30 Contemporary Adult Novels Inspired by Well-Known Fiction

In my 2016 Reading Challenge (posted on January 4), I suggested that readers read a contemporary novel inspired by a classic.  Here are some suggestions of novels which take characters from well-known fiction.  Young Adult fiction often uses plots and characters from classics and modernizes them, but I’m focusing on books written primarily for adults. 

Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley, a sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, has Scarlett traveling to Charleston to visit estranged husband Rhett Butler's family, and then going to Savannah and Ireland.

Cosette by Francois Ceresa, a sequel to Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, follows Jean Valjean's adopted daughter Cosette and her marriage to Marius, who is dissatisfied with life and proves to be a less than model husband.

March by Geraldine Brooks, a companion to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, tells the story of the March family patriarch and his experiences during the Civil War as his wife and four daughters wait at home.

60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye by John David California follows a man named "Mr. C" - who seems to be J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye protagonist Holden Caulfield - as he escapes from a nursing home.  (This book was the subject of a court case when author Salinger sued the author. The American judge said the book was too close to The Catcher in the Rye, and currently it is banned from being sold in North America.  The judge ruled that neither the author nor anyone who publishes the book can mention The Catcher in the Rye in connection to the book.)

The Innocents by Francesca Segal re-imagines Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence.  Scandal-ridden 1870s New York is replaced by a tight-knit Jewish community in modern day London.

A Monster’s Notes by Laurie Sheck imagines the relationship between Frankenstein’s monster and Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, if she had met him as a small child, intertwining the musings of the monster on his own life with Shelley’s own fictionalized letters, and allowing him to watch his own legacy up to the present.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham is based not only on Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, but also the life of Virginia Woolf herself. The novel follows three generations of women:  Woolf as she writes the book, struggling with mental illness; Mrs. Brown, a WWII wife in 1949; and Clarissa Vaughan, a contemporary woman whose best friend is dying from AIDS.  All three are affected by and also parallel Mrs. Dalloway herself.

Emma by Alexander McCall Smith is a modification of Jane Austen's Emma, wherein a recent college grad spends the summer flexing her advice and matchmaking skills to varying degrees of success.

Great by Sara Benincasa is an all-female version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

Brazil by John Updike, a re-interpretation of Tristan and Isolde, is set in Brazil.  A boy from a Rio slum falls in love with a white girl from a privileged family and together they must flee into the far-reaching jungles in order to escape her family's judgment.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë has inspired spinoffs:

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys is a prequel which explains the madness of Mrs. Rochester.

Re: Jane by Patricia Park imagines Jane Eyre as a half-Korean, half-American orphan living in New York and working as an au pair for a Brooklyn professor.

Jane by April Lindner has Jane Moore taking a nanny job at Thornfield Park, the estate of Nico Rathburn, a world-famous rock star on the brink of a huge comeback.

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesay transports Charlotte Brontë's heroine to Scotland in the 1950s and ‘60s, resurrecting the themes of Jane Eyre, as well as adding autobiographical elements of the author’s life.

Dorian by Will Self modernizes Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.  Dorian Gray tries to work as a model in the looks-obsessed art scene of London.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith can be seen as a companion piece to E. M. Forster’s Howards End with the same basic plotline about a pair of families with very different ideals that become irrevocably linked over the years.

Solsbury Hill by Susan M. Wyler re-imagines Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.  An American woman is decamped to the moors of England to settle an estate and is subsequently pulled between two very different men.

Heathcliff by Jeffrey Caine imagines what happened to Heathcliff when he disappeared from Wuthering Heights.

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has inspired numerous novels.  Here are four of them:

Longbourn by Jo Baker has the servants taking centre-stage in this downstairs answer to the classic.

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding is a modern spin on the book.  Elizabeth Bennett is re-imagined as the hapless Bridget Jones who has numerous trials and tribulations - and a Mr. Darcy.

Pemberley by Emma Tennant is a sequel in which the original characters are brought back to life and in which their pasts catch up with them.

Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James has Elizabeth and Darcy solving a murder mystery.

Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jetter Naslund is narrated by Una, the wife of the captain of the Pequod mentioned in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.

Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin tells the story of Lavinia, Aeneas’ second wife in Virgil’s epic poem The Aeneid.

Grendel  by John Gardner has the first monster in English literature, from the epic Beowulf, tell his side of the story.

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton is a variation on the Beowulf tale from the perspective of a contemporary reporter, an Arab man who traveled with a group of Vikings.

Foe by J M Coetzee reimagines Daniel DeFoe's classic novel Robinson Crusoe.

Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin is told from the perspective of the dutiful and intelligent housemaid in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Gregory Maguire has written four novels based on The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum beginning with Wicked:  The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

After Alice by Gregory Maguire is a new twist on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.  Ada, a friend of Alice’s, is off to visit her friend, but arrives a moment too late and tumbles down the rabbit-hole herself.  She embarks on an odyssey to find Alice and see her safely home.

Note:  I have not included titles inspired by Shakespeare since I discussed these in my entry of September 1, 2015 in which I listed over 20 titles.  (And for the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, there is The Hogarth Shakespeare initiative which will be publishing modern re-tellings of Shakespeare’s plays - adaptations written by well-known contemporary authors ; I discussed these in my blog on October 10, 2015.)

2016 Film Adaptations of Books

Film adaptations of books were front and centre at the recent Golden Globe Awards.  In the film categories, several novels were featured prominently in nominations:  The Revenant by Michael Punke, Room by Emma Donoghue, Carol by Patricia Highsmith, The Martian by Andy Weir, The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff, and Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín.  And the mini-series Wolf Hall, an adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Booker-prize winning novel, was honoured in the movie or limited series category.

All of these books appear on the Oscars list as well.  CBCBooks has even put together a list of 12 books to read before the Academy Awards on February 28:  http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/01/the-oscars-2016-reading-list.html.

In 2016, several adaptations of books are due for release.  Here are some films currently in production which I will consider seeing:

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

Luckiest Girl Alive by  Jessica Knoll

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman

                                                         Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

                                                         Where’d you Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Of course, these are not all the titles that will be made into movies.  If you are interested in finding more titles, check these websites:

http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/69073-the-10-most-anticipated-book-adaptations-of-2016.html

http://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Books-Being-Made-Movies-2016-38162734?stream_view=1#photo-39238355

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/86204.Books_Becoming_Movies_in_2016
http://www.sofeminine.co.uk/news-celebrities/35-books-being-made-into-movies-adaptations-2016-s1584208.html

When you learn that a favourite book will be adapted into a film, you may have mixed emotions; in fact, it has been suggested that you will go through 12 emotional stages: http://www.bustle.com/articles/134365-12-emotional-stages-of-watching-your-favorite-book-get-turned-into-a-movie.

Today's New Release - Review of "My Name is Lucy Barton" by Elizabeth Strout

5 Stars

Lucy Barton is a writer telling about her life; she focuses on a time in the mid-1980s when she spent nine weeks in a hospital for a post-surgical infection.  Her mother, whom she hadn’t seen for years, came to New York and spent five days with her.  What emerges is the story of a mother-daughter relationship.

Lucy’s career choice tells us a lot about her.  She decided to become a writer when she read a book in the third grade:  The book features a girl named Tilly “who was strange and unattractive because she was dirty and poor, and the girls were not nice to Tilly.”  Tilly’s life is a mirror of Lucy’s childhood.  Her family was so poor that there were no books and no television in the home and often insufficient food.  She was shunned by classmates; she was so lonely that she thought of a tree as a friend:  “Lonely was the first flavor I had tasted in my life, and it was always there, hidden inside the crevices of my mouth”.  The books she is able to read at school made her feel less alone, “And I thought:  I will write and people will not feel so alone!”

The mother’s visit reveals so much about the mother-daughter relationship.  The two women gossip about slight acquaintances back in Amgash, Illinois, people like Marilyn Somebody whose names they don’t even remember.  What they do not discuss is telling:   Lucy’s father who has times when he becomes “very anxious and not in control of himself,” Lucy’s husband whom her mother has met only once, and Lucy’s two daughters whom their grandmother has never met and never asks about. 

