Westerly Sun Column | Read the Books the Movies Were Based On

‘Wicked,” by Gregory Maguire, has been on my “To Read” list for as long as I can remember. Despite being published in 1995 (and on my radar since about 2000), I still didn’t get around to reading it before the long-anticipated film came out in November. I’m not proud, but since the book currently has 40-plus holds on it, I think it’s safe to assume I’m not the only one who’s behind the times! Here’s your chance to learn from my (and 40 others’) mistake: If you don’t want to be completely out of the loop in the future, mark these upcoming film and TV adaptions on your calendars, and check out the books before they are released!

There are actually a couple of films coming to theaters this month that were based on books. “Nightbitch”, which hit the big screens on December 6th, is a black comedy horror film based on a novel by Rachel Yoder. The plotline seems a bit silly at first glance: “a stay-at-home mother finds herself slowly turning in a dog”; however, if you look a bit deeper, the story is actually a satirical look at modern motherhood, identity, and societal expectations of women … but all wrapped up with plenty of gore and magical realism.

“One Hundred Years of Solitude,” by Gabriel García Márquez, was first published in 1967 and has since been widely considered as one of the best books of the 20th century. It follows seven generations of the Buendia family in the fictional town of Macondo, and is another book that incorporates magical realism into the story. The film will be available on Netflix beginning December 11th, but hopefully we’ll see it on DVD in the near future! In the meantime, the book is available at the library. Also this month, a film adaptation of “The Nickel Boys,” the 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Colson Whitehead, is set for a limited theatrical release.

Emily Henry is another author you may want to catch up on. The extremely popular romance author has put out a new book every year since 2020, and all of them have appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List. Many of them will also be appearing on screens in the near future! A film version of “People We Meet on Vacation” (2021) will come first, likely in 2025, but “Beach Read” (2020), “Book Lovers” (2022), “Happy Place” (2023), and “Funny Story” (2024) have all been optioned for film or TV, too. If you’re not one of the millions of people who are already fans of Henry’s work, it seems like now is a great time to get started!

Of course, this is anything but an exhaustive list. Other books with adaptions in the works include “Long Bright River” by Liz Moore, “The Running Man” by Stephen King, “The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden, and “Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

by Cassie Skobrak, Adult Services Librarian