Top 5 Books that became Movies I Want to Read

This Top 5 series started back in October and I kind of lost motivation for making it every week. But it’s back! This is a series of books that I want to read that all have a common theme. Previously on the blog I have focused on witches, werewolves, thrillers, faeries, fairy tale re-tellings, high fantasy and many more. I am going to try and bring this series back for every Saturday.

The Upcoming Schedule Is:

12/6/19 — Standalone Books

12/13/19 — Books about Pirates

12/20/19 — Books that have been made into Movies

12/27/19 – Books coming in 2020

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Rules!

• Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
• Tag the original post (This one!)
• Tag 5 people

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Books that became Movies

I love to find out that my favorite books are becoming movies or TV shows! (I feel like I’ve been waiting for the Grishaverse to come to Netflix forever now!) I also love when I discover a book because it’s becoming a movie. I haven’t seen any of these movies (or the one TV show — I know I’m kind of cheating there) or read any of these books. If I want to watch a movie and then I find out that it was a book first I tend to hold off watching it until I can find time to read the book. Of course I love to compare the book against the movie and always love to watch characters that I pictured in my head come to life.

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Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

‘Armageddon only happens once, you know. They don’t let you go around again until you get it right.’

People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. But what if, for once, the predictions are right, and the apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea?

You could spend the time left drowning your sorrows, giving away all your possessions in preparation for the rapture, or laughing it off as (hopefully) just another hoax. Or you could just try to do something about it.

It’s a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon now finds themselves in. They’ve been living amongst Earth’s mortals since The Beginning and, truth be told, have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and, in all honesty, are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse.

And then there’s the small matter that someone appears to have misplaced the Antichrist…

I haven’t actually read any Neil Gaiman except for the first half of American Gods before I lost my copy. Everyone raves about his books, and this one has been getting a lot of buzz lately with the show coming out. It’s also co-written with Terry Pratchett, who is another fantasy author that I hear good things about, but haven’t read any of his titles just yet. I keep eyeing this book at work and I think eventually I might buy a copy.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

Okay I know that I’m cheating again because this is technically a TV show, but I just don’t care. I got a copy of the first book in this series through Twitter’s books for trade and I was so excited for it. I really can’t believe that I still haven’t read it because this book looks like it could be a 5 star read. It is really long, so I think I didn’t pick it up initially because back when I got it I was intimidated by longer titles, but now I know that I love longer fantasies.

Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice

Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force–a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.

I don’t know why I haven’t read this book yet. I own copies of Interview with a Vampire and The Vampire Lestat. Anne Rice is said to be the queen of vampire fiction, yet I haven’t read any of her books. I feel like I’ve been reading more high fantasy lately and less urban fantasy or paranormal novels and I really want to try and get more variety into my reading life.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal–including her friend Roger. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world.

Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want–but what Lyra doesn’t know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other.

This is one of those books that I wish I had read when I was younger. I feel like a lot of people really enjoyed this series and I am just not in the loop at all. I scored a copy for 50 cents at the Penfield Public Library’s Used book sale and now that I own it I just need to find time to read it. I think it would be a perfect winter read, so hopefully I can fit it in this season.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

This book has been recommended to me over and over again. While I read a lot more fantasy than I do science fiction, I am dying to read this because of the recommendations. It just sounds like a fun, action packed read and I stumbled across a copy and just haven’t been in the mood for science fiction lately.

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Tagged!

Shalini @ Book Rambler

Beth @ BooksNest

Ruthsic @ YA on my Mind

Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile

Paula @ Book Jotter

Lindsay @ Lindsay Glenne — The Witty Ramblings of a Wannabe Writer

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Check Out Other Book Blogger’s Top 5!

Dini @ Dinipandareads — Top 5 Saturday: Books Made into TV Shows/Movies

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Let’s Chat!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Do you love being able to say “I read the book”? What are some of your favorite books that became movies? Did you add any of these titles to your TBR? Are there any books that are becoming movies that you really want to read? Don’t forget to comment below so we can chat about books that became movies!