Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a recently retired Professor of French literature and cinema studies at Dartmouth College. Because I love both books and movies, I developed a course on adaptation, which I taught with pleasure for many years. I wanted to give students the opportunity to learn how to analyze literary texts and films, separately and in juxtaposition, and they especially enjoyed discovering how the “same” story works quite differently in different media. In addition to the two volumes on Tavernier, my published books include New Novel, New Wave, New Politics: Fiction and the Representation of History in Postwar France; Parables of Theory: Jean Ricardou’s Metafiction; and Rape and Representation (co-edited with Brenda Silver).


I wrote

Bertrand Tavernier

By Lynn A. Higgins,

Book cover of Bertrand Tavernier

What is my book about?

Bertrand Tavernier is one of the most important French film directors in the generation that followed the New Wave. His…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Pop. 1280

Lynn A. Higgins Why did I love this book?

I was introduced to this book through Tavernier’s brilliant adaptation, Clean Slate (Coup de Torchon, 1981). Set in Texas, Thompson’s novel was published in 1964, during the Civil Rights Movement, and it offers a portrait of petty-minded racism in the continuing aftermath of slavery. Tavernier’s adaptation transposes the story to 1930s French colonial West Africa. I remain haunted by the ways the two settings illuminate each other. Tavernier’s blending of a deadly serious historical crisis with touches of comedy—slapstick even—brings both eras and the novel itself to life in enjoyable and instructive ways.

By Jim Thompson,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Pop. 1280 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A classic crime novel from 'the best suspense writer going, bar none' New York Times

Nick Corey likes being the high sheriff of Potts County. But Nick has a few problems that he needs to deal with: like his loveless marriage, the pimps who torment him, the honest man who is running against him in the upcoming elections and the women who adore him.

And it turns out that Nick isn't anything like as amiable, easy-going or as slow as he seems. He's as sly, brutal and corrupt as they come.


Book cover of Billy Budd, Sailor

Lynn A. Higgins Why did I love this book?

I have never been a Melville fan. I’ve tried several times, unsuccessfully, to finish reading Moby Dick. Two adaptations led me to Billy Budd, however. Claire Denis’ 1999 film, Beau Travail, conjures up a Foreign Legion contingent in colonial Djibouti in a tense and meditative, even hypnotic viewing experience. I am especially intrigued by the intervals of ritual-like dancing at several junctures in the film. Benjamin Britten’s opera, Billy Budd, by contrast, is an edgy and explosive adaptation of the same story. I was curious to read the shared literary source behind these two radically different interpretations, and I wasn’t disappointed.

By Herman Melville,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Billy Budd, Sailor as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Billy Budd, Sailor is a novella by American writer Herman Melville left unfinished at Melville's death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed version was finally published in 1924, it quickly took its place as a classic second only to Moby-Dick among Melville's works. Budd is a "handsome sailor" who strikes and inadvertently kills his false accuser, Master-at-arms John Claggart. The ship's Captain, Edward Vere, recognizes the innocence of Budd's intent but the law of mutiny requires him to sentence Billy to be hanged. Melville began work on it in November 1886, revising and expanding…


Book cover of Passing

Lynn A. Higgins Why did I love this book?

I discovered this novella thanks to its recent screen adaptation. The novel, like the film, outlines the dual traps faced by one of the protagonists, a light-skinned Black woman who can escape racial injustices by passing as white, only to fall prey to the shame, anxiety, and dangers of living a lie. The savagery of this double-edged trap is only partially masked by social niceties and delicate writing that nevertheless betray damaging assumptions and behaviors. The novella is a natural for cinematic adaptation, where the racial dynamic is necessarily more immediately visible, and which necessarily emphasizes dynamics of looking and the gaze of characters and spectators alike. The period, too—1920s New York—is exquisitely but differently rendered in the two media.

By Nella Larsen,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Passing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A classic, brilliant and layered novel that has been at the heart of racial identity discourse in America for almost a century.

Clare Kendry leads a dangerous life. Fair, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a white man unaware of her African American heritage and has severed all ties to her past. Clare's childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, but refuses to acknowledge the racism that continues to constrict her family's happiness. A chance encounter forces both women to confront the lies they have told others - and the…


Book cover of Macbeth

Lynn A. Higgins Why did I love this book?

