Thrillist Los Angeles
Emailed on: Friday May 23, 2008Summer Reading List
It's Memorial Day, which means beach time, which means reading, which means not stealing your girlfriend's Glamour, even if it's only to troll for side-boob. Grab one of these books, all of which have adaptations in production -- but none of which have covers graced with an actor who'll reveal the shallowness of your literary aspiration.
Watchmen (Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons):
Set in 1985, the grandaddy of all graphic novels concerns a plot to murder all the world's superheroes. The film's directed by 300 auteur Zach Snyder, so you know it's going to be a Thrilla!!!! (Movie in March)
Buy it at Amazon
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (F Scott Fitzgerald): Button's about a man who's born as an 80-year-old, then ages in reverse, a notion which had a great effect on a young Morgan Fairchild. (Movie in December)
Buy it at Amazon
Neuromancer (William Gibson):
This book's credited with starting the cyber-punk movement, thanks to its action-packed tale of a former hacker hired by a shady businessman to pull off a thrilling cyber-heist. Like what? "My husband was the Ministre of Oils for Uganda. I will need your banking number to safeguard his fortune in your account"? (Movie next year)
Buy it at Amazon
Button, Button (Richard Matheson):
Previously adapted into a Twilight Zone episode, this story from the I Am Legend author follows a couple who receive a box containing a button that, if pressed, will both give them $1 million and simultaneously kill someone they don't know. The Zone ended in tragedy, but in real life, "Daddy needs a new pair of yachts." (Movie in Fall)
Buy it at Amazon
Choke (Chuck Palahnuik):
From the Fight Club scribe, Choke's antihero is a colonial theme-park employee/sex-addicted con man who manages to turn staged food-choking incidents in restaurants into a stream of checks from good-samaritan strangers. Warning: do not try this at Olive Garden, or you will die. (Movie in September)
Buy it at Amazon


