin Rice, novelist and writer of this other moving essay. 

They had shared only one lovely night. It wasn’t until thirty years later that he said, “I thought about you constantly after that one date. For years it was daily. Then, because it was ruining my life, I forced it to an every week or so category. When I met my wife, maybe once every month.”

But he’d never told her. She's devotedly married, but still she wondered, “What might it have been like, had I known?”

In Tiny Beautiful Things Cheryl Strayed eloquently wrote, “I'll never know, and neither will you, of the life you don't choose. We'll only know that whatever that sister life was, it was important and beautiful and not ours. It was the ghost ship that didn't carry us. There's nothing to do but salute it from the shore.” 

I like to think there are infinite alternate universes where each sister life runs its course, where countless paths split like hairline cracks in ice.

Sometimes those life-changing moments consist of particular individual choices (this love or that?), others, decidedly intrusive decisions (such as for Philomena), still others, the affects of world events, such as the Depression or war. What might life have been like, if only...

What if Theo had not lifted The Goldfinch from The Met? What if Jacob Jankowski had jumped a different train, not served Water for Elephants? What if Briony had not told the lie, had no need for Atonement? What if Harold Fry had dropped Queenie’s letter in the postbox and walked a hundred yards back to the house instead of hundreds of miles through England? Different stories, of course.

In Life After Life, what if Ursula Todd had not died on that first snowy evening in 1910? Well here, at least, Kate Atkinson unveiled Ursula’s sister lives.  

Francine Prose powerfully wrote in The New York Times Book Review, “Life After Life makes the reader acutely conscious of an author’s power: how much the novelist can do. Kill a character, bring her back. Start a world war or prevent one. Bomb London, destroy Berlin. Write a scene from one point of view, then rewrite it from another. Try it this way, then that. Make your character perish in a bombed-out building during the blitz, then make her part of the rescue team that (in a scene with the same telling details) tries unsuccessfully to save her.”

Which single moment has changed your character's life? What if it had happened another way?

Bandon Beach, Oregon, photo by Rick Mora

Transformation

By Joan

Hair scraggly and dull, you slide into the swivel chair and peek at your neighbors, who, after all, are after the same thing you are. For a trim, highlighted locks or maybe an updated cut. A transformation.

While in the midst of lathering and snipping and drying, you hear lots of shop talk. Often you come out with a funny or tragic story, an appreciation for your own life, or some damn good advice.

I’ve been going to the same stylist since I moved to Texas. She’s changed salons a few times, but I follow her to wherever she hangs her blow dryer and flat iron. She does wonders with my crazy hair, is reliable and joyful, and tells engaging stories. After most visits, I leave the salon jaunty and uplifted, wishing my hair could look this good every day. 

Crazy 90s hair

While in her chair, I’ve heard about ghosts, heartbreaking events, hilarious holiday traditions and great one-liners. (“Anyone who uses the word suffer is mental.”)  

Today’s nugget from a neighboring stylist: 

“You can't please everyone. You have to remember who you are–don’t try to change for anyone.”

There’s a reason clichés are cliché. They are true. But sometimes I am brave and tell my stylist I want a new look.

As writers, what makes our writing unique is our own truth. We can’t change our past, can’t change our experiences that trickle into our own writing. But we can grow. We can change our future, if we are brave. 

As a writer still learning her craft, I know I must read widely and stretch out of my comfort zone. Susan recently introduced me to two brilliant authors: George Saunders and Cheryl Strayed. Talk about voice. Talk about change of style. I feel as though my hair has been tugged and braided and dyed platinum.

In the hands of a masterful author, your mind can be transformed just as an accomplished stylist would transform your hair. You learn truths and heartache, stretch and question your world view. Leave the chair with a new point of view.

On being a groupie

By Pamela

I've never been a People magazine subscriber. I'm not a fan of celebrity interviews, per se. Nor do I stalk follow many people on Facebook or Twitter I don't personally know, unless they have something interesting to say.

Pinewood Book Club members meet Julie Kibler!

To that end, I will admit that authors tend to draw me in, and I try to not pass up an opportunity to attend a book signing or talk by someone whose work I admire. This month, we in the Dallas area have been fortunate to have several authors stop through on tours.

Of course, Julie has been back in town, making the rounds to local stores. She was even gracious enough to spend a couple hours with my book club friends at my nearby retirement community. They read (or listened to) Calling Me Home this month and seemed to be delighted to have Julie discuss her story with them. The fact that Susan came, too, made it even more special.

Cheryl Strayed signs Joan's copy of Tiny Beautiful Things.

Last Tuesday Susan, Joan and I met at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) for an evening with Cheryl Strayed. I've read both Tiny Beautiful Things and Wild, so it was wonderful to hear Cheryl speak about her creative process.

Tonight, most of us from What Women Write will be back at the DMA to spend the evening with Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout, author of several books including Olive Kitteridge and her newly-released The Burgess Boys.