You think you know a book, and then an adaptation blows your understanding wide open. This play always rewards re-reading, but especially in tandem with Akira Kurosawa’s film adaptation, Throne of Blood. Set in Medieval Japan, the film looks and seems utterly different from Shakespeare’s writing; astonishingly, Kurosawa’s adaptation uses none of the language from the original play, even in translation! The film is completely self-contained within its Japanese historical and visual setting, and yet the play’s plot, characters, themes, and motifs reappear in the film: prophecy, the mysterious powers of nature, ruthless ambition, fear and revenge, madness, and the supernatural. Seeing the story through a different cultural lens brings uncanny echoes into a rereading of the original play.

By William Shakespeare,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Macbeth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

The authoritative edition of Macbeth from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers.

In 1603, James VI of Scotland ascended the English throne, becoming James I of England. London was alive with an interest in all things Scottish, and Shakespeare turned to Scottish history for material. He found a spectacle of violence and stories of traitors advised by witches and wizards, echoing James's belief in a connection between treason and witchcraft.

In depicting a man who murders to become king, Macbeth teases us with huge questions. Is Macbeth tempted by fate,…


Book cover of Jesus Out to Sea

Lynn A. Higgins Why did I love this book?

The book is a collection of short stories by my favorite mystery novel writer. Burke’s series detective, Dave Robicheaux, who is both a Louisiana cop and a moral philosopher, repeatedly strives to overcome his own flaws and set right the cruel catastrophes wrought by human ignorance, stupidity, and cruelty. Jesus Out to Sea is infused with the same narrative and poetic ferocity, but without Robicheaux this time. The collection is set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and probes the human costs of the devastation wrought by nature and exacerbated by administrative corruption and bad faith. 

A surprising and powerful adaptation of one of the stories—“Winter Light”—will be released theatrically in the fall of 2022 with the title God’s Country. It’s the first feature by Julian Higgins, a promising young director (who happens to be my son). The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to enthusiastic reviews and stars Thandiwe Newton in a performance that has been described as the best of her career.

By James Lee Burke,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Jesus Out to Sea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This powerful new collection of James Lee Burke's short fiction ranges across landscapes that he has made his own, from rural Louisiana and Mississippi to war-torn Vietnam and a New Orleans ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Told with his trademark blend of lyrical prose and hard-eyed realism, they bring a host of extraordinary characters to vivid life: soldiers and prostitutes, nuns and children, musicians and gangsters, all the while movingly exploring 'the near certainty of tragedy to come and the smoldering embers of possibility in the ashes of blighted lives' (BOOKLIST). Whether bittersweet evocations of childhood and a New Orleans that…


Explore my book 😀

Bertrand Tavernier

By Lynn A. Higgins,

Book cover of Bertrand Tavernier

What is my book about?

Bertrand Tavernier is one of the most important French film directors in the generation that followed the New Wave. His oeuvre spans many historical periods and genres, including historical dramas, documentaries, science fiction, melodramas, intimate portraits of (fictional) artists, and even comedy. In the United States, he is best known for A Sunday in the Country [Un Dimanche à la campagne, 1984] about an aging post-impressionist painter in the period just before World War I, and Round Midnight [Autour de minuit, 1986], about an American jazz musician in 1950s Paris. Some of his most interesting and memorable films (including A Sunday in the Country) are adaptations.

Note: Readers who enjoy his films and/or my book about him might also want to delve deeper into his reflections about his individual films in my co-edited Bertrand Tavernier Interviews (University Press of Mississippi, pb 2022).

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By Eileen Goudge,

Book cover of All They Need to Know

Eileen Goudge Author Of All They Need to Know

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Why am I passionate about this?

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Eileen's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

On the run from her abusive husband, Kyra Smith hits the road. Destination unknown. With a dog she rescued in tow, she lands in the peaceful California mountain town of Gold Creek and is immediately befriended by an openhearted group of women who call themselves the Tattooed Ladies. They’re there for Kyra—and for each other.

The maternal Frannie is a tattoo artist struggling with a troubled daughter. Suzy is a self-described fashionista grandma bearing a painful estrangement from her son. Then there’s Jo, whose storybook marriage is shadowed by a grim medical diagnosis. And bookstore owner Marisol. She longs for…

All They Need to Know

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What is this book about?

A woman escaping a violent past finds new friendships, romance, and tenuous sanctuary in an emotionally gripping novel by New York Times bestselling author Eileen Goudge.

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The maternal Frannie is a tattoo artist struggling with a troubled daughter. Suzy is a self-described fashionista grandma bearing a…


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