6 books to read before they become TV series

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Written by Norrie

Do you love TV series? Are you a bookworm? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then 2018 will be a good year for you. Bookish TV series are on the rise, and there will be plenty coming out this year for us to pick from. We must proceed with caution though, as many great books fell victim to screen adaptation over the past years. I still refuse to talk about the horror of watching the movie version of The Dark Tower. Just… Nope…

TV series are usually a safer way to bring life to our beloved stories. I loved the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and the series that came out last year with the same title was absolutely amazing, painting an even more terrifying picture than the book by expanding the plots of the secondary characters.

If you are anything like me, you will most likely want to read the book before watching the first episode of the show. You know, just so you can have enough ammunition to rage about later, that the book was better.

So let’s see what is waiting for those of us who love thrillers, sci-fi and a bit of weirdness.

Good Omens
Based on the 1990 novel Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman the TV series will follow the story of a demon and a fussy angel (both living amongst mortals) who are trying to prevent the coming of the antichrist and the ensuing battle between Heaven and Earth.
Guess who’s playing Crowley, the demon. David Tennant, that’s who. Love it! There’s no official release date, but according to IMDB we can expect it in 2019.

Altered CarbonThis juicy sci-fi, set in the 25th century, tells the story of Takeshi Kovacs, a soldier from an elite group of warriors who were defeated in an uprising against the new world order. Even though Kovacs was also killed, his consciousness and skills are downloaded (a.k.a. re-sleeved) into the body of a thug. This action and violence packed series, starring Joel Kinnaman as Takeshi Kovacs, will come out in February, 2018.
The series is based on Richard K. Morgan’s book with the same title, published in 2006.
A must for fans of the cyberpunk genre!

Sharp ObjectsGillian Flynn’s book, Sharp Objects is a delicious treat for anyone craving something dark and disturbing.
Camille Preaker, a journalist, returns to her hometown in Missouri, to investigate the murder of two young girls. If this wouldn’t be upsetting enough, staying in her parents’ house brings back unpleasant memories from her own childhood, and she’s forced to confront her own demons that led her down the path of self harm for years.
The show, starring Amy Adams and Chris Messina, is coming this summer.

The City & The CityBased on the multi award-winning novel by China Miéville, the series follows Inspector Tyador Borlú on his investigation of a murdered student whose body was found in the decaying city of Besźel. As evidence starts piling up, suggesting deadly conspiracies, the Inspector has to travel to Ul Quoma, the only metropolis on Earth.
China Miéville describes his own work as “weird fiction”, so if weird is your thing, don’t miss out on this one.

Instinct
This new police procedural series, starring Alan Cumming as Professor Dylan Reinhart, is based on Murder Games by James Patterson. Professor Reinhart is a criminal behavior professor who ends up helping Detective Elizabeth Needham, the NYPD detective in charge of investigating a serial killer case. The only clue linking the victims is a playing card left behind on the scene, hinting at the next target.
It’s coming in March, so you should still have time to finish the book before the show hits the screen.

You
You by Caroline Kepnes is yet another gem for those of us who enjoy exploring the depths of a twisted mind.
The show follows Joe Goldberg, a bookstore manager, who becomes obsessed with Guinevere Beck whom he met in his bookstore. The stalker turned boyfriend orchestrates the perfect plan to remove all obstacles that stand in their way.
The release date has not been announced yet.

Have you read all these books yet? TV adaptations yey or nay?

38 Comments

    1. Sometimes i feel under pressure like i have a deadline to read stuff… like i just don’t wanna be left behind 🤔. That’s how i was with game of thrones as well, so these are now high priority…

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    1. I hope it will be better than the movie version of Dark Places. I pretty much zoned out after five minutes. But i like the main actor in sharp objects so i guess there’s hope! 😁

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  8. I haven’t heard of these! I don’t watch too much television these days. I usually stick to my shows that I like to watch and have something going on in the background as I work. I might need to try something new!

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  9. I know it’s the one everyone has pointed out but I’m excited to see how they do Sharp Objects! I’m sure the James Patterson book will translate into something entertaining as well, just because of the content he writes.

    This is a great post, much more relevant to myself than the movie adaptions as I watch tv series as soon as they come out typically.

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  10. So if David Tennant is doing that I wonder if that means he won’t be back on Jessica Jones. he was the scariest bad guy I’ve ever seen.

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  12. I am so excited for the Sharp Objects television show! I read the book years ago, and it’s defintely one of my favorite of hers! I’ve been waiting for this show for two years! 😂 I’m excited for Altered Carbon, despite not reading the book! I’m totally into that cyberpunk aesthetic; it’s my favorite thing! 😍

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  13. I read Gone Girl and Dark Places by Gillian Flynn and loved them both. I haven’t read Sharp Objects yet, so I’ll have to read that before I watch the TV series.

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  14. Pingback: Monthly Catch Up #1 – January 2018 – Reading Under The Blankie

    1. Big Little Lies was so well done on telly! I was really impressed. Didn’t really have any of my usual complaints.

      I defo need to reed some Rizzoli though. Haven’t tried them yet, but they do sound goo.

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  16. Lovely list! Love to read a good book before it becomes Tv most of the times. But this time might actually wait for the sharp objects show first, i loved when book writers can also do a screenplay well and gone girl did have a great screenplay, so high hopes on the show. And Amy Adams is truly phenomenal actress, so…

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    1. Same!
      I actually ended up reading Altered Carbon parallel with the series. In the beginning i loved the series a lot. Then about half way i just got upset cuz they made some weird changes that in my opinion were not as good as the actual story line… but i guess that was kinda expected…

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  17. Great article! I love book to television series adaptations. I like it way more than a film adaptation simply because there is more time to tell the story properly. Last year, my favorite adaptations were Big Little Lies and The Handmaid’s Tale. Nearly perfect adaptations of great novels!

    Currently, watching the Sweetbitter adaptation on Starz. Really quite enjoyed the novel and so far it’s a really great adaptation of a book I truly loved.

    Read Sharp Objects a few months ago in anticipation of the HBO series. What an amazing thriller! Can not wait for the series.

    I never read the book for the show which Instinct is based on, but it’s a pretty good show. I’m a theater nerd, so I’ll watch anything with Alan Cummings, lol.

    Planning on reading Dietland next. The AMC show looks really good.

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    1. Same here 🙂 I feel like when they make movies out of books, they need to sacrifice some parts of the plots, and often characters too cuz there’s no time for them. The Dark Tower movie for example was so bad, purely because of this. 😦

      I loved Big Little Lies and Handmaid’s Tale as series. They were actually quite impressive!

      I still need to read Sweetbitter before i watch the series.
      I read/watched Altered Carbon parallel, and up to like 5 episodes it was pretty good. But after they just took a weird direction i was not happy with.

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      1. I still have yet to see The Dark Tower, but the one movie adaptation that I was super disappointed in was The Girl on the Train. Such a great and amazing thriller that was just a complete let down as a film.

        I definitely was interested in watching Altered Carbon. I like to read books that I know will be adapted at some point. Although, with so many adaptations lately that’s nearly impossible, lol. I figured I just watch this show and skip the novel. Sorry, to hear the show went in a weird direction, it seemed really interesting.

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        1. Oh, it was still quite good! Altered carbon i mean. They just did a story line that didn’t exist in the book, and it was overly dramatic.
          Girl on the train movie was quite meh, indeed… 😐

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          1. Oh, I see. lol. Well, hopefully sometime soon I will finally start Altered Carbon. There’s so many new shows out every week now that it’s sometimes hard to choose which ones to watch, lol. TV Nerd problems, lol.

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