Many great films are adapted from literary classics or popular fiction. Books and films belong to different media and are marked by interesting contrasts: linguistic vs. visual; art vs. mass consumerism; individual creativity vs. collaborative fabrication.

A book and its cinematic adaptations invite comparisons. Is the film true to the spirit of the book? Do the mutations in the film add to its enjoyment? The answers are all personal and you are invited to be the judge.

Here are a selection of books that have inspired generations of film-makers. In many cases, the film versions are also available in the Media Resources collection. Do check them out.

Marie Antoinette : the journey / Antonia Fraser

(DC137.1 .F73 2001)
 

The diary of a young girl / Anne Frank ; edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler ; translated by Susan Massotty

(DS135.N6 F73313 1995)
 

The pianist : the extraordinary true story of one man's survival in Warsaw, 1939-45 / Władysław Szpilman ; with extracts from the diary of Wilm Hosenfeld ; foreword by Andrzej Szpilman ; epilogue by Wolf Biermann ; translated by Anthea Bell

(DS135.P63 S94713 1999)
 

齊瓦哥醫生 / 巴斯特納克著 ; 黃燕德譯 ; 蔡振興導讀

(PG3476.P27 D612 1994)
 

Rashomon : and other stories / Ryunosuke Akutagawa ; translated by Takashi Kojima ; introduction by Howard Hibbett ; illustrations by M. Kuwata

(PL801.K8 R3813 1970)
 

Kitchen / Banan Yoshimoto ; translated from the Japanese by Megan Backus

(PL865.O7138 K5813 1993)
 

海上花開 ; 海上花落 / 韓子雲著 ; 張愛玲譯註

(PL2710.A58 H3 1992)
 

似水流年 / 张恨水著

(PL2740.H4 S77 1993)
 

傾城之戀 / 張愛玲著

(PL2837.E35 Q25 1959)
 

秦俑 / 李碧華

(PL2877.P48 C4 1989)
 

胭脂扣 / 李碧華

(PL2877.P48 Y4 1986)
 

红高粱 / 莫言

(PL2886.O1684 A6 1995 v. 1)
 

遊園驚夢 / 白先勇著

(PL2892.A345 Y8 1989)
 

玉卿嫂 / 白先勇著

(PL2892.A345 Y76 1967)
 

妻妾成群 / 蘇童著

(PL2904.T86 C34 1990)
 

紅粉 / 蘇童著

(PL2904.T86 H85 1991)
 

長恨歌 / 王安憶著

(PL2919.A58 C42 1996)
 

Shakespeare in love : a screenplay / Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard

(PN1997 .S38365 1998)
 

Novels into film / George Bluestone

(PN1997.85 .B5 2003)
 

Britain colonized : Hollywood's appropriation of British literature / by Jennifer M. Jeffers

(PN1997.85 .J45 2006)
 

Stanley Kubrick and the art of adaptation : three novels, three films / Greg Jenkins

(PN1997.85 .J46 1997)
 

Les liaisons dangereuses / Choderlos de Laclos ; translated from the French by Richard Aldington

(PQ1993.L22 L53 1992)
 

歌劇魅影 / 卡斯頓・勒胡著 ; 楊力譯 = Le fantôme de l'opéra / Gaston Leroux; translated from the French by Richard Aldington

(PQ2623.E6 F212 1994)
 

The name of the rose / Umberto Eco ; [translated from the Italian by William Weaver]

(PQ4865.C6 N613 1984)
 

Like water for chocolate : a novel in monthly installments, with recipes, romances, and home remedies / Laura Esquivel ; translated by Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen

(PQ7298.15.S638 C6613 1995)
 

Kiss of the spider woman and two other plays / Manuel Puig ; [translations by Allan Baker and Ronald Christ]

(PQ7798.26.U4 A2313 1994)
 

Pride and prejudice / Jane Austen

(PR4034 .P7 1990)
 

理想丈夫 / 王爾德著 ; 余光中譯

(PR5818.I2 A63 1995)
 

Howards End / E. M. Foster

(PR6011.O58 H6 1989)
 

A room with a view / by E.M. Forster

(PR6011.O58 R6 1989)
 

