finally I sat down in 77 or 78 I worked
for about 18 months straight pages piled
up about this high from the written word
to movie theater mania welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top ten books
that should be movies for this list
we’re looking at the most fascinating
stories that have not yet been adapted
on the screen we’re focusing solely on
novels and are not including short
stories or comic books of any kind
number 10 the secret history Donna Tartt
the writing is spectacularly superb I
have been enjoying every single sentence
of this book this 1992 page-turner
inspired scholars to stroke their beards
with delight the secret history
chronicles the psychological turmoil of
six elite college students after a
murderous deed and contains all the
elements of a classic Greek tragedy time
to say who was the most influential but
honestly it was probably the it was it
was probably my early reading of Homer
and the Greek write traditions with a
confession opening the novel an
unreliable narrator reflects back and
allows the reader to ride shotgun as the
violent actions are explained
it’s a classic why done it ripe with
suspense and begging to be adapted on
the screen well number nine tales of a
fourth grade nothing Judy Blume Lee
Hatcher he’s got one little problem
and his name is he’s a human tornado
remember those days when your worst
problem was your bratty little brother
if so then you and Peter have something
in common
fudge was actually based on my son Larry
when he was a toddler he wasn’t as a
rageous as fudge I mean it’s fiction you
know the first in Blum series of fudge
novels about Peter Hatcher and his
brother Farley Drechsel also known as
fudge tales of a fourth grade nothing
jumps off the page with vivid characters
good-natured humor and
double stories about sibling rivalry you
know all the pores in your seat this is
not a kennel even you are not a dog
again
appropriate for kids and adults alike
the story remains relevant even over
four decades after it was first
published and like all of the author’s
books this novel covers themes central
to growing up and that’s something we’ll
never get too old to watch on the big
screen fudge you will eat your cereal or
you will wear it this was turning out to
be fun after all
number eight the corrections Jonathan
Franzen an adaptation has been in the
works for years but Hollywood cannot
seem to connect the dots for this
memorial of American life in the 20th
century The Corrections explores the
moral decline of three Midwestern
siblings and the mental health of an
old-fashioned patriarch unwilling to
embrace a brave new world sure looked
like family life was there really
anything amiss here but the clinical
depression of the man peering in
Franzen’s National Book Award winning
novel caught the anxious mood of post
9/11 American culture even though it was
released less than two weeks before the
attack and could translate to movie
magic under the right direction please
correct this problem Hollywood and
identify the solution I’m not writing
for people in two hundred years I’m
trying to create books that that the
people can connect with based on the
experiences they’re having right now
number seven
Hyperion Dan Simmons sci-fi readers have
been trembling with anticipation for
decades and drooling at the idea of this
Hugo award-winning story finally hitting
the big screen the first book of Simmons
Hyperion cantos Hyperion is set in a
parallel world with both time travel and
an exponentially advanced internet
network not to mention oddities such as
a creature that impales surprised
pilgrims on metal trees now that’s
something that was made for 3d it’s only
a matter of time until Hyperion
merchandise hits the streets and your
local movie theater prepare yourself
why haven’t they made
into a movie and then did research found
out the Graham King had the rights and
that James Cameron played toyed with it
with Leo for a while and then he decided
to make avatar number six rendezvous
with Rama arthur c clarke the author of
this 1973 sci-fi classic co-wrote
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 a Space Odyssey
but an adaptation of this mesmerizing
work remains out of reach with a
futuristic setting aboard a space vessel
twelve miles in diameter and 34 miles
long rendezvous with Rama mixes human
explorers with alien robot hybrids
massive skyscrapers an interior see and
a mysterious island if that’s not enough
material for a Hollywood screenplay then
we are living in dark times
let us rendezvous with Rama in glorious
3d rendezvous with Rama was one of best
science fiction books ever and and and
it’s been picked at over the years
people to borrow a lot of stuff from it
but the essence of rendezvous with Rama
is still there number five the Dark
Tower series Stephen King the man in
black fled across the desert and the
gunslinger followed anyone who’s read
