Book2Screen – The Pre-Blog Files (Part 3)   

With little literary experience (or imagination?) to work with during my early reading years, I sometimes struggled with knowing what I should read next or next after that. I always wanted something to look forward to, so it seemed logical to me that I’d probably enjoy books that had produced movies and TV shows I already enjoyed. Plus, of course, I hoped to learn more about the characters, places and stories that just wasn’t practical to fit into a 90-minute movie or a series of 45-minute episodes – which meant this happened: 

The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles 

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark 

Jaws by Peter Benchley 

The Natural by Bernard Malamud  

Ice Station Zebra by Alistair Maclean 

Fear is the Key by Alistair Maclean 

The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins 

The Breaker by Kit Denton 

Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle 

The Satan Bug by Alistair Maclean 

The World According to Garp by John Irving 

Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith 

Firestarter by Stephen King 

The Shining by Stephen King 

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth 

There are a lot of thrillers this time which I was a BIG fan of at that age (late teens to mid-20's) so I ended up reading anything by Higgins, Maclean and Forsyth I could get my hands on. I remember being so enthralled by ‘The Odessa File' for example that I read it in a single day which was pretty unusual for me back then. But more of that later....