Books That Would Make Great Movies (But Haven’t Been Adapted Yet)

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“The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones.”

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Ever reached the end of a book and thought, “This would be an awesome movie!” We’ve all been there. From epic fantasy to swoonworthy romance, countless stories have yet to make the bold leap from page to screen. Today at What We Reading, we’re paying homage to the best books that should be movies – hidden gems, beloved novels, and even underrated reads that deserve a cinematic adaptation. Whether you’re a devoted reader or film lover, these unadapted novels are brimming with cinematic potential, offering rich worlds, unforgettable characters, and plots that would captivate audiences. We’ll explore the books waiting for movie adaptations, novels that would make great films, and literary works that Hollywood has somehow missed. If you’ve ever wondered which stories could become the next blockbuster hit, keep reading – these books are perfect for movies. 

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The Secret History – Donna Tartt

We’re kicking off our list of books that should be movies with one of the most infamous stories yet to receive an adaptation (despite plenty of rumours and speculation), Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. The story centres around a group of elite, eccentric students studying classics at the elite Hampden College. Under the influence of their charismatic professor, the students are taught a new way of thinking and living that is worlds apart from the humdrum existence of their peers. 

The group, led by the brilliant but mysterious Henry Winter, becomes increasingly detached from society as they are immersed in their classical studies and their own philosophical musings. Their bond is sealed through a tragic and shocking act: the murder of one of their own. As the group spirals into guilt, paranoia, and disintegration, Tartt’s story explores the devastating impact of their crime and the fatalistic disillusionment that follows in its path. 

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Check Out Our The Secret History Book Review 

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Piranesi – Susanna Clarke

Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls, an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, and rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. 

There is one other person in the house – a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research in A Great and Secret Knowledge. Yet, as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known. 

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Check Out The Best Books Like Piranesi 

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The Lies Of Locke Lamora – Scott Lynch

An orphan’s life is harsh – and often short – in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. 

But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game – or die trying in this gripping high fantasy classic by Scott Lynch that so many fans have asked for a big-screen adaptation of. 

Dread Nation – Justina Ireland

Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children to attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane.

But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School for Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore begin disappearing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. 

The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern

With its black-and-white striped canvas tents and breathtaking amazements, Le Cirque des Reves is only open at night. Inside, a fierce competition is underway – a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game where only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Marco and Celia tumble headfirst into love. 

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart, yet, despite being in production technically since 2011, we’re still waiting for our The Night Circus adaptation. 

Under The Whispering Door – TJ Klune

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect that he might be dead. And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides that he definitely is, in fact, dead. 

Yet even in death, he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets out to live a whole lifetime in just seven days. Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is one of the best books that should be a movie that explores a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home. 

All The Birds In The Sky – Charlie Jane Anders

Childhood friends Patricia Delfine, a witch, and Laurence Armstead, a mad scientist, parted ways under mysterious circumstances during middle school. But, as adults, they both wind up in near-future San Francisco, where Laurence is an engineering genius, and Patricia works with a small band of other magicians to secretly repair the world’s ever-growing ailments. But something is determined to bring them back together – to either save the world, or end it. 

Rebecca’s Tale – Sally Beauman

Another one of the best books that should be a movie, Rebecca’s Tale, whisks readers back to 1951. It has been twenty years since the death of Rebecca, the hauntingly beautiful first wife of Maxim de Winter, and twenty years since Manderley, the de Winter family’s estate, was destroyed by fire. But Rebecca’s tale is just beginning. 

Colonel Julyan, an old family friend, receives an anonymous package concerning Rebecca. An inquisitive young scholar named Terence Grey appears and stirs up the quiet seaside hamlet with questions about the past and the close ties he soon forges with the Colonel and his eligible daughter, Ellie. Amid bitter gossip and murky intrigue, the trio begins a search for the real Rebecca and the truth behind her mysterious death. 

Red Rising – Pierce Brown

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the colour-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon, he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Darrow and Reds like him are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class. 

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life, and the very future of civilisation, against the best and most ruthless of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies, even if he must become one of them to do so. 

The Priory Of The Orange Tree – Samantha Shannon

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. 

Across the dark sea, Tane has trained to be a dragonrider ever since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel. Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep in this epic dragon-based fantasy series that deserves a film adaptation.