this vast legend by one of our
generations most popular and prolific
authors knows those as its opening words
with elements of fantasy horror and the
Old West this 8th volume series would
crush at the box office as the
protagonist and last member of the
gunslingers roland deschain would be a
career-making role for any actor the
magical setting guarantees visual
splendor and the fictional language
known as high speech would create a
special audio tapestry on screen HBO and
Warner Brothers have both been attached
to a cinematic reconstruction however we
may first see an adaptation of Kings
novel The Long Walk
directed by frequent collaborator Frank
Darabont when you sit down to write a
book do you know how vast its universe
is going to be when you settle into it I
knew this was going to be a big one
number 4 blood meridian Cormac MacCarthy
this 1985 story of Old West violence
remains one of the author’s best works
but maybe too dark for modern cinema
although the adolescent
hero discovers how difficult life can be
the mythical judge holden takes nihilism
to another level with no body hair and
an Appetite for Destruction he could
easily become one of the most terrifying
characters ever seen on screen Brando in
Apocalypse Now is the perfect person but
you know of course like continued no
they list you know you be he probably
nailed it as my guess just as blood
meridian challenges the readers
threshold for brutality the novel
seemingly challenges the film industry
to step up to the plate and make the
film
hopefully Cormac McCarthy’s work will
find the right man or woman for the job
number three a confederacy of dunces
John Kennedy Toole maybe it’s a curse or
maybe it’s bad timing but this 1980
classic has long caused trouble for
curious filmmakers John Belushi Chris
Farley and John Candy were all tapped to
play the eccentric Ignatius J Reilly at
one time but passed away suddenly before
production could move forward with a
multitude of vibrant characters and a
stunning portrayal of 1960s New Orleans
a confederacy of dunces contains plenty
of drama and comedy for a wonderful
screen version however perhaps the title
and main characters disdain for pop
culture will forever block an adaptation
Ignatius J Riley is a flatulent manchild
with an outdated worldview and an
unpopular notion for what he considers
taste and decency number 2 100 Years of
Solitude
Gabrielle Garcia Marquez it sold more
than 30 million copies throughout the
world during the writers lifetime it put
a spotlight on the Latin American genre
known as magical realism while the
rights to produce a film may never be
granted admirers of this 1967 Latin
American Novel often dream of filtering
its magical realism through a cinematic
lens 100 years of solitude covers seven
generations of colorful characters
making it perfect for a film treatment
what I know today is that I did not stop
writing for a single day for 18 straight
months until I finished the book but its
esteemed reputation made on some
filmmakers while others may be
intimidated by the need to
nicely capture its specific Colombian
flavor with the utopian setting and
remarkable representations of time and
fate one can only imagine how a lavish
but thoughtful production would
introduce Gabriel Garcia Marquez to a
new generation of moviegoers and readers
something that with film I realized that
making a movie was infinitely more
difficult than I thought before we crack
the spine on our top pick here are some
honorable mentions
number one The Catcher in the Rye JD
Salinger when you’re a kid and you read
Catcher in the Rye you’re just like oh
my god somebody gets it one of the most
important and widely heralded works of
twentieth-century American literature
this 1951 novel found its way into the
back pocket of teenagers worldwide more
than 60 million copies of his 1951 novel
Catcher in the Rye have been sold read
worshiped and studied and it made the
central character Holden Caulfield that
are known and Salinger himself whether
it’s the rebellious nature of Holden
Caulfield or the idea of his physical
being the larger-than-life persona may
be too powerful for any well-known actor
to take on young Hinkley the whizz kid
who shot Reagan at his press secretary
said if you want my defense all you have
to do is read Catcher in the Rye if and
when an adaptation ever does take place
a relatively unknown artist may spring
upon the world just like Salinger’s
protagonist did so many years ago we’d
all get a bang out of that it is this
kind of combination of a deep sincerity
a spirituality this state-of-the-art
vernacular this guy was talking the way
we were talking at that very period do
you agree with our list what book do you
think should be made into a movie for
more mind-blowing top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com it’s really nice we were
pampered it’s almost sybaritic
you
