Review by C.J. Bunce

Both true love and bad love take a turn in the latest book from the TCM library.  Turner Classic Movies/TCM and Running Press continue their long-running master class in cinema with their own sequel.  Writer Kristen Lopez follows up her book of 52 movies based on books, But Have You Read the Book? 52 Literary Gems that Inspired Our Favorite Films (reviewed here), with a look at films and the books they are based on from the romance genre.  But Have You Read the Book? Romance Edition: 40 Love Stories That Inspired Our Favorite Films (available for pre-order now here at Amazon) looks at love from both sides now, the good and the bad, discussing the books, the adaptation to film, and comparisons and contrasts between the two.

Maybe it’s the love you recall from these films, many undisputed classics like Jane Eyre, Doctor Zhivago, The Candidate, Love Story, and Somewhere in Time.  Or maybe it’s just love’s illusion and the book or movie (or both) didn’t have all that good love you thought it did (like Tess of the d’Urbervilles, like My Cousin Rachel).  Take a look inside this next book from the TCM library:

I’ve discussed before at borg comparisons between Jaws the movie and Jaws the novel here (the movie is much better than Benchley’s novel), between The Thin Man the movie and Hammett’s original novel here (it’s a draw, both are brilliant), between Dr. No the movie and Dr. No the novel here (the movie is a faithful adaptation of Fleming’s novel), and between Jurassic Park the novel and Jurassic Park the movie here (Crichton’s novel wins).  Those novels and their adaptations and were covered in Lopez’s first foray into the TCM library, along with The Princess Bride, Dangerous Liaisons, Wuthering Heights, Emma, and The Great Gatsby, selections that could have been tapped for this new romance edition had she not discussed them before.  But Lopez has no problem conjuring 40 more book and movie pairings worthy of discussion.

The timespan of these books provides a great swath across cinema history, even if the book and film don’t quickly scream love and romance.  It begins with The Sheik (1921), and moves through each decade, including Gone With the Wind (1939) and Twilight (2008), both films I suggested would have been good for the first book, and then ending with the far more obscure movie Carol from 2015.  The books seem to be more torrid overall than what made it past the censors to the big screen, with a surprising volume of rape scenes in these so-called romance selections from decades past.  Lopez discusses each in the context of their times, but doesn’t shy away from pointing out how women were pigeon-holed in many of these films, especially in the early and middle 20th century.

The range of the selections, even more than in the previous book, may have you return to the original novels.  Pride and Prejudice, Laura, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, The Bridges of Madison County, The English Patient, Out of Sight, Bridget Jones’s Diary (which Lopez seems the most critical of), The Notebook, Brokeback Mountain–all are solid choices, each with noted authors and directors.  Note: As with the first volume, the book is available in hardcover and does not include any images of book covers or photo frames from the films, but it does have some evocative stylized art, this time from Jyotirmayee Patra.  It’s also much smaller than the other books in the TCM library, matching the first Lopez book at just a tad bigger than 5×7 inches.

Lopez provides another interesting trip across cinema history, and you won’t find much controversy here, but you may question the authors and directors and how they looked at love and couples in their era.  TCM’s But Have You Read the Book? Romance Edition: 40 Love Stories That Inspired Our Favorite Films will be another solid addition to your film library.  Order it now here at Amazon, in bookstores July 28 from Running Press.