Netflix, Take Note: 7 Fantastic Books That Deserve Movie or TV Adaptations ASAP

Get Literary
June 25 2020
Share Netflix, Take Note: 7 Fantastic Books That Deserve Movie or TV Adaptations ASAP

Film adaptations of our favorite reads have been coming at us left and right. So much so, that you may wonder: Are there any left to be made? Yes, yes indeed, there are. In fact, quite a few stunning books are still waiting for their moment in the on-screen spotlight. Seven of our favorites have epic plots and stunning settings that will captivate moviegoers (or more like movie-streamers these days). We’ve already taken care of some of the cast and crew, so studios, take note!

This post was originally published on GetLiterary.com.

In Five Years
by Rebecca Serle

Kristin and Courtney’s Pick

Unexpected love story plus a cathartic cry? That’s our kind of book (and movie). Titanic and The Notebook can take a backseat to In Five Years: the book that you’ll read in one sitting and the movie you’ll watch during every girls’ night in. Dannie is a lawyer who has every detail of her life planned to a T, and her plans always come to fruition. From nailing the interview for her dream job to her perfect boyfriend proposing at the Rainbow Room, Dannie’s day has gone just right—until she falls asleep that night and wakes up five years in the future, in a different apartment, wearing a different engagement ring, and sleeping next to a different man. Is this plot not what movies were made for?! You’ll be on the edge of your seat as Dannie spends an hour in this future, only to wake up back in her apartment next to her fiancé, wondering if it was just a weird dream or a look into the future. When that day five years in the future approaches and Dannie meets the man from her dream in an unexpected way, you and your friends will be gasping (unless you’ve all read the book, of course). With the backdrop of New York City and a story line filled with surprises, this movie is bound to be a blockbuster hit.

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In Five Years
Rebecca Serle

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A Good Morning America, FabFitFun, and Marie Claire Book Club Pick

In Five Years is as clever as it is moving, the rare read-in-one-sitting novel you won’t forget.” —Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists

Perfect for fans of Me Before You and One Day—a striking, powerful, and moving love story following an ambitious lawyer who experiences an astonishing vision that could change her life forever.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Dannie Kohan lives her life by the numbers.

She is nothing like her lifelong best friend—the wild, whimsical, believes-in-fate Bella. Her meticulous planning seems to have paid off after she nails the most important job interview of her career and accepts her boyfriend’s marriage proposal in one fell swoop, falling asleep completely content.

But when she awakens, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. Dannie spends one hour exactly five years in the future before she wakes again in her own home on the brink of midnight—but it is one hour she cannot shake. In Five Years is an unforgettable love story, but it is not the one you’re expecting.

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The Turn of the Key
by Ruth Ware

Justin’s Pick

The Turn of the Key’s white-knuckle suspense, constant twists, and creeping sense of paranoia would make for a thrilling cinematic experience. Dream director? I think Ruth Ware’s penchant for turning her readers into amateur detectives—questioning every new clue or development—could be expertly realized on-screen by director Aneesh Chaganty, whose 2018 thriller, Searching, is a similarly engaging mystery. As for the protagonist, Rowan Caine, her resourcesfulness and cleverness would prove to be a juicy role for an actress such as Florence Pugh or Anya Taylor-Joy. Plus, the story builds to an unforgettable finale that would leave moviegoers with an adrenaline rush long after they’ve left the theater. Hollywood, get on it!

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The Turn of the Key
Ruth Ware

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A superb suspense writer…Brava, Ruth Ware. I daresay even Henry James would be impressed.” —Maureen Corrigan, author of So We Read On

“This appropriately twisty Turn of the Screw update finds the Woman in Cabin 10 author in her most menacing mode, unfurling a shocking saga of murder and deception.” —Entertainment Weekly

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lying Game and The Death of Mrs. Westaway comes this thrilling novel that explores the dark side of technology.

When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.

What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.

Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the home’s cameras, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman.

It was everything.

She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder—but somebody is.

Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, The Turn of the Key is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.