Even if you're not close to a big city where authors frequently stop, you can enjoy virtual tours via Facebook or their websites. Also, Oprah's OWN featured her interview with Cheryl Strayed yesterday. My mother, who lives several states away, was able to watch Cheryl's interview, giving us something to share over the miles--a treat for us both.

We'll keep posting about authors as they cross our paths and would love to hear about your experiences, too. As for me, I've dedicated a special section of my bookshelf for my autographed books. Not only did I treasure the stories they told, but each also holds a memory of the time I met the author--typically while in the company of my dear friends.

Me with Susan and Joan at the Cheryl Strayed event. 

Author Event: Let there be cake balls and scones

by Joan

Julie Kibler on Calling Me Home

I love book signings. I love meeting the authors of my favorite books, hearing the stories behind the stories and, yes, dreaming of a time when the one at the podium might be me. 

Long before our own Julie Kibler’s book came out I told her I wanted to host a signing at my house. Though I’ve only been in Dallas for eight years, I’ve made pockets of friends here and there and wanted to get a chance to spread the word about Calling Me Home. Plus I love to entertain, especially when there will be sugar involved.

Dallas friends at the Mora's house

We had a nice turnout, great conversation and just the right amount of books. Julie told the rapt group about the seeds of the story, her grandmother’s doomed relationship with a black man in a sundown town, and about her journey to publication.

Pamela's scrumptious cake balls

Pamela made gorgeous cake balls, Elizabeth made decadent scones and clotted cream, and my husband graciously agreed to shoot the photos.

As writers, we gravitate to book events. In fact, over the next month, at least 3 or more of us are going to see Cheryl Strayed, Elizabeth Strout and George Saunders at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Over the past several years, several of us have seen KathrynStockett, Vanessa Diffenbaugh, Chris Cleave, John Irving and Jamie Ford to name a few.

Thanks, Julie, for treating my friends to a great day!

Tell us about your favorite author events. 

photo credits, Rick Mora

Our Best Reads of 2012

By Kim

Are you looking for something great to read over the holidays (or next year)? The contributors here at What Women Write have some recommendations for you. Here are our top picks for 2012.

My picks:

This was the year I discovered author Alyson Richman, and quickly devoured everything she has written. Here is my review of her unforgettable novel, The Lost Wife. The Last Van Gogh and The Rhythm of Memory were also fabulous. I will read anything she writes.

The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons. You’ll see a link to Joan’s review of the novel in her list. We agree on a lot of books!

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom. This novel is about a young Irish girl who was brought to a plantation as an indentured servant and raised by the slaves. It is amazing. Have tissues handy! I nearly threw the book across the room once because I was so infuriated by one of the characters. Yes, I cared that much. See my review here.

Bridge of Scarlet Leaves by Kristina McMorris – A white woman marries a Japanese man on the eve of Pearl Harbor and follows him when he is interred in a relocation camp. I could not put this book down.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain – This novel tells the story of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson, mostly during their time in Paris. The book was engrossing! Are you a Hemingway fan? The Paris Wife will cover the beginning of his relationship with his second wife. If you want his story to continue beyond the scope of that novel, check out Erika Robuck’s Hemingway’s Girl, which is also well worth picking up.

Joan's picks:

The House at Tyneford – Natasha Solomons, a glorious cross of Downton Abbey and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. See my review here.

Birds of a Lesser Paradise – Megan Mayhew Bergman, needle-sharp prose with wit and charm and raw truth. See my review here.

The Weird Sisters – Eleanor Brown, three quirky sisters in a book loaded with Shakespeare themes and quotes. Splendid.

The Light Between Oceans – M.L. Stedman, picture perfect plot with flawed, tragic characters. See my review here.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Rachel Joyce (interview set for Dec 31). By the middle of the book, you'll want to hop on a plane and join Harold traversing the English countryside.

Susan's picks:

When I like a book, I usually find everything by that author and devour it in quick succession. Here are some authors I chose this year:

Cheryl Strayed - Like a whole lot of Americans--including Oprah, who reinvented her book club because of this memoir-- I fell in love with Cheryl Strayed's raw honesty and beautifully powerful writing this year. I can't recommend Wild enough. At the same time, I adored Tiny Beautiful Things as well, her compilation of advice columns written as Dear Sugar, from therumpus.net. Next on my list? Her 2007 novel, Torch.

Ron Rash - I started with The Cove, which is just an incredible novel. It was released in April of this year and I highly recommend it. Then I devoured Serena. (The film will be released in 2013 and stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper.) I ended up doing a complete study of Serena-- almost a chapter by chapter book report-- because it is so well-crafted. Ron Rash is a great southern writer, and I'm amazed more people haven't read his works. I also picked up his latest poetry compilation, Waking, which came out in 2011. He's published four collections of short stories, three books of poetry, and five novels.

