LibGuides: Reading for Leisure: Books to Film

Fielden Institute for Lifelong Learning: Books to Film Series

The Fielden Institute for Lifelong Learning at Indian River State College, is designed for men and women age 50 and better who are interested in exploring shared topics of interest in a college atmosphere. No pre-requisites, no long semesters, no grades, no tests---learning simply for the joy of learning. Programs are peer-led and peer-directed by the membership. Peer leaders volunteer to lead discussion and study groups, hands-on activities, field trips, lectures, book and film groups, all in a welcoming and appropriate environment for the adult learner. These programs do not apply to any IRSC degree program and are non-credit.

The Books To Film series involves reading a book prior to watching the movie adaptation of the same book. Discussion among the participants occurs before and after the film. Registration is required and can be completed by visiting this site: https://irsclifelonglearning.gosignmeup.com/

At the Mueller Campus in Vero Beach

The African Queen by C. S. Forester
First published in 1935, C.S. Forester's classic romantic adventure is a tale of opposites attracted. Allnut and Rose, a disreputable Cockney and an English spinster missionary, wend their way down a river in Central Africa in a rickety, asthmatic steam launch, and are gradually joined together in a mission of retaliation against the Germans. Fighting time, heat, malaria and bullets, the two have a dramatic rapprochement before the explosive ending of the book. This tale of unlikely love is thrilling and funny and ultimately satisfying.
The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff
Loosely inspired by a true story, this tender portrait of marriage asks: What do you do when the person you love has to change? It starts with a question, a simple favor asked by a wife of her husband while both are painting in their studio, setting off a transformation neither can anticipate. Uniting fact and fiction into an original romantic vision, The Danish Girl eloquently portrays the unique intimacy that defines every marriage and the remarkable story of Lili Elbe, a pioneer in transgender history, and the woman torn between loyalty to her marriage and her own ambitions and desires. The Danish Girl's lush prose and generous emotional insight make it, after the last page is turned, a deeply moving first novel about one of the most passionate and unusual love stories of the 20th century.
Absolute Power by David Baldacci
In a heavily guarded mansion in a posh Virginia suburb, a man and a woman start to make love, trapping Luther Whitney, a career break-in artist, behind a secret wall. Then the passion turns deadly, and Luther is running into the night. Because what he has just seen is a brutal murder involving Alan Richmond, the president of the United States, the man with...Absolute Power.
Primal Fear by William Diehl
Martin Vail, the brilliant bad-boy lawyer every prosecutor and politician love to hate, is defending Aaron Stampler, a man found holding a bloody butcher's knife near a murdered archbishop. Vail is certain to lose, but Vail uses his unorthodox ways to good advantage when choosing his legal team--a tight group of men and women who must uncover the extraordinary truth behind the archbishop's slaughter. They do, in a heart-stopping climax unparalleled for the surprise it springs on the reader... From the Paperback edition.
The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
A love story with deep psychological undertones set in the Devon coast during the nineteenth century.
Awakenings by Oliver Sacks
Awakenings--which inspired the major motion picture--is the remarkable story of a group of patients who contracted sleeping-sickness during the great epidemic just after World War I. Frozen for decades in a trance-like state, these men and women were given up as hopeless until 1969, when Dr. Oliver Sacks gave them the then-new drug L-DOPA, which had an astonishing, explosive, "awakening" effect. Dr. Sacks recounts the moving case histories of his patients, their lives, and the extraordinary transformations which went with their reintroduction to a changed world.
Room at the Top by John Braine; Janine Utell (Introduction by); John Minton (Illustrator)
Brought up amid squalor and poverty in a dead, ugly small town, young Joe Lampton has one ambition: to escape the anonymous, defeated crowd of "zombies" and make it to the top. Everything seems to be going according to plan when he moves to a new city, finds a good job and new friends, and inspires the love of a pretty girl with a rich father. Only one thing holds him back: his passionate affair with an older married woman. Forced to choose between true love and his ruthless pursuit of wealth and success, Joe will have to make a terrible decision, with violent and tragic consequences. "Room at the Top" (1957), the first novel by John Braine (1922-1986), earned widespread critical acclaim and was a runaway bestseller in England and America, running into dozens of printings and spawning a sequel and an Oscar-winning film adaptation.