
One of my favorite books of the last year or so is Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls, a somber middle grade book about a boy whose mother fights a losing battle with cancer and that features the seriously amazing artwork of Jim Kay. (check out Jo's interview with Jim Kay over at Wear the Old Coat) The black, white, and gray of the illustrations completely captures the dark emotional tones of the book. I'd love to see this book made into a movie, and the perfect people to do it are...

Remember how awesome Groundhog Day is? Well I definitely do, seeing as I know every word to it. ("Too early for flapjacks?") A book with a similar premise is Replay by Ken Grimwood, which was actually written prior to GH, in the 1980s. Replay finds the protagonist dead in his forties. He keeps replaying a large portion of his life, a tiny bit shorter each time. This would make a perfect television show--sort of a mixture of The Pretender and Being Erica. The replayer can basically make new decisions and experience a different life every time. I'm still up in the air about whether I'd want each episode to be a replay or each season. Or it could all just be wrapped up into one kickass movie. Gary Ross can direct it. |

FREEEEEDOOOOOOM! What? Oh, sorry, I was just channeling William Wallace. I might just be being selfish right now, but I truly think that Trinity as a movie could do for Ireland what Braveheart did for Scotland. Badass hero? Check. Patriotism? Check. Romance battled with the cause? Check. THOSE ENGLISH BASTARDS? Check. (Note: I am not making light of Northern Ireland's troubles. That's not funny.) But really, Irish guys are hot and the country deserves an epic movie to make everyone remember how amazing their country is. Plus, there are heaps of Irish musicians who can play sad, sad music to make people weep their eyes out while they're watching. Or fill their hearts with utter joy. Thanks, Ireland!

Since I am constantly mourning with my fellow Browncoats about the end of Firefly, I think a lot of those people would love a television series of either the Veneficas Americana series by M.K. Hobson or Ann Aguirre's Sirantha Jax series. The former is not set in space but it has a similar genre mashup that Firefly fans would love and that rogue rebellious feeling. Grimspace is more similar to Firefly in terms of a ragtag crew, a transport ship, being set in futuristic space, and awkward sexual tension. There's more technology in Grimspace, though. In my dreams, the entire Firefly production team would band back together and adapt these series to weekly television shows.
Movie: The Fault in Our Stars (or any John Green), Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Raw Blue, The Piper's Son, Elantris, Ender's Game, Cinder, Angelfall, Hold Me Closer Necromancer, SEP (Lifetime), Blood Red Road, Stolen, The Long Walk, Little Bee, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, The Maze Runner, Heartsick, In The Woods, Outlander, The Marbury Lens, The Game.
Television Series: Taming the Forest King, Graffiti Moon, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Thursday Next, In Death, I Hunt Killers, Curse Workers, Stray, Galahad, Grant County, Chicagoland, Fever, Immortals, Dairy Queen, Finnikin, Dark Life, Life As We Knew It, Gone series, Vampire Academy, Poison Study, Graceling, Jessica Darling, Ruby Oliver, Stork, Eon, Queen's Thief, Circle of Magic, Uglies series
I mean... Cleopatra? Battlefield Earth? Waterworld, FFS? I don't think I need to remind you guys of how horrifically the movie industry is capable of destroying everything we hold dear as readers. Which is why I am only willing for certain people to adapt the books I'm about to suggest.
Suggestion #1: Studio Ghibli, I would like you to meet Plain Kate by Erin Bow.
And I can see every minute of Plain Kate as a Studio Ghibli film - from the seemingly unspectacular heroine with a hidden talent, to the tricky villain with very grey motivations, to the band of gypsies who accompany our girl on her quest, to the talking cat. I think that Studio Ghibli would hit everything about this book just right: the beautiful environment, the intricate detail of Kate's woodworking, and the devastating grief that underlies the whole story.
Suggestion #2: Tim Burton & Co., I would like you to meet China Miéville
I can also see Tim Burton & Co. succeeding with a live-action adaptation of Catherynne M. Valente's The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.
Suggestion #3: Peter Jackson & Co., I'd like you to meet Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
And my last pick is one that is apparently going to get made. It was recently announced that Paramount is reviving plans to make a film adaptation of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. Which could either be amazing, or my worst nightmare. This is another epically visual story, which moves in and out of a highly imaginative virtual realm. It's been reported that Joe Cornish, an English writer/director (Attack of the Block, The Adventures of Tin Tin) who I had never previously heard of will be writing the screenplay and directing. I am extremely nervous about this, but I still hope that the project moves forward and that this thing gets made. If nothing else, I will have new fodder for a scathing book vs. movie post in a couple of years.