Thomas Merton - I've read Merton for years, and keep discovering more and more depth to this amazing monk's body of work. He published well over sixty books and hundreds of poems. A good place to start with him is his debut, The Seven Storey Mountain. Follow it up with No Man is an Island. I reread both of these books this year and really consider them to be required reading, and re-reading.

Pamela's picks:

After a quick glance at GoodReads, to remind myself what I’d read this year, I have a list of my favorites to include here. First I’ll start with the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins and say that the books certainly lived up to my expectations. Not one to often read YA, I devoured this series and fully appreciate all the buzz it garnered.

My favorite middle grade book was shared with my fourth grader, and we both loved Wonder by RJ Palacio so much that we bought extra copies for her school and for friends and family. A sure sign of an awesome story.

I’m in two book clubs right now and, through one, finally read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout—great character and wonderful story-telling—and What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty, a lovely story of how our memories affect how we view the world and those around us.

Susan recommended Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and Tiny, Beautiful Things and both top my list for non-fiction this year. Both very different stories; both gorgeous and utterly heart-wrenchingly honest.

Best book-to-movie I read this year has to be The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick. Loved the movie with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Loved the book even more. (If you’re looking for a book for a young adult male, this is IT! But it’s really perfect for anyone who loves a good story.) Matthew is a genius at developing a character so flawed and damaged yet unbelievably lovable and courageous. I can’t wait to read it again. Bravo!

Julie's picks:

The Land of Decoration by Grace McLeen This was a dark, dark story. With a unique hook (a child creates a fantasy world—both literally and figuratively—as an emotional escape from bullying and neglect) and a believable ten-year-old narrator (though NOT a book for tweens—it was almost more than even my 18-year-old could handle emotionally), The Land of Decoration was highly accessible yet painstakingly crafted.

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan Sullivan compelled me to read about characters who weren't very likable for a lot of pages (528!) while never feeling it was a burden to do so. In fact, I began to care deeply about each one before too long. A very interesting character study and family history. Maine, to me, was reminiscent of family sagas by Rosamunde Pilcher or Maeve Binchy, only from an American perspective.

Gold by Chris Cleave - I haven't read a book by Cleave I haven't loved, and this autographed copy I picked up at his Dallas Museum of Arts event was no exception. Cleave also creates characters who aren't necessarily likable and makes you care about them more than you ever imagined you might. Cleave injects each of his stories with heart-pounding suspense, and the Olympic cyclist training setting in Gold lends well to that.

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian I was highly affected by Bohjalian's Skeletons at the Feast a few years ago, and he delivered a story on that level again in The Sandcastle Girls. The subject of the Armenian genocide hasn't been explored much in fiction, and here, Bohjalian combines meticulous research with the inspiration of his own family history to deliver a heartbreaking, unforgettable tale.

I read a lot of books by friends this year. I loved nearly all of them. If I tried to list them, we'd be here all day and I'd leave someone out. HOWEVER ... I will mention one debut I absolutely loved because it releases December 25 and you should read it: The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman. Ellen brings family history and her many personal experiences of visiting Germany to this story of an ordinary German teenager who falls in love with a Jewish boy during the Holocaust and risks her life to save him. But it is so much more than that. The Plum Tree is social commentary on collective guilt and a fascinating look at life for everyday German citizens during World War II. Ellen's prose is gorgeous, her setting notes are stunning, and her story is both devastating and hopeful. It officially releases Christmas Day, but I've heard rumors that it's popping up in stores here and there already, and it's not too late to order it in time to read it before the holidays end.

Elizabeth's picks:

I’ve had sort of a weird reading year. I know there were books I loved when I read them last winter, but as I scour my brain to remember them, I find I can’t. I know I had a frustrating stretch in the summer, picking up books that were readable, sure, but less than satisfying, and like cotton candy, taken in and then instantly gone. But I do recall that the cycle was broken when I picked up That Thing Around Your Neck, a collection of short stories by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche. I quickly hunted down a novel she’d written, Half of a Yellow Sun, and then finished up with Purple Hibiscus, which was actually her debut novel. Now I’ll read every word she writes, have thrust copies of her books into hands of strangers at the bookstore, and forced them to log her name in their phones. I sent my sister-in-law copies of two of them for Christmas. And I eagerly await whatever she writes next.

At our retreat, I was treated to a great novel, The Story of Beautiful Girl, by Rachel Simon. Not only did it provide many wonderful quiet moments at the lake house, but also informed the work I was doing there in a number of ways. So that was a treat too.

Now I’m finishing the year with some old favorites. I just reread two Anne Tyler novels, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant and Saint Maybe (which was the very first Tyler I read, over 20 years ago), and as I usually do in December, am reading Maeve Binchy’s This Year It Will Be Different, a collection of Christmas stories I read at least once a year, usually seasonally. It’s bittersweet this year, as Maeve is no longer with us, but a wonderful reminder that writing secures us a place in forever.

Do you have any recommendations for us? Leave a comment and tell us about them!