for about 18 months straight pages piled
up about this high from the written word
to movie theater mania welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top ten books
that should be movies for this list
we’re looking at the most fascinating
stories that have not yet been adapted
on the screen we’re focusing solely on
novels and are not including short
stories or comic books of any kind
number 10 the secret history Donna Tartt
the writing is spectacularly superb I
have been enjoying every single sentence
of this book this 1992 page-turner
inspired scholars to stroke their beards
with delight the secret history
chronicles the psychological turmoil of
six elite college students after a
murderous deed and contains all the
elements of a classic Greek tragedy time
to say who was the most influential but
honestly it was probably the it was it
was probably my early reading of Homer
and the Greek write traditions with a
confession opening the novel an
unreliable narrator reflects back and
allows the reader to ride shotgun as the
violent actions are explained
it’s a classic why done it ripe with
suspense and begging to be adapted on
the screen well number nine tales of a
fourth grade nothing Judy Blume Lee
Hatcher he’s got one little problem
and his name is he’s a human tornado
remember those days when your worst
problem was your bratty little brother
if so then you and Peter have something
in common
fudge was actually based on my son Larry
when he was a toddler he wasn’t as a
rageous as fudge I mean it’s fiction you
know the first in Blum series of fudge
novels about Peter Hatcher and his
brother Farley Drechsel also known as
fudge tales of a fourth grade nothing
jumps off the page with vivid characters
good-natured humor and
double stories about sibling rivalry you
know all the pores in your seat this is
not a kennel even you are not a dog
again
appropriate for kids and adults alike
the story remains relevant even over
four decades after it was first
published and like all of the author’s
books this novel covers themes central
to growing up and that’s something we’ll
never get too old to watch on the big
screen fudge you will eat your cereal or
you will wear it this was turning out to
be fun after all
number eight the corrections Jonathan
Franzen an adaptation has been in the
works for years but Hollywood cannot
seem to connect the dots for this
memorial of American life in the 20th
century The Corrections explores the
moral decline of three Midwestern
siblings and the mental health of an
old-fashioned patriarch unwilling to
embrace a brave new world sure looked
like family life was there really
anything amiss here but the clinical
depression of the man peering in
Franzen’s National Book Award winning
novel caught the anxious mood of post
9/11 American culture even though it was
released less than two weeks before the
attack and could translate to movie
magic under the right direction please
correct this problem Hollywood and
identify the solution I’m not writing
for people in two hundred years I’m
trying to create books that that the
people can connect with based on the
experiences they’re having right now
number seven
Hyperion Dan Simmons sci-fi readers have
been trembling with anticipation for
decades and drooling at the idea of this
Hugo award-winning story finally hitting
the big screen the first book of Simmons
Hyperion cantos Hyperion is set in a
parallel world with both time travel and
an exponentially advanced internet
network not to mention oddities such as
a creature that impales surprised
pilgrims on metal trees now that’s
something that was made for 3d it’s only
a matter of time until Hyperion
merchandise hits the streets and your
local movie theater prepare yourself
why haven’t they made
into a movie and then did research found
out the Graham King had the rights and
that James Cameron played toyed with it
with Leo for a while and then he decided
to make avatar number six rendezvous
with Rama arthur c clarke the author of
this 1973 sci-fi classic co-wrote
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 a Space Odyssey
but an adaptation of this mesmerizing
work remains out of reach with a
futuristic setting aboard a space vessel
twelve miles in diameter and 34 miles
long rendezvous with Rama mixes human
explorers with alien robot hybrids
massive skyscrapers an interior see and
a mysterious island if that’s not enough
material for a Hollywood screenplay then
we are living in dark times
let us rendezvous with Rama in glorious
3d rendezvous with Rama was one of best
science fiction books ever and and and
it’s been picked at over the years
people to borrow a lot of stuff from it
but the essence of rendezvous with Rama
is still there number five the Dark
Tower series Stephen King the man in
black fled across the desert and the
gunslinger followed anyone who’s read
this vast legend by one of our
