>10 books that have been adapted into movies that have a great soundtrack in them…Oh and Lost too.

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How many movies can you think of that have a great sound track? Or how many movies can you think of that either referenced books, were about books, or were based on a book? I think the list would be endless. So many movies have been adapted to film. It makes me think about my last post, when I said I didn’t understand when people said they didn’t read! So I decided to do another list. This list is a little bit more broad in scope. Top 5 movies that have great music, books, or were adapted from a book…

1) High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby has the best of both world. Its a great book and the film adaptation is pretty dead on. For this list, its probably the best pick because, DING, DING, DING it has a killer soundtrack. So.. great soundtrack, all star cast, very funny book… What more could you ask for! The track at the end of the film “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)” by Stevie Wonder isespecially groovy.  If you love a good story, read the book, then watch the movie and enjoy the music. 

2) The Ninth Gate Directed by Roman Polanski. Is Based on the novel, Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte This movie and book made the cut just because of the lead character, played by Johnny Depp, is an antiquarian book scout. Not to mention the movie is based around a rare set of books that is said to open the Ninth Gate to hell. I wish I could cruise around looking for old books with a leather bag slung over my shoulder. I would be the book selling Indiana Jones!

3) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, was also adapted into a pretty spot on movie. This story is heartbreaking, and uplifting in so many ways, it made me proud to be a part of the human race. The movie follows the book pretty well, and is visually stunning I might add.

4) Lost What! Lost you say? That was a TV series! Yes it was, but out of all of these picks there isn’t a movie, or book for that matter, that references more books than this show did in 6 seasons! Pretty much every episode references a great book. My girlfriend and I used to play a drinking game when lost was on. It went as follows: Every time we saw a book on lost we would have to say if we had read it. The person who said they had read the book would have to give a quick book report. If they messed up they would have to drink. If neither of us had read it we would have to drink. Let me just say we got a pretty good buzz when lost was on. The TV show also had a great selection of music each episode. As you can find here soundtrack.

So here’s the list of the books of Lost. If you have read all of these, please get a hold of me because you hold the key to the universe. Or you at least understand Lost a little better than me….
The adventures of Tom Sawyer, After all these Years, Alice in Wonderland, Animal Farm, Are you there God? It’s Me, Margaret, Bad Twin, Bluebeard, Book of Laws, The Holy Bible, A Brief History of Time, The Brothers Karamazov, Caravan of Dreams, Carrie, Catch-22, A Christmas Carol, The Chosen, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Coalwood Way, Dark Horse, The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, Dirty Work, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Everything That Rises Must Converge, Evil Under the Sun, Fahrenheit 451, Fear and Trembling, Flowers For Algernon, The Fountainhead, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Harry Potter, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Heart of Darkness, High Hand, The Holy Qur’an, I Ching, The Invention of Morel, Ishmael, Island, Julius Caesar, Jurassic Park, Lancelot, Laughter in the Dark, Left Behind, The Little Prince, Lord of the Flies, Memoirs of a Geisha, Moby Dick, The Moon Pool, Mysteries of the Ancient Americas: The New World before Columbus, The Mysterious Island, Notes from the Underground, The Oath, Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, The Odyssey, Of Mice and Men, On the Road, On Writing, Our Mutual Friend, O Pioneers!, The Outsiders, The Pearl, Rainbow Six, Roots, A Separate Reality, The Shape of Things to Come, The Sheltering Sky, The Shining, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Stand, The Stone Leopard, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Survivors of the Chancellor, A Tale of Two Cities, The Third Policeman, Through the Looking-Glass, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Turn of the Screw, Ulysses, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Valhalla Rising, VALIS, Watership Down, What Katy Did, The Wizard of Oz, A Wrinkle in Time.
All of these can be found on my website. And a lot of the classics are free if you have a Kindle!

5) A Clockwork Orange another book turned into a movie The Movie was directed by Stanley Kubrick. Well Stanley’s been known to take artistic authority on most of his projects… So it makes for a good movie, but a bad book adaptation in my opinion. Still the book and movie are awesome. Who doesn’t like it when a jerk sees the error of his ways. If you haven’t read this book, or seen the movie do it!

6) Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh is one of the most disturbing books, I have ever read on drug addiction. “Hey lets be Scottish hooligans, and do heroin!” Regardless its a great book. The movie adaptation is just as disturbing if not more. Ewan Mcgreggors character screaming too his parents too “just give him one more hit!” Is disturbing on its own, and then the baby shows up.. The music in this movie is equally disturbing and awesome.

7) Pulp Fiction I mean this one is a no brainer. This movie has great screenplay and all star packed soundtrack Quentin Tarantino has always been good at picking the music for his movies. Nuff said..

8) Rushmore  directed by Wes Anderson. The reason why this movie is on this list is because of the soundtrack It is full of great music. The movie is great, but the soundtrack really ties the movie together. It sets the tone. Every Wes Anderson movie has this recipe. Drab kinda dpressing setting, with dry humor and a great soundtrack.

9) Heart of Darkness (Apocalypse Now) by Joseph Conrad and the film adaptation with the greats Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and Dennis Hopper, put this book on the map. Throw in the ever magnificent Doors “The End” at the start of the movie. And you have a insane movie. I love the smell of books in the morning!

10) The Outsiders by S.E Hinton. I remember I had to read this book for 8th grade english class. I would get so mad when I was forced too read something, I wanted to read my favorites, like Stephen King… And aaaaahhhh Stephen King. But after I read the book, I read it again and again. It became one of my all time favorite. And then I watched the movie…. Bonus! The movie has so many big stars in it, I think it was a requirement to get work in Hollywood. “Were you in the Outsiders? Yes! Well step right up sonny boy, let me give you a million dollars.” The soundtrack is full of golden oldies, but I would have to say my favorite is the Stevie wonder song at the end of the movie, Stay gold Why are all of Stevies songs at the end of the movie? Hmmm.. Maybe that will be my next list.

Well there you go. Another list. This one took me awhile.. The Lost books alone was a days work, but I love doing these! Enjoy!

Jamul books and Music Blog.