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Hi everyone! Welcome to our February book discussion!

Each month we'll announce the theme and you choose the book you want to read.

The Oscars are coming soon, so this month we will discuss books that were made into movies. If possible, pick a book that was adapted into a movie you’ve seen in the past or can see before/during/after reading, so we can compare and contrast. Remember, you can check out DVDs for free at your local DC Public Library!

Here are a few things to get you started thinking as you read:
Obvious question: which was better and why?
What about the book made it translatable into another medium?
What types of book make for a good film?
Were there parts of the book that were essentially unfilmable and therefore left out?

Check out our Page to Screen bookshelf for ideas, or pick a book from below.

Books that became 2012 Best Picture Nominees:
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Other books that were made into recent films:
One For The Money by Janet Evanovich
The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell

For everyone who declared their love for YA/Crossover fiction in our December discussion:
Any of the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Push by Sapphire
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

Please post a comment letting us all know what you plan to read and suggesting any book/movie combos you’ve particularly enjoyed or think would make for interesting discussion.

I would suggest The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This book/movie combo is particularly interesting because the author wrote the screenplay and directed the movie.

Since you are talking about the Oscars, I would suggest reading Q & A, which was turned into the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire" (In fact, I believe DCPL has the book under Slumdog Millionaire). Both are pretty good, but despite having a similar plot (poor Indian boy goes on a show not unlike "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire"), the stories do take different turns (ex. religion is a big deal in the book, but not in the movie).

Catch Me If You Can was a great read and the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio was very good too.

As I mentioned in another thread, I truly enjoyed "The Descendants" by Kaui Hart Hemmings. Both book and movie (starring George Clooney) were well done. I am really intrigued about reading "Cloud Atlas" and missed the movie when it was in theaters (although I wonder whether the concepts in the book may be so dense that I may disengage from the story. I'm a big "Hunger Games" trilogy fan (well, the 1st 2 books especially) and was excited about the movie although it was a little lacking in some areas. Still, I'm anxious to see "Catching Fire" and hope that it improves upon the first!

Added all of the above to our bookshelf! I had forgotten that Catch Me If You Can was a book first.

I'm having a hard time deciding what to read. I've been meaning to read The Virgin Suicides for years, and this seems like a good push to finally do it. Especially as I was recently underwhelmed by The Marriage Plot and want to give Eugenides another chance, but am not yet ready to take up Middlesex.

But, I keep hearing good things aboutThe Descendants, and I loved the movie. Plus, I don't think I've ever read anything by a Hawaiian author.

I'm going to try to post a picture of our Page to Screen display here at Georgetown --we'll see if it works!

Also, if anyone reads Spanish and wants to challenge themselves, DCPL owns The Secret in Their Eyes in English and the original Spanish, plus the movie which I highly recommend!

So I'm going with The Virgin Suicides after all, and if there is time I'll try to read The Descendants as well. Anyone else settle on a book/movie combo?

I'm reading World War Z in preparation for the movie. Should be great!

Zombies rule! I'm awaiting my copy of Warm Bodies that I put on hold forever ago (at least it feels that way since I'm so excited to read/watch it).

I'm almost done with Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, one of the few times in my life that I've seen the movie and then read the book. Loving it so far, and I think it might actually work for non-baseball fans as well.
I think I might try It's Kind of a Funny Story after that, as I've read very, very little YA in recent years, anyone read this one?

Maria wrote: "So I'm going with The Virgin Suicides after all, and if there is time I'll try to read The Descendants as well. Anyone else settle on a book/movie combo?"

I haven't picked one yet, but Virgin Suicides is an excellent book, which the film captured the tone of quite well. I'd suggest people check out True Grit, which is one of the best books I've read in the last five years -- possibly my favorite female character of all time.

Another good source for this topic is looking at past nominees for Academy Award for , which usually includes some novels, as well as short stories, graphic novels, etc.

I'm going to go ahead and put in a plug for a real oldie... The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Many people think that this has only been adapted once into a movie, the most recent attempt with James McAvoy as Mr. Tumnus. But really, BBS did another version in 1988. It may just be that I grew up with this version, complete with animatronics, live action and animation, but I far preferred it to the new one.

I can finally remove Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game from my long list of things I've been meaning to read/watch. Many of the reviews I've seen have said something along the lines of not needing to be baseball fans to enjoy this book, but I couldn't be the judge of that statement. As a baseball fan, I absolutely loved the inside look into the business of the game. I'm also a sucker for underdog stories, so this one pretty much had me covered.

I found the afterword Michael Lewis included in the paperback especially amusing, as he addresses many of his critics' attacks on the book, detailing the ways in which the detractors showcase how they had not, in fact, read the book.

As far as the movie adaptation went, I enjoyed it almost equally, although that's not surprising, when you take Lewis' strong foundation and hand the screenplay off to Aaron Sorkin and company. Both Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill (playing it straight for once) are exceptional in their roles, and it's not surprising that it garnered Oscar attention (although no wins).

Tony--I took your suggestion with True Grit, I'm going to re-watch the Cohen brothers' version and let you know what I thought...

I chose Winter's Bone and Mystic River, some light and cheerful reading to brighten the dead of winter!

I read We Need to Talk About Kevin this month and loved it. I still haven't seen the movie, but do have it on hold at the library. It will be interesting to see how the epistolary novel translates to the screen.

A few years ago I saw Charlie Wilson's War, and thought the story and acting were phenomenal, and then I read the book by George Crile (Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times) and was blown away. Even though the movie was very well done, there was just so much more material covered by the book. It's one of the few times where I've read the book after seeing the movie, and thought the book was better.