BOOKS ON SCREEN: THE BOOK THIEF, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, PHILOMENA

The Book Thief

The story of a young German girl who steals books, her family and the Jewish boxer hidden in their basement as they struggle to survive in Nazi Germany. Narrated by Death, it's an unusual and affecting story, and was the top selling debut literary hardback of 2007, with sales of over 193,000 copies. Now a 2013 film  produced by 20th Century Fox. 

Review quotes

"Extraordinary, resonant and relevant, beautiful and angry." -- Lisa Hilton Sunday Telegraph 

'Unsettling, thought-provoking, life affirming... this is a novel of breathtaking scope, masterfully told.'  The Guardian 

The Book Thief at imdb 

Markus Zusak, a prize-winning author, lives in Sydney with his wife and daughter. The Doubleday hardback of The Book Thief , published at the beginning of January 07, stayed in the top ten of the Sunday Times bestsellers for nine weeks. It was published to critical acclaim in Australia and in America where it reached No. 1 on the The New York Times bestsellers list. Film rights have been optioned by the makers of The Devil Wears Prada. Find out more by visiting the website - thebookthief.com
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**************************************************************** The Faults in Our Star 

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten. Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, `The Fault in Our Stars` is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love. 
This book comes from the `New York Times` bestselling author of `Looking for Alaska`, `An Abundance of Katherines`, `Paper Towns` and - with David Levithan - Will Grayson, Will Grayson. John Green has over 1.2 million Twitter followers, and almost 700,000 subscribers to Vlogbrothers, the YouTube channel he created with his brother, Hank. 

`The Fault in Our Stars` will capture a crossover audience in the same vein as Zadie Smith, David Nicholls' `One Day` and `Before I Die` by Jenny Downham.  `Electric ...Filled with staccato bursts of humor and tragedy.` (`Jodi Picoult`).  `A novel of life and death and the people caught in between, `The Fault in Our Stars` is John Green at his best. You laugh, you cry, and then you come back for more` (Markus Zusak, author of `The Book Thief`).
 John Green is an award-winning, `New York Times` bestselling author whose many accolades include the Printz Medal, a Printz Honor, and the Edgar Award. With his brother, Hank, John is one half of the Vlogbrothers (youtube.com/vlogbrothers), one of the most popular online video projects in the world. You can join John's 1.2 million followers on Twitter (@realjohngreen) or visit him online at johngreenbooks.com and fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com. John lives with his wife and son in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The movie starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort as Hazel and Augustus will be released next summer. Check it out on imdb. 
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Philomena: The True Story of a Mother and the Son She Had to Give Away

When she fell pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to the convent at Roscrea in Co. Tipperary to be looked after as a fallen woman. She cared for her baby for three years until the Church took him from her and sold him, like countless others, to America for adoption. Coerced into signing a document promising never to attempt to see her child again, she nonetheless spent the next fifty years secretly searching for him, unaware that he was searching for her from across the Atlantic. Philomena's son, renamed Michael Hess, grew up to be a top Washington lawyer and a leading Republican official in the Reagan and Bush administrations. But he was a gay man in a homophobic party where he had to conceal not only his sexuality but, eventually, the fact that he had AIDs. With little time left, he returned to Ireland and the convent where he was born: his desperate quest to find his mother before he died left a legacy that was to unfold with unexpected consequences for all involved. Philomena is the tale of a mother and a son whose lives were scarred by the forces of hypocrisy on both sides of the Atlantic and of the secrets they were forced to keep. With a foreword by Judi Dench, Martin Sixsmith's book is a compelling and deeply moving narrative of human love and loss, both heartbreaking yet ultimately redemptive.

The author, Martin Sixsmith,  was born in Cheshire and educated at Oxford, Harvard and the Sorbonne. From 1980 to 1997 he worked for the BBC as the Corporation's correspondent in Moscow, Washington, Brussels and Warsaw. From 1997 to 2002 he worked for the Government as Director of Communications and Press Secretary first to Harriet Harman, then to Alistair Darling and finally to Stephen Byers. He is now a writer, presenter and journalist. He is the author of Philomena, as well as the novels Spin and I Heard Lenin Laugh, and the non-fiction books Moscow Coup: The Death of the Soviet System and The Litvinenko File: The True Story of a Death Foretold. He lives in London.

Philomena is now a 2014  Oscar nominee for Best Movie! Discover more at imdb and watch the trailer!

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