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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by Michael Chabon

Emily’s Pick #1

Supposedly, author Michael Chabon and various writers/directors have been attempting to adapt this Pulitzer Prize–winning novel into a film for years and it still hasn’t happened, which is a bummer because this book would be absolutely perfect for the screen. It follows two cousins—Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay—who meet in late 1930s NYC, after Joe escapes from Nazi-invaded Prague, and discover that with their combined knowledge of illustration, storytelling, and escape artistry, they’re the perfect creative duo to succeed in the burgeoning superhero comic book industry. The story line progresses through their titular adventures, ranging from interactions with maddening business execs and famous figures like Salvador Dalí to destinations as spectacular as Antarctica and the top of the Empire State Building. As I read this story, it felt so cinematic—and was so immersive—that it leaped to life, and I’m dying to see it fully realized on the big screen. Hopefully a director with experience adapting graphic novels or comics, such as Nicole Kassell, director of the new Watchmen TV show, will sign on.

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The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon

An exuberant Pulitzer Prize–winning novel that opens in the New York City of 1939. While World War II rages in Europe, a young escape artist and his cousin dive into the American comic book craze, traveling deep into the heart of Manhattan and American ambition.

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Dear Emmie Blue
by Lia Louis

Courtney’s Pick #2

When I read Dear Emmie Blue, I saw it playing out in typical Netflix-original fashion. There’s truly not a part of the book that I wouldn’t want to see on-screen. The characters are so lifelike, I want to be their best friend, and the settings are so well described, I want to experience them for myself. And the premise of the novel just screams “make me into a movie!” Emmie and Lucas become best friends as teenagers when Emmie puts her name, email, and a secret into a balloon and releases it at the beach in England, only for Lucas to find the balloon on a beach in France. Truly, how does that happen? Magic and kismet. Two things every good rom-com needs. Fast-forward 14 years. Emmie thinks Lucas is about to profess his love—and instead he turns her world upside down. What is a girl to do? Swallow her feelings and pick up the pieces of the life she left behind in pursuit of Lucas’s love. Now that is a journey I want to see on the big screen.

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Dear Emmie Blue
Lia Louis

“A delightful story about how the things we imagine to be best for us usually aren’t. The reason you will love Dear Emmie Blue is because you’ve probably *lived* Dear Emmie Blue, in some small part of your own journey to adulthood.” Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

In this charming and poignant novel, teenager Emmie Blue releases a balloon with her email address and a big secret into the sky, only to fall head-over-heels for the boy who finds it; now, fourteen years later, the one thing Emmie has been counting on is gone for good, and everything she planned is up in the air.

At sixteen, Emmie Blue stood in the fields of her school and released a red balloon into the sky. Attached was her name, her email address…and a secret she desperately wanted to be free of. Weeks later, on a beach in France, Lucas Moreau discovered the balloon and immediately emailed the attached addressed, sparking an intense friendship between the two teens.

Now, fourteen years later, Emmie is hiding the fact that she’s desperately in love with Lucas. She has pinned all her hopes on him and waits patiently for him to finally admit that she’s the one for him. So dedicated to her love for Lucas, Emmie has all but neglected her life outside of this relationship—she’s given up the search for her absentee father, no longer tries to build bridges with her distant mother, and lives as a lodger to an old lady she barely knows after being laid off from her job. And when Lucas tells Emmie he has a big question to ask her, she’s convinced this is the moment he’ll reveal his feelings for her. But nothing in life ever quite goes as planned, does it?

Emmie Blue is about to learn everything she thinks she knows about life (and love) is just that: what she thinks she knows. Is there such thing as meant to be? Or is it true when they say that life is what happens when you are busy making other plans? A story filled with heart and humor, Dear Emmie Blue is perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Evvie Drake Starts Over.

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The Cruel Prince
by Holly Black

Heather’s Pick #1

Given the enduring popularity of the Lord of the Rings saga, I can’t believe we haven’t already gotten a movie adaptation of Holly Black’s YA fantasy series Folk of the Air. Step up, Hollywood! Set in the magical realm of Elfhame, The Cruel Prince, the first volume in the three-book series, is our introduction to Jude Duarte, a fierce mortal girl who wants nothing so much as to secure a place for herself in the faerie court. One obstacle on her ambitious path? Prince Cardan, the youngest son of the High King of Elfhame, an heir to the throne, and one of Jude’s chief tormentors since childhood. The more the two play political games and battle for dominance, though, the more you get the feeling there’s something more between them. Loaded with court intrigue, sword fights, and a touch of romance, these books sure would look good on the big screen.

