I’m a big fan of lists and charts. Always have been, as anyone who has followed my (somewhat ridiculous) ‘Andy’ Short Story Awards over the past few years, and my slavish devotion to the Amazon charts, and my position within them (and subsequent blogs), will attest. So, as you’ll expect, I’m absolutely delighted to be able to welcome my fellow Solstice Publishing author J.L Petty on board, with this fantastic guest blog piece on the best book-to-movie adaptations.
Of course, this list is J.L Petty’s list, andyouropinions may differ wildly, but it’s all about opinions, isn’t it? So why not leave a comment, and get the debate going. You know you want to.
Thanks to J.L Petty for this great debate-stimulating post.
Andy
J.L Petty
All authors dream of their book or story being adapted into film. I know I do every day. I wish some Hollywood director would read “Death and the Journalist” and call me offering the opportunity of a lifetime to make it a movie. I’m still holding my breath on that one- Anyway, whenever I see a great movie, 9 times out of 10 it was based on a novel that I’ve never read or even heard of. By all means, this is not a list, of the greatest movies based on books- however they are the most popular film adaptations based on classic literature. I felt I needed to share this with the world because some of these movies that made the list, I didn’t even know were based off novels or short stories. So, enjoy!
1. The Hunger Games: An adult novel written by Suzanne Collins
2. Twilight: A young-adult novel written by Stephanie Myers
3. Harry Potter: A series of fantasy novels written by J.K. Rowling
4. Jurassic Park: A novel written by Michael Crichton
5. Gone with the Wind: A romance novel by Margaret Mitchell
6. The Wizard of Oz: A book by L. Frank Baum
7. Forrest Gump: A novel by Winston Groom
8. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: A children’s book by Roald Dahl
9. To Kill A Mockingbird: A novel by Harper Lee
10. The Shining: A novel by Stephen King
11. The Color Purple: A novel by Alice Walker
12. The Silence of the Lambs: A novel by Thomas Harris
13. Lord of the Rings: A novel written by J.R.R. Tolkien
14. The Chronicles of Narnia: Novels by C.S. Lewis
15. I Am Legend: A novel by Richard Matheson
16. Jumanji: A short story by Chris Van Allsbrug
17. The girl with the dragon tattoo: A novel written by Stieg Larsson
18. The Notebook: A novel written by Nicholas Sparks
19. The Fly: A short story by George Langelaan
20. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A book written by Jeff Kinney
21. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief: A novel written by Rick Riordan
22. The Princes Bride: A novel written by William Goldman
23. Jaws: A novel written by Peter Benchley
24. Psycho: A novel written by Robert Bloch
25. Rambo: Originally named “First Blood”, a novel written by David Morrell
26. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? : Originally named ” Who censored Roger Rabbit?” , a novel written by Gary K.Wolf
27. Planet of the Apes: A novel by Pierre Boulle
28. Die Hard: Originally named ” Nothing Lasts Forever, ” A novel written by Roderick Thorp
29. The Davinci Code: A novel by Dan Brown
30. The Lord of the Rings: A novel written by J.R.R Tolkien
31. The Help: A novel written by Kathryn Scott
32. Fried Green Tomatoes: A novel written by Fannie Flagg
33. The Princess Diaries: A series of novels by Meg Cabot
34. Dracula: A novel written by Bram Stoker
35. Interview with the Vampire: A novel written by Anne Rice
36. American Psycho: A novel written by Brett Easton Ellis
37. Pride and Prejudice: A novel written by Jane Austen
38. Clueless: Based off of the novel based on Jane Austen’s Emma
39. Mean Girls: Originally named “Queen Bees and Wannabes “, A novel written by Rosalind Wiseman
40. Carrie: A novel written by Stephen King
41. The Witches: A novel written by Roald Dahl
42. Eat, Pray, Love: A novel written by Elizabeth Gilbert
43. The Amityville Horror: A novel written by Jan Anson
44. The Exorcist: A novel written by William Peter Blatty
45. Rosemary’s Baby: A novel written by Ira Levine
46. Where the Heart is: A novel written by Billie Letts
J.L Petty
Author, Death and the Journalist
http://www.deathandthejournalist.com
Book Excerpt:
The flight attendant faced the passengers. Over the roar of the engine, she spoke in a firm voice with a hint of quiver, “We are going to be okay, please put your oxygen masks on,” then she sat down and buckled her seat belt. The fat man and I were still standing. Grimacing at my cramping hands, I kept my grip on the black metal bar.
In the midst of the now-panicked passengers sat one woman, calmly flipping the pages of her Cosmopolitan magazine and taking occasional sips of her Pepsi. She seemed so calm and serene; I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She had long black hair and her face was like that of a fashion model or actress. She was wearing a black dress and needed no jewelry to define her long ivory-colored neck. This woman had the whitest skin. Her limbs were long. She seemed to ignore everything around her and was patiently waiting for the plane to crash.
As though she felt me staring at her, she turned to look at me. Gooseflesh popped up all over my skin when I looked into her cold gray eyes, then shifted my eyes to the ground. I could smell the heavy smoke rising from the engines I stared at the rain drops that splattered against the exit window. Smoke drifted into the cabin of the plane.
paintthistownred 