Books are a treasure trove for adapting movies and TV series, and some of the best books of all time have been brilliantly adapted.
However, it is impossible adapt a book or series of books in the visual language of cinema without sacrificing anything in the process. While a great movie or show can stand on its own merits, books always make things better.
8/10
- Resolution
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300ppi, 16 level grayscale
- Storage
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16 GB
Even in the budget department, the Amazon Kindle is a stellar value, from its lightweight and compact design to its adjustable front light and 6-inch screen.
Read Dune before Dune, parts 1, 2 and 3
After all, it’s not so impossible to film!
He Dune books by Frank Herbert are deservedly considered some of the best science fiction writing in history. The first time I read Dune, I was really swept away by the world building, the incredible characters, and the epic scope of the story.
I read my two collector’s edition volumes of the first six books at least once every two or three years and there is always something new to discover.
Denis Villeneuve’s films, so far, have managed to perfectly capture the tone, look and feel that the books describe better than any other. Dune mediums, but they simply can’t bring the true story, depth and character development to the big screen.
If you like science fiction but have never read it Dunenow is the perfect time before Dune: Part 3 releases in December 2026.
Read The Lord of the Rings before The Fellowship of the Ring
The Hobbit too, if you fancy
I was 13 years old when the film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring It was announced as a project. About two years before the movie came out, at that age I wasn’t really interested in fantasy as a genre since I was stuck on science fiction, but my English teacher got really excited about it.
She gave us the reading LOTR trilogy as an extra credit assignment, and I wanted that credit, so I asked my parents to buy me the bus. I was so hooked that I went through all three parts in just over a week, mostly reading on the weekends.
There’s simply no way to fully express how better the movies are if you’ve read the books first. Even the extended editions, which are the only versions I’ll see today, don’t even scratch the surface of the story. The story on screen will make a lot more sense when you know the parts that weren’t filmed.
Read A Song of Ice and Fire before Game of Thrones
Even if it’s not finished yet
If I’m honest, I don’t think George RR Martin is ever going to finish last books in this seriesSo the ending of the TV show might be the best we can hope for, but the finished books are still worth reading, even if you’ve already seen the show, have yet to watch it, or plan to watch it again with fresh eyes after all these years.
While I don’t think Martin is in the same league as Tolkien, he’s still a brilliant world-builder, and the different character perspectives he uses in his books really flesh out Westeros in a way the TV show simply can’t.
game of Thrones
- Release date
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2011 – 2019-00-00
- showrunner
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David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
- Directors
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David Nutter, Alan Taylor, D.B. Weiss, David Benioff
Read Foundation before Apple Foundation
It’s different, but it’s worth it.
Yo worship The work of Isaac Asimov and, as far as I know, I have read every work of fiction he has written. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d missed some. While everything is pretty good, the Base series It had the most profound impact on me and was one of the first dominoes to fall, leading me to study social sciences after school.
The idea that statistics and computer models could be used to predict and even direct human society was powerful, and the books are a fascinating exploration of humanity’s past using a fictional future as a kind of mirror.
Apple’s television adaptation is very loose, and I can understand why. I love Asimov’s books, but he tends to write talking heads that discuss interesting things that are happening elsewhere. A direct adaptation wouldn’t be a very exciting spectacle, so Apple went ahead and created perhaps the most impressive space opera ever put on a screen.
The reason I suggest reading the Base books before watching the show is that you will be able to fully appreciate the broad scope of the ideas present in this story. Something that Apple cannot do with hundreds of millions of dollars, but that Asimov achieved with a few strokes of a pen.
Read the Narnia series before the Narnia movies
It has more secrets than you think.
The Chronicles of Narnia are a series of small volumes of fantasy novels for children. They are some of the best fantasy novels ever written and the films are an impressively close adaptation of the source material.
There’s only one reason I want people to read the books first, and that’s because the movies only adapt selected volumes, leaving us with a fairly disjointed story and no great ending. Although the books are short, they literally take us from the creation of Narnia to its end and have a very dark and surprising ending in the final chapter. It won’t take you more than a week of casual reading to finish them all and will give you a different perspective on the movies.
This is just the beginning
Thanks to electronic readers and audiobooks, it has never been easier to interact with the written word as we do with television and movies. The best book adaptations only get better by experiencing both versions of the story, and I love the insight I get from the adaptation process by seeing what’s changed or what’s been left on the cutting room floor.
There are many more great titles that could have been on the list, such as the witcher novels or Jurassic Park. Yes, that’s from a book! And if you’re worried about spoilers, maybe let my argument for it sway you. spoil shows and movies by reading the book first.
