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10 Books Worth Reading Even After You’ve Seen the Movie

If these movie adaptations brought you to the theater, the books that inspired them will bring you back to the page.

A truly great story can move an audience to tears, fill them with laughter or make them examine their own lived experience from a new perspective. And so it's no wonder that when a great story captures public attention, studios are often keen to reproduce it for the big screen. The results, however, can be mixed, with readers and moviegoers often debating which medium told the story best. Some adaptations don't stay true to the original text; others fail to capture the magic of the written word. On the other hand, some movies take their source material to a whole new level, turning a feast for the imagination into one for the eyes, and winning hearts and minds along the way.

Movies can also bring new attention to a book that may have been forgotten or overlooked, and novels generally see renewed interest when pushed onto the screen and showcased on the red carpet—a win for authors and publishers. A great tale retold on screen may even prompt people who rarely pick up a book to give reading a go and shine a light on an author's backlist. In other words, love them or loathe them, movie adaptations bring stories into the mainstream and spark debate around the written word, which can only be a good thing.

The following tales began as some of the best books across genres, which made it to the big screen with great success. Whether you read, watch or do both is entirely up to you.

'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald

'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Brontë

'The Lost Daughter' by Elena Ferrante

'The Green Mile' by Stephen King

'The Notebook' by Nicholas Sparks

'Atonement' by Ian McEwan

'Hamnet' by Maggie O'Farrell

'The Devil Wears Prada' by Lauren Weisberger

'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' by Helen Fielding

'The Fellowship of the Ring' by J.R.R. Tolkien

'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby tells the story of the secretive Jay Gatsby, his extravagant lifestyle, penchant for a good party and his love for the glamorous Daisy Buchanan. Set in 1920s New York, the lavish tale was released in 1925 to mixed reviews, much to Fitzgerald's disappointment. The book was revived in the 1940s,........

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