Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Twenty-one of the greatest television adaptations of novels

One title (#10) on the Telegraph's list of the 21 greatest television adaptations of novels:
Wolf Hall (2015, BBC)

The historical novels about Tudor England had already caused a sensation by winning two Booker prizes. But when Hilary Mantel's masterworks Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies were adapted for the screen, meticulous authenticity and authoritative acting produced a second triumph. Our greatest stage actor, Mark Rylance, played the scheming Thomas Cromwell with a humanity so intense we were all on his side. Damien Lewis was a flawed yet terrifying king.
Read about another entry on the list.

Wolf Hall made BBC Culture's list of the 21st century’s twelve greatest novels, Ester Bloom's ten list of books for fans of the television series House of Cards, Rachel Cantor's list of the ten worst jobs in books, Kathryn Williams's reading list on pride, the Barnes & Noble Review's list of books on baby-watching in Great Britain, Julie Buntin's top ten list of literary kids with deadbeat and/or absent dads, Hermione Norris's 6 best books list, John Mullan's list of ten of the best cardinals in literature, the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five books on dangerous minds and Lev Grossman's list of the top ten fiction books of 2009, and is one of Geraldine Brooks's favorite works of historical fiction; Matt Beynon Rees called it "[s]imply the best historical novel for many, many years."

--Marshal Zeringue