From page to screen – the finest movies based on the greatest books are being shown throughout April and May on Film4. Showcasing a selection of award-winning films that have been adapted from books, including the Oscar-winning LA Confidential, from the novel by James Ellroy, The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger, Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks, Brick Lane by Monica Ali, and The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham.
The season contains many titles which previously appeared in the Guardian’s Top 50 Greatest Books Ever Filmed. So why not read along and rediscover some of these great classic and uncover some new ones!
We’ve also started a Forum topic called ‘Great Adaptations’ so that you can have your say on which books made better films, which should have been left as books, and which books would benefit from a big-screen makeover!
| LA Confidential By: James Ellroy    | All Books Just £3.75 A crime novel set in Los Angeles, Christmas, 1951. Six prisoners are beaten senseless by corrupt, drunken LAPD officers. The men's careers subsequently come under close scrutiny, revealing a monolithic network of brutal violence and immorality. | Master and Commander By: Patrick O'Brian  | All Books Just £3.75 It is the dawn of the 19th century; Jack Aubrey, a young lieutenant in Nelson's navy, has been promoted to captain, and inherits command of HMS Sophie. A brave and gifted seaman, Aubrey's thirst for adventure and glory is satisfied as he embarks on thrilling battles with his crew. |
| Trainspotting By: Irvine Welsh   | All Books Just £3.75 One of Danny Boyle's first big hits looking at life in the dark underside of Edinburgh, through the jaded eyes and harsh vernacular of heroin addict Mark Renton, who is sick of his friends, sick with the city and its deserted docklands, and above all sick with himself. | Slumdog Millionaire By: Vikas Swarup  | All Books Just £3.75 Danny Boyle's newest Oscar winning hit, tells the tale of former tea boy Ram Mohammad Thomas has got twelve questions correct on a TV quiz-show to win a cool one billion rupees. But he is brutally slung in prison on suspicion of cheating. In the order of the questions on the show, this title tells us which amazing adventures in his street-kid life gave him the answers. |
| Shawshank Redemption By: Stephen King  | All Books Just £3.75 Consisting of a group of four novellas, the title story looks closely at the friendship that develops between a wrongly imprisoned man and a lifer. Triumphing over adversity, this touching story was made into a Hollywood blockbuster staring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. | The Motorcycle Diaries By: Che Ernesto Guevara  | All Books Just £3.75 The film tie-in edition of the established modern classic. In January 1952, two young men from Buenos Aires set out to explore South America on 'La Poderosa', the Powerful One: a 500cc Norton. One of them was the twenty-three-year-old Che Guevara. Written eight years before the Cuban Revolution, these are Che's diaries - full of disasters and discoveries, high drama, low comedy and laddish improvisations. |
| A Room with a View By: E.M. Forster  | All Books Just £3.75 Set in Florence and Surrey, this book depicts the struggle for the soul of its heroine, Lucy Honeychurch. It examines the English abroad, at home and in the country as Lucy's sincere feelings are contrasted with her prudish cousin Charlotte, her supercilious fiance and the unconventional Emersons. | And When Did You Last See Your Father? By: Blake Morrison  | All Books Just £3.75 First published in 1993, Blake Morrison's 'And When Did You Last See Your Father?' is an extraordinary portrait of family life, father-son relationships and bereavement. It became a bestseller, and inspired a whole genre of confessional memoirs. |