The fellowship of the ring : being the first part of The lord of the rings / by J.R.R. Tolkien

(PR6039.O32 L6 1965 pt. 1)
 

The two towers: being the second part of The lord of the ring / by J.R.R. Tolkien

(PR6039.O32 L6 1965 pt. 2)
 

The return of the king : being the third part of The lord of the ring / by J.R.R. Tolkien

(PR6039.O32 L6 1965 pt. 3)
 

For your eyes only / Ian Fleming

(PR6056.L4 F6 1987)
 

法国中尉的女人 / 约翰・福尔斯著 ; 刘宪之, 蔺延梓译

(PR6056.O85 F712 1986)
 

The remains of the day / Kazuo Ishiguro

(PR6059.S5 R46 1989B)
 

Prestige/ Christopher Priest

(PR6066.R55 P74 2006)
 

The English patient : a novel / Michael Ondaatje

(PR9199.3.O5 E54 1992)
 

Breakfast at Tiffany's and three stories / by Truman Capote

(PS3505.A59 A6 1993)
 

84 Charing Cross Road / Helene Hanff

(PS3515.A4853 Z54 1976)
 

The Da Vinci code : a novel / Dan Brown

(PS3552.R685434 D3 2004)
 

Girl with a pearl earring/ Tracy Chevalier

(PS3553.H4367 G57 2003)
 

Eat a bowl of tea / by Louis Chu ; introduction by Jeffery Chan

(PS3553.H776 E3 1993)
 

Jurassic Park / Michael Crichton

(PS3553.R48 J87 1991)
 

The hours / Michael Cunningham

(PS3553.U484 H68 1998)
 

The minority report / Philip K. Dick

(PS3554.I3 M46 2002)
 

Memoirs of a geisha : a novel / Arthur Golden

(PS3557.O35926 M45 1999)
 

The silence of the lambs / Thomas Harris

(PS3558.A6558 S5 1989)
 

The talented Mr. Ripley / Patricia Highsmith

(PS3558.I366 T33 1992)
 

One flew over the cuckoo's nest / by Ken Kesey

(PS3561.E667 O6 1962)
 

Misery / Stephen King

(PS3561.I483 M5 1987)
 

Brokeback mountain / Annie Proulx

(PS3566.R697 B76 2005)
 

Contact : a novel / Carl Sagan

(PS3569.A287 C6 1985)
 

The day after tomorrow / Whitley Strieber

(PS3569.T6955 D39 2004)
 

喜福会 / 谭恩美 ; 田靑译 ; 史国强校

(PS3570.A48 J612 1994)
 

The witches of Eastwick / John Updike

(PS3571.P4 W5 1984)
 

The trial / Franz Kafka

(PT2621.A26 P713 1988)
 

Death in Venice : a new translation, backgrounds and contexts, criticism / Thomas Mann ; translated and edited by Clayton Koelb

(PT2625.A44 T62 1994)
 

Catch me if you can / Dreamworks Pictures presents a Kemp Company and Splendid Pictures production ; produced by Steven Spielberg, Walter F. Parkes ; screenplay by Jeff Nathanson ; directed by Steven Spielberg

(Media PN1997.A12 C3833 2002a)
 

The Trial / Paris-Europa Productions ; Hisa-Films ; Fi.C.It ; produced by Alexander Salkind ; directed by Orson Welles

(Media PN1997.A12 T75 1989)
 

The unbearable lightness of being / the Saul Zaentz Company ; screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrie`re & Philip Kaufman ; produced by Saul Zaentz ; directed by Philip Kaufman

(Media PN1997.A12 U592 1988a)
 

Eat a bowl of tea = Yi wan cha / Columbia Pictures ; screenplay by Judith Rascoe ; produced by Tom Sternberg ; directed by Wayne Wang

(Media PN1997.A123 E27 1988)
 

半生緣 = Eighteen springs / 監製許鞍華, 王羽 ; 改編陳建忠 ; 導演許鞍華 ; 天山電影制片厰, 東方電影出品有限公司, 上海安士影視傳播有限公司聯合攝制 ; 中國電影合作制片公司協助拍攝

(Media PN1997.A123 P357 1997)