As they talk, Lucy remembers other events from her childhood which they do not mention:  Lucy’s being struck “impulsively and vigorously,” her being locked in a truck, her brother’s discomfiting behaviour.  Sometimes she is “filled with the knowledge of darkness so deep” that she thinks her memories “can’t possibly be true.”  Certainly some of the events from her childhood are shocking, but if Lucy even tries to discuss them, her mother shuts down the conversation. 

There is so much that Lucy’s mother can’t give her.  Her mother “could never say the words I love you” and Lucy has been so starved for affection that she loves everyone who shows her the slightest kindness.  She seems to realize this:  “the pain we children clutch to our chests, how it lasts our whole lifetime, with longings so large you can’t even weep.”   Lucy says that her husband repeatedly tells her that, “I did not understand that I could be loved, was lovable.”  In the hospital, Lucy wants her mother “to ask about my life” but those questions are never asked; when Lucy tries to talk about her life, her mother lets her know she isn’t interested:  “My mother looked at me, then looked out the window, and it was a long time before she said [anything].”  Not once does she express pride in her daughter.

Yet it seems that her mother does love her daughter.  Lucy’s writing instructor, commenting on the novel we are reading, tells Lucy, “’This is a story about a mother who loves her daughter.  Imperfectly.  Because we all love imperfectly.’”  And Lucy obviously loves her mother.  The presence of her mother gives her great consolation.  She speaks of loving her mother’s voice and hearing her mother speak her pet name “made me feel warm and liquid-filled as though all my tension had been a solid thing and now was not.”  Lucy even finds similarities between herself and her mother:  “So I was like my mother, we did not want to be judged by what we read” and “that is how sensitive we both were, my mother and I.”  She admits that “I don’t know what my mother remembered” and “I don’t know what my mother meant” so she seems to suggest that she is unwilling to judge her mother and has forgiven her.  She knows her mother could never say she loved her and “It was all right.”  She also acknowledges that “No one in this world comes from nothing” and though her family may have been “a really unhealthy family”, she also sees “our roots were twisted so tenaciously around one another’s hearts.”

This is a short novel, an easy read with concise, lucid prose.  It is compelling with some very poignant scenes and is so realistic that it took my breath away.  Lucy’s mentor tells her that the job of “a writer of fiction was to report on the human condition, to tell us who we are and what we think and what we do.”  Strout does just that.  This is a novel I will revisit.

Note:  I received an ARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley.

David Bowie and Books

As everyone knows, David Bowie died yesterday.  The legendary musician was a voracious reader who apparently read a book a day.  Many of his albums were influenced by books.  "When Vanity Fair asked him 'What is your idea of perfect happiness?' he responded simply 'reading'" (http://electricliterature.com/david-bowies-100-favorite-books/).

In the fall of 2013, an exhibition entitled David Bowie is was held at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.  “Spanning five decades and featuring more than 300 objects from Bowie’s personal archive, this totally immersive multimedia show celebrates the groundbreaking artist’s collaborations in the fields of fashion, sound, theatre, art and film” (http://www.ago.net/david-bowie-is/).  When the exhibition moved from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum to the AGO, Bowie’s archivist supplied the curators with a list of his top 100 books.  This is the list as it appeared in 2013 in the British newspaper, The Guardian:  http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/01/david-bowie-books-kerouac-milligan.

On the death of David Bowie, that list is being re-released.  In this list, the books are more organized:

http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/01/david-bowies-100-favourite-things-to-read.html.

As a tribute to this creative icon, why not read a book from Bowie’s list of favourites?

First Folio Tour

Many years ago on a trip to Great Britain I visited the British Library in London.  One of the highlights of that visit was seeing Shakespeare’s First Folio, the first collected edition of his plays.   

2016, being the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, will see a First Folio Tour.  The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., (which owns 82 of the surviving 233 Folios) is sending out William Shakespeare's First Folio to all 50 states (http://www.npr.org/2016/01/04/461601333/400-years-after-death-shakespeares-first-folio-goes-out-on-tour?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=books&utm_term=artsculture&utm_content=20160104).  How I wish there were some Canadian stops! 