generations most popular and prolific
authors knows those as its opening words
with elements of fantasy horror and the
Old West this 8th volume series would
crush at the box office as the
protagonist and last member of the
gunslingers roland deschain would be a
career-making role for any actor the
magical setting guarantees visual
splendor and the fictional language
known as high speech would create a
special audio tapestry on screen HBO and
Warner Brothers have both been attached
to a cinematic reconstruction however we
may first see an adaptation of Kings
novel The Long Walk
directed by frequent collaborator Frank
Darabont when you sit down to write a
book do you know how vast its universe
is going to be when you settle into it I
knew this was going to be a big one
number 4 blood meridian Cormac MacCarthy
this 1985 story of Old West violence
remains one of the author’s best works
but maybe too dark for modern cinema
although the adolescent
hero discovers how difficult life can be
the mythical judge holden takes nihilism
to another level with no body hair and
an Appetite for Destruction he could
easily become one of the most terrifying
characters ever seen on screen Brando in
Apocalypse Now is the perfect person but
you know of course like continued no
they list you know you be he probably
nailed it as my guess just as blood
meridian challenges the readers
threshold for brutality the novel
seemingly challenges the film industry
to step up to the plate and make the
film
hopefully Cormac McCarthy’s work will
find the right man or woman for the job
number three a confederacy of dunces
John Kennedy Toole maybe it’s a curse or
maybe it’s bad timing but this 1980
classic has long caused trouble for
curious filmmakers John Belushi Chris
Farley and John Candy were all tapped to
play the eccentric Ignatius J Reilly at
one time but passed away suddenly before
production could move forward with a
multitude of vibrant characters and a
stunning portrayal of 1960s New Orleans
a confederacy of dunces contains plenty
of drama and comedy for a wonderful
screen version however perhaps the title
and main characters disdain for pop
culture will forever block an adaptation
Ignatius J Riley is a flatulent manchild
with an outdated worldview and an
unpopular notion for what he considers
taste and decency number 2 100 Years of
Solitude
Gabrielle Garcia Marquez it sold more
than 30 million copies throughout the
world during the writers lifetime it put
a spotlight on the Latin American genre
known as magical realism while the
rights to produce a film may never be
granted admirers of this 1967 Latin
American Novel often dream of filtering
its magical realism through a cinematic
lens 100 years of solitude covers seven
generations of colorful characters
making it perfect for a film treatment
what I know today is that I did not stop
writing for a single day for 18 straight
months until I finished the book but its
esteemed reputation made on some
filmmakers while others may be
intimidated by the need to
nicely capture its specific Colombian
flavor with the utopian setting and
remarkable representations of time and
fate one can only imagine how a lavish
but thoughtful production would
introduce Gabriel Garcia Marquez to a
new generation of moviegoers and readers
something that with film I realized that
making a movie was infinitely more
difficult than I thought before we crack
the spine on our top pick here are some
honorable mentions
number one The Catcher in the Rye JD
Salinger when you’re a kid and you read
Catcher in the Rye you’re just like oh
my god somebody gets it one of the most
important and widely heralded works of
twentieth-century American literature
this 1951 novel found its way into the
back pocket of teenagers worldwide more
than 60 million copies of his 1951 novel
Catcher in the Rye have been sold read
worshiped and studied and it made the
central character Holden Caulfield that
are known and Salinger himself whether
it’s the rebellious nature of Holden
Caulfield or the idea of his physical
being the larger-than-life persona may
be too powerful for any well-known actor
to take on young Hinkley the whizz kid
who shot Reagan at his press secretary
said if you want my defense all you have
to do is read Catcher in the Rye if and
when an adaptation ever does take place
a relatively unknown artist may spring
upon the world just like Salinger’s
protagonist did so many years ago we’d
all get a bang out of that it is this
kind of combination of a deep sincerity
a spirituality this state-of-the-art
vernacular this guy was talking the way
we were talking at that very period do
you agree with our list what book do you
think should be made into a movie for
more mind-blowing top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com it’s really nice we were
pampered it’s almost sybaritic
you
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