10 Books We Wish Would Be Made Into Movies

Movies
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Do you cast the film while you're reading the book? Then you probably have a list of books you wish would be made into movies, asap. Our editors have a few of those too, and we're dreaming about the days when the stories we love reading finally hit the big screen. With books by Fannie Flagg, Katie Kitamura, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Jasmine Guillory, this list argues that with the right vision, any book could be a movie. In any case, there are more than a few stories that deserve the silver-screen treatment, so read on for a few of our dream book-to-film adaptations, and then let us know what's currently on your list of books that should be made into movies.

01 of 10

On Beauty by Zadie Smith

On Beauty
amazon.com

Zadie Smith's 2005 novel is loosely based on E.M. Forster's novel Howards End. A story about the complications that arise between and among families, it's just waiting for the right ensemble to bring it to life on screen.

BUY IT: $18, bookshop.org

02 of 10

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg
amazon.com

Fannie Flagg's debut novel deserves the movie treatment, don't you think? This book follows young Daisy Fay, who's growing up with a cast of characterful neighbors on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the 1950s.

BUY IT: $18, bookshop.org

03 of 10

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
amazon.com

Ann Patchett's Philadelphia-set novel earned lots of fans when it was published in 2019. A story about siblings tangled up in their family history, it has dramatic potential as well as the opportunity for exciting production design. (Wouldn't you love to see the eponymous Dutch house?)

BUY IT: $17, bookshop.org

04 of 10

Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
amazon.com

Katie Kitamura's new novel is a complex and thrilling story about an interpreter at The Hague dealing with heartbreak and incendiary global politics. Laced with compelling language and plenty of drama, it would make a fantastic jump to the big screen.

BUY IT: $18, bookshop.org

05 of 10

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

Less by Andrew Sean Greer
amazon.com

Andrew Sean Greer's bighearted novel about an author traveling the globe to avoid the wedding of his former partner—and finding so many hiccups along the way—would make for an uproarious film, but it would tug at the heartstrings too.

BUY IT: $17, bookshop.org

06 of 10

Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
amazon.com

A young woman makes an important choice in this hard-to-put-down novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It leads to two Sliding Doors-style paths, two alternate realities of her life, which play out amid questions of fate, love, and free will.

BUY IT: $18, bookshop.org

07 of 10

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
amazon.com

There are whispers of a multi-episode adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez's epic One Hundred Years of Solitude. Fingers are crossed that this sweeping story, first published in 1967, will make it to our screens sooner rather than later.

BUY IT: $17, bookshop.org

08 of 10

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
amazon.com

From the author of Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow comes this sweeping road novel that's about self-discovery and starting over—and is peopled with an exciting cast of characters.

BUY IT: $17, bookshop.org

09 of 10

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory
amazon.com

Any of Jasmine Guillory's novels would make great movies—The Wedding Date, The Proposal, Royal Holiday—but Hollywood should start with this one, a story about a woman who joins her daughter on a work trip and finds more than she'd bargained for while she's abroad.

BUY IT: $16, bookshop.org

10 of 10

28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand

28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand
amazon.com

There are also whispers of a 28 Summers movie in the works, which is good news, because this decades-spanning romance set along the coast in Nantucket is ripe for a Hollywood adaptation.

BUY IT: $18, bookshop.org

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