If you are going to be travelling in the U.S., you might want to check the schedule of host sites and dates to see if you might be able to see a First Folio:  http://www.folger.edu/first-folio-tour-host-locations-and-dates.

For information about the First Folio, read this article (http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/shakespeares-first-folio) and, if you are going to England this summer, you might be interested in some of the other activities being held there:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/honouring-the-bard-and-his-400-year-legacy/article28027792/?cmpid=rss1&click=sf_globe.

And if you aren't able to take part in any of these public celebrations, why not, as I've mentioned before, pay your own tribute by reading one of Shakespeare's plays during this anniversary year.

On Poets and Poetry

My blog is devoted to fiction, but a couple of stories about poetry caught my attention this past week.

Bill Richardson has a new collection of poetry, The First Little Bastard to Call me Gramps:  Poems of the Late Middle Ages.  This past Monday, Shelagh Rogers had a conversation with him on her CBC radio show, The Next Chapter (http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thenextchapter/farzana-doctor-on-the-dark-side-of-vacationing-and-bill-richardson-on-the-funny-side-of-aging-1.3383121/bill-richardson-on-late-middle-age-1.3383129).  I will definitely be checking out this collection since I’ve loved his previous works.

Schatje’s Shelves has five books written by Richardson:

Queen of all the Dust-Balls and Other Epics of Everyday Life

Canada Customs:  Droll Recollections, Musings and Quibbles

Bachelor Brothers’ Bed & Breakfast (which won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour in 1994)

Bachelor Brothers’ Bed & Breakfast Pillow Book

Bachelor Brothers’ Bedside Companion

When you’re looking for some books in the comic vein, peruse any of these.  I would recommend all of them!

Also on the topic of poetry, Canada’s newest poet laureate was appointed this past week:  George Elliott Clarke (http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/01/george-elliott-clarke-named-canadas-new-parliamentary-poet-laureate.html).  According to the official government site, the Poet Laureate’s role is “to encourage and promote the importance of literature, culture and language in Canadian society; and to draw Canadians’ attention to poetry, both spoken and written, and its role in our lives.”  The Poet Laureate may “write poetry, especially for use in Parliament on important occasions; sponsor poetry readings;  advise the Parliamentary Librarian regarding the Library’s collection and acquisitions to enrich its cultural materials; and  perform other related duties at the request of the Speaker of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Commons, or the Parliamentary Librarian” (http://www.lop.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/Poet/index-e.html). George Elliott Clarke, from Nova Scotia, has won numerous awards and is the seventh poet to fill this post.

Costa Novel winner: Kate Atkinson for "A God in Ruins"

Earlier this week it was announced that Kate Atkinson won the Costa Novel Prize for A God in Ruins which is a companion novel to Life After Life.  Judges spoke of the winning novel as “Utterly magnificent and in a class of its own. A genius book.”

“Atkinson turns her focus on Ursula’s beloved younger brother Teddy – would-be poet, RAF bomber pilot, husband and father – as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th century. Spanning back and forth across his lifetime, Teddy’s story offers not the dizzying concept of multiple possibilities but the painful reality of a life quietly lived. A life of courage and warfare, but also of words unspoken, of secret heartbreak and missed opportunities. For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge will be to face living in a future he never expected to have” (http://www.costa.co.uk/media/391535/2015awardwinners.pdf).

Atkinson herself thinks A God in Ruins is “possibly the best novel I’ve written.”  “I think it’s just astonishing, a stunning, stunning book,” said judge and author Cathy Rentzenbrink, of A God in Ruins. “I don’t think there’s anybody whose life would not be enriched by reading it. It fits with her work, while also being a crowning triumph” (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/04/kate-atkinson-wins-costa-novel-prize-for-a-god-in-ruins?CMP=twt_books_b-gdnbooks).

It is not necessary to have read Life After Life first, but if you are interested, check out my blog entry for December 1.  I chose it as the first book on my 2015 Book Advent Calendar.  Interestingly, Atkinson also won the Costa Novel Award for Life After Life in 2013.

I’ve just started A God in Ruins, and I am already saying, “Wow!”  Look for my review in a few days.