This post was originally published in September 2021. It has been updated with more current information about book-to-screen adaptations.
Book-to-screen adaptations can elicit one of two emotions. Either that was excellently adapted and I loved it OR the book was better so don’t waste your time.
It can be simultaneously thrilling and terrifying to find out that your favorite books are getting a movie or tv show adaptation. A large range of emotions come with seeing a story you’ve visualized a certain way in your head portrayed very differently on a screen. However, when it’s done well, it’s insanely satisfying!
Over the years, I’ve watched my fair share of book-to-screen adaptations and I’ve seen some truly terrible ones along with some excellent ones! In this post, I’m listing my very favorites along with some adaptations I’d be thrilled to see in the future.
12 of the Best Book-to-Screen Adaptations
I feel like I need to preface this by saying that I don’t find every single one of these movies to be cinematic masterpieces or anything (looking at you, Twilight) but I do find them to be accurate representations of the books! Tap on their titles below to read why I love the adaptation!
12 Books I’d Love to See Adapted in the Future
It would be incredible to see some of these turned into movies or tv shows. I’m picky with the books I’d like to see adapted because I want them to be done well. I didn’t just list all of my favorite books because some of them would be really challenging to watch versus read due to the content. You can tap on the titles below to see why I’d like to watch an adaptation!
related posts
How The Darkling Changed My Perspective on Fantasy Villains // The Best Fantasy Books of All Time // 10 Books You Should Listen to Rather Than Read
What are some of your favorite book-to-screen adaptations and which books would you like to see adapted in the future?
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I would love The Flatshare to be adapted to a film, I would definitely go to watch that! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
What a fun post! I think The Help and Memoirs of a Geisha were two of my favourite book to movie adaptations! Thanks for sharing!
Great post! I have to admit I love The Hunger Games adaption and I’ve been wanting to see TATBILB for a while now. I think a movie adaption of Opposite Of Always would be awesome too, it’s one of my favourite books! Thanks for sharing.
Perks of being a wallflower was a great movie! I read the book YEARS before and it’s one of my favourite books!
Corinne x
Great post. You selected some awesome adaptions for this list. Narnia and Lord if the Rings would definitely both be on my list too.
I’m super excited to see what the new Percy Jackson TV series will be like. I’m a huge fan of the books and whilst the films were ok they weren’t even close to the books. I’m hoping the TV series will do better.
I practically read or watch most of these books on this list. I can definitely see why you added them. They were so good and entertaining.
Great post! I adore the Lord of the Rings movies, so I wasn’t too happy to hear that there’s a TV show being planned either.
These sound like great adaptations. I loved watching Narnia and found that it really brought what I’d already read in the books to life.
A Caraval adaptation would make my LIFE! I know Fox optioned it but as far as I know there’s been no work or development on it so far. Hopefully when things pivot back to fantasy from superhero films we’ll get the tv seies or movie we deserve
I love The Lord of the Rings! I felt that the movies faithfully captured the story and characters of the novels.
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
Yes, I so agree with a lot of these! I think Crazy Rich Asians was done well as a movie. Thanks for sharing these!
These are great reviews! I didn’t read a lot of these books but I did LOVE the movie “The Fault in Our Stars” and I also didn’t read ‘The Notebook’ and I liked the movie but didn’t love it – I think I’m the only girl who isn’t obsessed with this movie haha! And I read all the Twilight books years ago – MOVIES ARE TERRIBLE! Lol I think I only like the first movie then I had to stop watching! Haha
Thanks for this!
Xo, Steph
I read It’s Kind of a Funny Story nearly 10 years ago and it left such a HUGE impact on me, but I’ve been scared to watch the movie. Now that I know it’s very true to the book, I’ll definitely give it a chance!
The Perks of Being A Wallflower is our favorite adaption!
Oh my gosh, I’ve been waiting for this post! There’s so many books that I love as movie adaptions (and many that have disappointed me haha). SO many of the ones you chose are also my favorites!! Absolutely adore The Notebook, The Fault in Our Stars, Narnia, LOTR, The Hunger Games and Perks of Being a Wallflower (that’s one of my husband’s faves)
or my list, I’d also add Crazy Rich Asians, The Great Gatsby (my favorite book of all-time) and The Help. I think the movies did the books justice for the most part!
Lizzie
http://www.lizzieinlace.com
I love how fun this post is. My favourite all time book to movie adaptation is the lord of the rings. I also liked Narnia but not as much as I liked the lord of the rings.
Oh yes! The Midnight Library would make for a good screen adaptation. While it’s only fiction, that book changed the way I view life, in that perhaps the thing I wish for isn’t really what I want anyway. Anyway, thanks for this post!
I loved Perks of Being a Wallflower and Where’d You Go Bernadette – in fact, I think Bernadette was underrated!
Completely agree about LOTR. I haven’t actually read the books, but my husband has and he says they’re great, all things considered. I actually wasn’t as huge of a fan of the Shadow & Bone adaptation as I wanted to be. The chemistry between The Darkling and Alina was ok and I felt like the whole antagonistic relationship between Zoya and Alina was subdued in the show because of the quick plot development they had to do in order to fit in all of the Crows stuff. Conversely, I liked the Crows storyline a lot more, probably because I haven’t read those books yet, haha. All that said, I am looking forward to season 2 since I enjoyed the books. I started a rewatch earlier this week, but no way will I be able to finish beforehand.