Is there a book that has made you do something you wouldn’t do otherwise? For me, it’s E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View.

A quick Google search will show you that “La Dolce Vita,” meaning “the sweet life,” is a popular name for Italian restaurants, bakeries, and coffee shops. The term has taken on a life of its own ever since Federico Fellini’s film of the same title was released in 1960.

François Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” is the frontrunner in the French New Wave Cinema and a staple of film courses. The 12-year-old protagonist, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), is one of the most unforgettable characters ever created in film. He has stayed with me for many years.

In “Rashomon,” the 1950 classic film by Akira Kurosawa, viewers can be certain of three things: A samurai is dead, his wife has been sexually assaulted, and a bandit is the main suspect. Everything else about the film is open to discussion. Every viewer is entitled to his or her own conclusion.

More often than not, movies adapted from novels are disappointing. Perhaps it’s impossible to capture the complexity and nuances of a 300-page (or longer) novel in two hours. I chose my top 15 book-to-movie adaptations based on how well the directors interpreted the novels in film. The movie may not be 100 percent faithful to the book, but it successfully preserved the novel’s essence.

Cindy Fazzi’s historical novel, My MacArthur, was chosen as a quarterfinalist in ScreenCraft’s 2018 Cinematic Book Competition. “Our jury is looking for books that would be great for film and/or television,” according to the organization.

In 2017, two films featuring young protagonists broke the mold to give same old same old tropes a fresh take. In “Baby Driver,” the creative use of music made it an extraordinary heist film, while the unlikely focus of “Lady Bird” on mother-daughter relationship set it apart from other coming-of-age movies. The two films are among the best and most original of last year’s crop of films.

Whether it’s your kid offering a slice of pizza to his sibling or your friend volunteering to babysit, the person might say, “I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse.” Many people know the line though they have never seen Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 movie, “The Godfather.” The dialogue has taken on a life of its own. There are many movies and novels like that; they are famous for zingers and memorable dialogues.

Film is a universal art form. Those of us who write novels can learn a lot from the storytelling techniques of filmmakers, especially masters like Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, and François Truffaut. Their films defied Hollywood norms and yet found a global audience.

Not all great movies have memorable lines, and not all memorable lines come from great movies. But the latter stand the test of time because the quotes themselves live on. If you love films as much as my family does, then you’ll understand why our conversations are filled with lines from movies.