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The Cruel Prince
Holly Black

Heather’s Pick #1 Given the enduring popularity of the Lord of the Rings saga, I can’t believe we haven’t already gotten a movie adaptation of Holly Black’s YA fantasy series Folk of the Air. Step up, Hollywood! Set in the magical realm of Elfhame, The Cruel Prince, the first volume in the three-book series, is our introduction to Jude Duarte, a fierce mortal girl who wants nothing so much as to secure a place for herself in the faerie court. One obstacle on her ambitious path? Prince Cardan, the youngest son of the High King of Elfhame, an heir to the throne, and one of Jude’s chief tormentors since childhood. The more the two play political games and battle for dominance, though, the more you get the feeling there’s something more between them. Loaded with court intrigue, sword fights, and a touch of romance, these books sure would look good on the big screen.

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The Simple Wild
by K.A. Tucker

Heather’s Pick #2

Virgin River. Hart of Dixie. Men in Trees.* There have been plenty of TV shows about big-city girls moving to rural small towns and learning how to fit in with the locals. You know why? Because they never get old! Seriously, I will tune in every single time. That’s how I know, with 110% confidence, that K. A. Tucker’s The Simple Wild would make a perfect Netflix series. You’ve got a woman finding herself in a beautiful yet remote Alaskan town, a heartwarming father-daughter reconciliation, and a fiery opposites-attract romance, all rolled into one! Calla hasn’t seen her dad since she was a baby, but when she learns he’s sick, she leaves everything of the life she knows in Toronto to go spend time with him in a rugged Alaskan region. To her surprise, she becomes attached to the town and its residents—including a hot-shot pilot named Jonah. Her story has all the ingredients of a must-watch show.

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The Simple Wild
K.A. Tucker

City girl Calla Fletcher attempts to reconnect with her estranged father, and unwittingly finds herself torn between her desire to return to the bustle of Toronto and a budding relationship with a rugged Alaskan pilot in this masterful new romance from acclaimed author K.A. Tucker.

Calla Fletcher was two when her mother took her and fled the Alaskan wild, unable to handle the isolation of the extreme, rural lifestyle, leaving behind Calla’s father, Wren Fletcher, in the process. Calla never looked back, and at twenty-six, a busy life in Toronto is all she knows. But when her father reaches out to inform her that his days are numbered, Calla knows that it’s time to make the long trip back to the remote frontier town where she was born.

She braves the roaming wildlife, the odd daylight hours, the exorbitant prices, and even the occasional—dear God—outhouse, all for the chance to connect with her father: a man who, despite his many faults, she can’t help but care for. While she struggles to adjust to this new subarctic environment, Jonah—the quiet, brooding, and proud Alaskan pilot who keeps her father’s charter plane company operational—can’t imagine calling anywhere else home. And he’s clearly waiting with one hand on the throttle to fly this city girl back to where she belongs, convinced that she’s too pampered to handle the wild.

Jonah is probably right, but Calla is determined to prove him wrong. As time passes, she unexpectedly finds herself forming a bond with the burly pilot. As his undercurrent of disapproval dwindles, it’s replaced by friendship—or perhaps something deeper? But Calla is not in Alaska to stay and Jonah will never leave. It would be foolish of her to kindle a romance, to take the same path her parents tried—and failed at—years ago.

It’s a simple truth that turns out to be not so simple after all.

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Alanna
by Tamora Pierce

Emily’s Pick #2

This series by Tamora Pierce was everything to me growing up, and I’m pretty sure Alanna’s stubbornness strongly influenced my own. With each passing year, I’ve often wondered: “Where in the world is this movie adaptation?” We got Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Series of Unfortunate Events. Surely, something needs to be in the works for this equally epic four-book fantasy series of my childhood? In this series, Alanna of Trebond longs to be a knight, but, alas, only boys are allowed to train. So, in the vein of She’s the Man, she switches places with her twin brother and goes on to become one of the top pages in training in Tortall. For this film adaptation, Alanna’s bright red hair and purple eyes would make for some epic visuals, and Prince Jonathan better be the gorgeous heartthrob I always imagined.

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Alanna
Tamora Pierce

From Tamora Pierce, the first book in the Song of the Lioness Quartet, honored with the Margaret A. Edwards Award.

“From now on I’m Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I’ll be a knight.”

In a time when girls are forbidden to be warriors, Alanna of Trebond wants nothing more than to be a knight of the realm of Tortall. So she finds a way to switch places with her twin brother, Thom. Disguised as a boy, Alanna begins her training as a page at the palace of King Roald. But the road to knighthood, as she discovers, is not an easy one. Alanna must master weapons, combat, and magic, as well as polite behavior, her temper, and even her own heart.

Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna’s first adventure begins—one that will lead to the fulfillment of her dreams and make her a legend in the land.

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