Great movies always have their own atmosphere, just like good books. And it seems especially interesting to observe subtle connections between famous films and equally significant novels. Together with the Liters service, the BURO editorial office. has compiled five works that will remind you of the works of prominent directors.
Ilya Leonard Pfeiffer
Ilya Pfeiffer is a Dutch writer, poet and polemicist, recognized as one of the most important contemporary authors from the Netherlands. If you’re a fan of Andersen’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, you’ll love this story. The main character, the writer Pfeiffer, arrives at a grand hotel to heal his heart after breaking up with his beloved and, at the same time, work on a new book. Around him are noisy crowds of tourists from the selfie generation, from which his ex-lover is so different. With her he chatted for hours about art, looked for Caravaggio’s latest painting and learned all the facets of feelings. The book immerses you in reflections and memories of the past, helping you discover something new in yourself.
Erich Maria Remarque
Beautiful love stories are always captivating, especially if the events unfold on the eve of great tragedies. In this sense, the film Titanic by James Cameron and the novel Arc de Triomphe by Erich Maria Remarque can be compared. Both works are about lovers facing harsh realities. Remarque’s characters live in Paris on the eve of World War II. He is a surgeon and a hidden refugee. She is a popular Italian actress surrounded by fans. Her feelings have a lot to overcome, but the main thing is the oppressive atmosphere of the city, permeated with a sense of impending catastrophe. The novel is also impressive because love is not invented in it. The prototype of the protagonist Joan is Marlene Dietrich, Remarque’s beloved, with whom she lived in Paris before the start of the war.
Dedicated to fans of Dune by Denis Villeneuve – The Three-Body Problem by Chinese Liu Cixin, nominated for the most prestigious literary awards in the field of science fiction, including Hugo and Nebula. In the story, a signal sent into space as part of the secret military project “Red Coast” is intercepted by a civilization on the brink of destruction. Now the aliens are considering Earth as a new home and preparing for an invasion. And earthlings are divided into two types: those who are ready to humbly surrender the planet under the control of a higher mind, and those who are going to fight for independence to the end. The book is a story in which the reader will be transported simultaneously to several eras and will face creepy theories about the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations.
The heroes of the famous film adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” by Baz Luhrmann and the family saga “The Dutch House” by Ann Patchett are united by dark secrets and a long path towards themselves. The American writer’s novel is a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a New York Times bestseller. It has been translated into 18 languages and Time magazine included it on its list of 100 must-read books. The main characters are Danny and Maeve Conroy, whose story spans the second half of the last century. Brother and sister are forced to abandon their farm after their father’s death, because their stepmother is a demon from hell. In this harsh world, they can only rely on themselves and their blood ties. Even after many years, now grown and successful, somewhere deep inside there are frightened children holding hands tightly. This is both a story about childhood traumas that haunt adulthood and about the love that can defeat evil.
Stuart Turton
A gripping detective story is always a good idea, no matter the format. Our recommendation for fans of the Soviet film “Ten Little Indians” by Stanislav Govorukhin is the detective story “The Seven Deaths of Evelina Hardcastle.” Stuart Turton’s first novel is the story of an unusual Groundhog Day. The action takes place in the rural mansion Blackheath House, owned by the wealthy Hardcastle family. During the fireworks show at a masquerade ball, his only daughter and heir Evelina dies. But she will die more than once: until guest Aiden Sloan reveals the identity of the murderer, this day will repeat itself over and over again. Everything is complicated by the fact that the criminal ends up in a new body each time.
