13 Bookish Movies Now Streaming on Netflix

John Irving’s 973-page classic recounts the coming of age of Homer Wells, an un-adopted orphan and protégé of orphanage director and abortionist Dr. Wilbur Larch. The film won two Academy Awards—one for best supporting actor Michael Caine and one for best adapted screenplay by John Irving.

A riotous and poignant story of how one man regains his memory and comes to terms with the magnitude of his wife’s betrayal. The film was an instant favorite among viewers, but if you’ve only seen the movie, treat yourself to the book.

“You can live your whole life not realizing that what you’re looking for is right in front of you.”
It’s 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day—July 15—of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself.

This one is a film-lovers’ film known for its cinema-photographic prowess and smart dialogue. Paulo Lins’s searing novel is a gritty, gorgeous coming-of-age masterpiece that unfolds against the backdrop of one of Brazil’s most notorious slums: Cidade de Deus, the City of God.

If your favorite character is Joyce Byers

When Hopper told Joyce Byers that Will’s dead body was a fake you jumped for joy, threw confetti in the air, danced a jig, kissed the person you were watching it with, or kissed your cat or kissed yourself—finally someone believes Joyce! You’ll experience that same ecstasy at the end of the thriller BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP.

It’s been almost two decades since former high school sweethearts Amanda and Dawson have seen each other when the death of a beloved mentor spurs their reunion. Nicholas Sparks tugs at heartstrings with this love story about paths chosen and not chosen.

Tom Perrotta’s novel is an exciting and hilarious read about a student election—meant to be an educational tool—gone awry due to smear campaigns, sex scandals, and other unpleasant matters. The 1999 adaptation starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick became a bona fide cult classic.

Loosely based on Pride and Prejudice, this laugh-out-loud chronicle charts a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a single girl on a permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement. Caught between her Singleton friends and the Smug Marrieds, Bridget struggles to keep her life on an even keel—or at least afloat.

When teenager Henry and his lonely mother take in an escaped convict over Labor Day weekend, Henry gets a crash course in life’s most invaluable lessons. It's a life-changing weekend for all.

With an introduction from the film adaptation’s director, Lee Daniels, this biography explores Eugene Allen’s tenure in the White House as a butler to eight U.S. Presidents during some of the country’s most critical periods.

The indie film Being Flynn was based on this memoir, which recounts the bizarre turn of events that reunited a young poet working in a homeless shelter with his estranged father who winds up there. Flynn’s poetic language provides a blueprint for the characters to come alive on the page and screen.

This Pulitzer Prize–winning novel turned Oscar-winning film is a profound story of how three generations of women were transformed by Virginia Woolf’s distinguished work Mrs. Dalloway.