Favorite Movie > Book Recommendations

 Since Coronavirus sent us all into isolation, occasionally on Twitter and Instagram, I do this thing where I ask people their favorite movie and I recommend a book that I think they will like. Over the months I’ve created quite a list of movie to book recommendations. Many of their favorite movies are also based on books, but assuming they know this and have possibly even read that book, I try to give them something else. I’ve gotten some feedback that the recommendations have been received positively. Hopefully, I can inspire someone else to turn off the screen for a bit and pick up a new book. 

I’m going to start posting more of these movie to book recommendations each week.

 FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES BOOKS 

If you have a favorite movie and would like a book recommendation, please leave a comment. For now, I’ve included a few that have been requested on Twitter. 

A Luminous Republic : Book Review

Many thanks to HMHBooks for the complimentary copy of A Luminous Republic 

I had no idea what to expect when I picked up A Luminous Republic  yesterday. From the first word I was transported to the jungle city of San Cristóbal and the arrival of the children. ⁣
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No one knew where the 32 children came from and no one knew where they went at night. They spoke an indecipherable language. As they scavenged and stole and harassed people, they were initially a nuisance but then they turned violent and they needed to be stopped. ⁣

“...we too thought that our individual love for our children transformed them, that even blindfolded we’d recognize their voices from thousands of other children’s voices. And perhaps the inverse of that serves as confirmation: that the other children who slowly began occupying our streets were more or less indistinguishable versions of the same boy or girl, children who were ‘just like a hundred thousand other little boys’ and girls. Who we didn’t need. Who didn’t need us. And who, of course, had to be tamed.”

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The story alone is intriguing and kept me on the edge of my seat. But the language and insights into the human condition are brilliant, thoughtful and I read so many passages aloud to Rand. I rarely annotate or mark fiction and yet I was pulling out my pen and post-it notes. ⁣
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A Luminous Republic is poignant and philosophical and rather timely. It hit all the emotions—from fear to regret to decidedly uncomfortable with its apt observations. It’s size may be diminutive but its story and language are pertinent and important.

A Luminous Republic by Andrés Barba was first published in 2017 and translated into English and published by Mariner Books in April 2020.