Books that should be movies

Not to be confused with movies that should have stayed books. Obviously.

I am not a 'mainstream reader' whatever the hell that is. I do not really like Chick Lit. I prefer my reading material multi levelled with a generous helping of snark. My favourite authors include Robertson Davies, Kyril Bonfiglioli, & Anne Rice. I also like to read biographies & books about comparative religion. But that's just me.

When it comes to movies I like black humour or supernatural thrillers mainly but I also like some movies for the way they look or the subject matter - for example, Skeleton Key because it is set in Louisiana & is about Voodoo, even though it is fluffy. Occasionally, the planets align & all of these factors create a subset into the perfect movie - Drop Dead Gorgeous, the Big Lebowski, Practical Magic or The Exorcist. Warning: Love Actually is not for me.

There are a number of novels that I believe would be brilliant on the big screen, and they are;


Written by John Kennedy Toole, & published at the insistence of his mother, 11 years after his suicide. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1981. Set in New Orleans (my favourite) it details the story of the outrageous Ignatius Reilly, an educated intellectual mummy's boy slob, prone to ranting & insurgency, who is reduced to selling hot dogs. The story is set in the early 60's & is filled with hysterical characters. As I read this I found myself casting Will Ferrel in the role of Ignatius, & was happy to see on the Internet that a movie of this novel is 'in development hell' & already has him signed. Unfortunately it's been in development hell for a loooong time, & no one knows when it is actually going ahead. Shame. I hope filming commences before Will Ferrel loses interest.


The Mortdecai Trilogy.
Kyril Bonfiglioli wrote 4 books (3 make up the trilogy, the last published separately) featuring Charlie Mortdecai, fictional art dealer, minor aristocracy, ex British secret service, sexually ambiguous anti hero with occasional psychopathic tendencies, who with his thug/manservant Jock Strapp skip through all manner of adventures. These books read very much like PD Wodehouse, with Charlie & Jock very similar to Bertie Wooster & Jeeves. The books are laugh out loud dry satire. I had heard a rumour that Hugh Laurie was interested in playing Charlie Mortdecai, & I think that would probably work, if a movie ever goes ahead. One book alone would make an excellent film, maybe there is an opportunity for a franchise? Looking at you, Guy Ritchie! (don't click to look inside the cover, I got the image from Amazon).



My most favourite of favourite Ann Rice novels, & it's not about vampires! It is a saga spanning 13 generations of the extremely interesting, rich & powerful Mayfair Witches who cannot seem to escape their fate; the spirit that haunts them, & the story of The Talamasca, an ancient occult investigative organisation. Anne Rice's rich text transports you from Scotland to Amsterdam to St Domingue to New Orleans (of course), with luscious characters, houses, & scenery. Apparently there were plans to turn this large trilogy into a 12 hour miniseries, but this plan was first put on hold while Anne Rice embraced Catholicism (& thereby refusing any production on any occult material she had written, before changing her religion a few years later) & eventually evaporated after a change of studio head. Booo!! There is a movie of this name starring Micheal Madsen (you remember, the ear cutter from Reservoir Dogs) but it has nothing to do with the Mayfair Witches. It is a very popular 2am drunken conversation - who would play who in a movie of this book. Please not Tom Cruise.




The Lyre of Orpheus
No, not the Nick Cave song. This is the last in The Cornish Trilogy (gosh I love trilogies, don't I?) written by Canadian Literary Darling, Robertson Davies. All 3 books are awesome, but this is the first one I read & it certainly stands alone. It is about a collection of characters who are putting on a theatrical production of the Arthur of Camelot legend. The story works on many levels, & the characters unwittingly act out their own version of the myth. There are gypsies, ghosts, lesbians & all manner of love affairs. It is one of those reads that makes you laugh and think, I love it. I was so sad when Robertson Davies died, I cried. True.




The Lost Book of Salem
Sensing a theme? Well this isn't a trilogy. Written by Katherine Howe about a multi generational family of witches, the novel jumps back & forth between the 17th century & the present day. It tells the story of a woman who was hung as a witch, as well as her descendant, Connie, who is sitting for her PHD thesis (subject: Salem witch trials, yet she doesn't believe in witchcraft).. there is an old house, a love interest, some history & a treasure hunt for a missing book. It is not as heavy going as some of my other choices, but is a definite page turner & almost feels as if it was written for the screen. In the US this was published as The Physik Book of Deliverance Dane.





The Kingdom Beyond the Waves
I don't normally go for science fiction, & I cannot even explain why I read this massive doorstop of a book written by Stephen Hunt, but I did, & even more - I loved it. A group of misfits (a Craynarbian crab woman, a steam punk robot man, & an archaeology professor, a lady who magicians manipulated before she was born to have giant arms) are directed by some dodgy politicians & familial passive aggressiveness to go off on a journey to seek the mythical land of Camlantis, via submarine. I know! You are hooked already, right? There are all manner of surprising twists & turns, before the whole journey ends with everyone in hot air balloons, making you wish this was a bloody trilogy. I loved the disapproving housekeeper who is actually a crack assassin, although I can't remember if she was biological or machine.

So there you have it. Would you agree with any of these novels being turned into movies? Who would you cast as the leads? Or do you have your own ideas about your favourite books?

xx