Which is better...the movie or the book?

I learned early in life that the book was always better than the movie!  I remember being angry at Walt Disney for changing things in the movies.  I have seen the trailers, even seen one film and started watching the PBS series of another, and look forward to these coming productions:  

Mr. Malcolm's List by Suzanne Allain
   The Honourable Mr. Jeremy Malcolm is searching for a wife, but not just any wife. As the target of matchmaking mothers and desperate debutantes, he's determined to avoid the fortune hunters and find a near-perfect woman, one who will meet the qualifications on his well-crafted list. But after years of searching, he's beginning to despair of ever finding this paragon. Until Selina Dalton arrives in town.
   Selina, a vicar's daughter of limited means and a stranger to high society, is thrilled when her friend Julia Thistlewaite invites her to London, until she learns it's all part of a plot to exact revenge on Mr. Malcolm. Selina is reluctant to participate in Julia's scheme, especially after meeting the irresistible Mr. Malcolm, who appears to be very different from the arrogant scoundrel of Julia's description.
   But when Mr. Malcolm begins judging Selina against his unattainable standards, Selina decides that she has some qualifications of her own. And if he is to meet them he must reveal the real man behind...Mr. Malcolm's List.   

The Forgiven: A Novel by Lawrence Osborne
   A major motion picture starring Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes. A haunting novel exploring the reverberations of a random accident on the lives of Moroccan Muslims and Western visitors who converge on a luxurious desert villa for a decadent weekend-long party.
   David and Jo Henniger, a doctor and a children's book author, in search of an escape from their less than happy lives in London, accept an invitation to attend a bacchanal at their old friends' home, deep in the Moroccan desert. But as a groggy David navigates the dark desert roads, two young men spring from the roadside, the car swerves . . . and one boy is left dead.
   When David and Jo arrive at the party, the Moroccan staff, already disgusted by the rich, hedonistic foreigners in their midst, soon learn of David's unforgivable act. Then the boy's irate Berber father appears, and events begin to spin beyond anyone's control.
   With spare, evocative prose, searing sensuality, and a gift for the unexpected, Lawrence Osborne memorably portrays the privileged guests wrestling with their secrets amid the remoteness and beauty of the desert landscape. He gradually reveals the jolting backstory of the young man who was killed and leaves David’s fate in the balance as the novel builds to a shattering conclusion.  

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
   For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens.
   Where the Crawdads Sing is an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.  

Hotel Portofino by J.P. O'Connell
   Hotel Portofino is now on PBS on Sunday evenings
   Hotel Portofino has been open for only a few weeks, but already the problems are mounting for its owner Bella Ainsworth. Her high-class guests are demanding and hard to please. And she's being targeted by a scheming and corrupt local politician, who threatens to drag her into the red-hot cauldron of Mussolini's Italy.
   To make matters worse, her marriage is in trouble, and her children are still struggling to recover from the repercussions of the Great War. All eyes are on the arrival of a potential love match for her son Lucian, but events don't go to plan, which will have far reaching consequences for the whole family.
   Set on the breathtakingly beautiful Italian Riviera, Hotel Portofino is a story of personal awakening at a time of global upheaval and of the liberating influence of Italy's enchanting culture, climate and cuisine on British 'innocents abroad', perfect for fans of Downton Abbey and The Crown. 
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris & Mrs Harris Goes to New York by Paul Gallico
   The delightful, uplifting story of Mrs. Harris, an ordinary woman whose life is transformed by one beautiful dress—now a motion picture starring Lesley Manville and Isabelle Huppert—and its sequel, set in New York.
   Mrs. Harris is a salt-of-the-earth London charlady who cheerfully cleans the houses of the rich. One day, while tidying Lady Dant’s wardrobe, she comes across the most beautiful thing she has ever seen in her life—a Dior dress. In all the years of her drab and humble existence, she’s never seen anything as magical as the dress before her and she’s never wanted anything so badly. Determined to make her dream come true, Mrs. Harris scrimps and saves until one day, after three long, uncomplaining years, she finally has enough money to go to Paris.
   When she arrives at the House of Dior, Mrs. Harris has little idea of how her life is about to be turned upside down and how many other lives she will transform forever. Always kind, always cheery, and always winsome, the indomitable Mrs. Harris takes Paris by storm and learns one of life's greatest lessons along the way.
   This treasure from the 1950s reintroduces the irrepressible Mrs. Harris, part charlady, part fairy godmother, whose adventures take her from her humble London roots to the heights of glamour.   

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
   Soon to be a major motion picture starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Brendan Fraser and Lily Gladstone and directed by Martin Scorsese. A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history
   In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
   Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. One woman, Mollie Burkhart, watched as her family was murdered. Her older sister was shot. Her mother was slowly poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more Osage began to die under mysterious circumstances.
   In this last remnant of the Wild West--where oilmen like J. P. Getty made their fortunes and where desperadoes such as Al Spencer, "the Phantom Terror," roamed--virtually all who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll surpassed more than twenty-four Osage, the newly created F. B. I. took up the case, in what became one of the organization's first major homicide investigations. But the bureau was then notoriously corrupt and initially bungled the case. Eventually the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including one of the only Native American agents in the bureau. The team infiltrated the region, struggling to adopt the latest modern techniques of detection. Together with the Osage they began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.
   In Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann revisits a shocking series of crimes in which dozens of people were murdered in cold blood. The book is a searing indictment of the callousness and prejudice toward Native Americans that allowed the murderers to operate with impunity for so long.

ESCAPE TO THE MOVIES

READ BEFORE GOING?

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