There’s special magic in losing yourself in a good book. Creating the world, imagining the characters, feeling their emotions. Then comes the announcement of the movie, and a common debate starts: will the movie do justice to the book? While movie adaptations introduce stories to a new audience, often the depth and details that make the original novels so compelling are overlooked. The book should be read first in order to experience the story as the author intended.
Exploring these stories in the page allows you to have a better understanding of the persons and motivation behind the story. This is why it is often best to read the source material before taking in a movie. For those who are interested in the novella before watching the film adaptation, this list has some of the top novels of all the time that are well worth your time.
Dune by Frank Herbert
Before it became a cinematic epic, Dune was an a-priori science fiction novel. Herbert’s creation of a world is enormous, the political, ecological, and spiritual complexity of the desert planet Arrakis. The book goes much deeper into character thoughts and political maneuvering that the film can only skim on the surface.
The movie versions, although greatly enhanced with visuals, reduce many of the complicated subplots and inner dialogues. The experience of reading the book is the full rich experience of Paul Atreides journey.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
This young adult novel set the world on fire with its riveting tale of survival and revolt. The book is narrated in the first person, from Katniss Everdeen’s perspective, allowing the reader direct access to her thoughts and fears and opportunities to see her strategic thinking. This internal narrative is very important in regards to how we understand her character.
The movies do a terrible job of showing the action, but it can’t really represent Katniss’s inner turmoil and internal relationships in the same way that the book.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Flynn’s psychological thriller is a masterpiece of unreliable narrators as the story alternates between Nick and Amy Dunne’s point of view. The structure of the book comes with full of twists and reveals to have you guessing till the end. Slyly having Amy speak from her diary is a literary device that the film struggles to recreate.
The movie is brilliant, but the format of the novel is a better way to have a deeper understanding of the minds of the two protagonists.
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tolkien’s trilogy is one of the building blocks of fantasy literature. His world-building including languages, history and mythologies is so detailed that his Middle-earth feels really real. The books are full of songs, poems and appendices to enhance the story. The detailed lore is something many people enjoy about novels that are read online.
Explore the rich world these authors have created, and then enjoy seeing how they are brought to life on film. You can find a lot of great reads on the FictionMe app, which you can find on the Play Store.
Peter Jackson’s films make up some legendary cinema, but for the sake of running time they were forced to reduce the characters such as Tom Bombadil and short many of the sequences in the journey. It is more immersive to read the books instead.
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Palahniuk’s novel is a thwarting, anarchic treatment of consumerism and masculinity. The ending to the book is different and is arguably thought-provoking more than the movie. The narrator’s voice is uniquely cynical, darkly humorous and carries you into his wild world.
The movie is a cult classic but the novel has a different take on the end of the story so it is a must read if you are a fan of the film.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Austen’s classic novel of manners and romance has been adapted many times. The book’s brilliance is in the witty dialogue as well as the social commentary – and the slow-burn romance between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. Reading through the novel makes it possible for you to understand the full value of Austen’s prose.
For those who enjoy a steamy story, our platform has plenty of erotic novels that take complex relationships to a more modern context. While Austen’s work is not explicit, the power of emotion is powerful. You can take a tour into various varieties of genres on FictionMe and find your next favourite read. The movies get the romance right but it’s the detailed observations in society that the book really shines at.
No Country For Old Men By Cormac McCarthy
McCarthy’s spare, brutal prose gives a tense and unforgiving feel to this modern western. The novel gives readers more insight into Sheriff Bell’s inner, personal struggles and philosophical thoughts as he meets a new kind of evil. His point of view is a major theme of the books and movie versions.
The Coen Brothers film is a faithful and wonderful rendition, but the book brings you even closer to the world’s view of the aging sheriff and his struggle to cope with the changing world.
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Hanis
This is one of the chilling thrillers that introduced one of the most iconic villains of literature, Hannibal Lecter. The novel is a masterclass in suspense, used to build tension created by the cat-and-mouse game between Clarice Starling and Lecter. Harris’s intense profiling and psychological depth is key.
The film is fantastic, of course, but the book gives more of the background on the characters and the motivation behind the feelings of the perpetrators that make the story even more terrifying. Being able to access novels through an online method affords the reader a chance to experience this suspense in his own time.
Dive into the Original Story
Novels to read before seeing the film adaptation of a book enables you to consume a story in its purest form. It allows you to develop a greater appreciation of the characters, the world and the original vision of the author. The listed titles are only a beginning; so many other fabulous novels that should be read before the film adaptation are out there waiting to be discovered.
