Books are a treasure trove for movies and TV series to be adapted from, and some of the best books of all time have been adapted brilliantly.
However, it’s impossible to adapt a book or book series into the visual language of film without sacrificing something in the process. While a great movie or show can stand on its own merits, the books always make things better.
8/10
Resolution
300ppi, 16-level gray scale
Storage
16GB
Even in the budget department, the Amazon Kindle is a stellar value, from its light and compact design, to its adjustable front light and 6-inch display.
Read Dune before Dune Part 1,2, & 3
Not so unfilmable after all!
The Dune books by Frank Herbert are deservedly considered some of the best science fiction writing in history. The first time I read Dune, I really felt swept away by the world-building, the incredible characters, and sheer epic scope of the story.
I read my two collector’s edition volumes of the first six books at least once every two to three years, and there’s always something new to discover.
Credit:Â Sydney Louw Butler/How-To Geek
Denis Villeneuve’s movies, so far, have managed to perfectly capture the tone, look, and feel described by the books better than any other Dune media, but they simply can’t bring the true lore, depth, and character development to the silver screen.
If you like sci-fi but have somehow never read Dune, now’s the perfect time before Dune: Part 3 releases in December 2026.
Dune
Release Date
September 15, 2021
Runtime
155 minutes
Director
Denis Villeneuve
Read The Lord of the Rings before The Fellowship of the Ring
The Hobbit too, if you feel like it
I was 13 years old when the film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was announced as a project. About two years before the film’s release, I wasn’t really interested in fantasy as a genre at that age, being stuck on sci-fi, but my English teacher got very excited indeed.
She gave us reading the LOTR trilogy as an extra credit assignment, and I wanted that credit, so I asked my parents to buy me the omnibus. I was so hooked that I blasted through all three parts in just over a week, mostly packing my reading into the weekends.
There’s just no way to fully express how much better the movies are if you’ve read the books first. Even the extended editions, which are the only versions I’ll watch today, don’t even scratch the surface of the story. The story on screen will make so much more sense when you’re aware of 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 being honest with you, I don’t think George R.R. Martin is ever going to finish the last books in this series, so the ending of the TV show might be the best we can hope for, but it’s still worth reading the books that are done—even if you’ve already watched the show, still have to watch it, or plan on watching 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 many different character perspectives he uses in his books really flesh out Westeros in a way the TV show just can’t.
Game Of Thrones
Release Date
2011 – 2019-00-00
Showrunner
David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
Directors
David Nutter, Alan Taylor, D.B. Weiss, David Benioff
Read Foundation before Apple’s Foundation
It’s different, but worth it
I adore Isaac Asimov’s body of work, and as far as I know, I have read every work of fiction he’s written. Though I would not be surprised if I’d missed some. While it’s all pretty great, the Foundation series had the most profound impact on me, and it was one of the first dominoes that dropped, leading me to study social sciences after school.
The idea that you could use statistics and computer models to predict and even steer human society was a powerful one, and the books are a fascinating exploration of humanity’s past using a fictional future as a sort of mirror.
Apple’s TV adaptation is very loose, and I can understand why. I love Asimov’s books, but he does tend to write talking heads discussing exciting things that are happening somewhere else. A direct adaptation wouldn’t make for a very exciting show, and so Apple has gone ahead and crafted perhaps the most impressive space opera ever put on a screen.
The reason I suggest reading the Foundation books before watching the show is that you’ll get a full appreciation for the grand scope of the ideas present in this story. Something that Apple can’t manage to do with hundreds of millions of dollars, but Asimov managed with a few strokes of the pen.
Foundation
Release Date
September 23, 2021
Network
Apple TV+
Showrunner
David S. Goyer
Read the Narnia series before the Narnia movies
It’s got more secrets than you think
The Chronicles of Narnia are a series of slim volumes of children’s fantasy novels. They are some of the best fantasy novels ever written, and the movies 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 select volumes, leaving us with a pretty disjointed story and no big 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 more than a week of casual reading to polish them all off, and it will give you a different perspective on the movies.​​​​​​​
This is only the beginning
Thanks to eReaders and audiobooks, it’s never been easier to engage with the written word as easily as we do with TV and movies. The best adaptations of books are only ever enhanced by experiencing both versions of the story, and I love the insight I get into the adaptation process by seeing what’s changed or left on the cutting room floor.
There are so many more great titles that could have been on the list, like The Witcher novels or Jurassic Park. Yes, that’s from a book! And if you’re worried about spoilers, maybe you’ll be swayed by my argument for spoiling shows and movies by reading the book first.
