I love reading books! Some may say it's a dying art form - with the internet and all - but the pleasure you get from reading is hard to experience in any other, perhaps more modern, form. And the pleasure is doubled when a favorite book is adapted to the big screen!

While some of the most engrossing films are based on original scripts, there are some equally awesome movies based on adaptations of some of today's best-selling novels and non-fiction books. In this feature, we listed 50 of the most anticipated book-to-movie adaptations for 2008 and beyond.

The list is quite diverse: thrillers, horror, coming-of-age, fantasy, adventure, classics, romance, crime and drama. Some of them are currently 'works in progress' and soon to be released, while some are still being optioned by various extremely excited filmmakers and producers.

- - -

Special Report by Jed Medina

- - -

The main characters are Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, two 12-year-olds who watch as the light of Ember flickers and they have to race to discover a way out. An ecstatic review of the book telling some intro to the story comes from @ Amazon:

"It is always night in the city of Ember. But there is no moon, no stars. The only light during the regular twelve hours of "day" comes from flood lamps that cast a yellowish glow over the streets of the city. Beyond are the pitch-black Unknown Regions, which no one has ever explored because an understanding of fire and electricity has been lost, and with it the idea of a Moveable Light. "Besides," they tell each other, "there is nowhere but here" Among the many other things the people of Ember have forgotten is their past and a direction for their future. For 250 years they have lived pleasantly, because there has been plenty of everything in the vast storerooms. But now there are more and more empty shelves--and more and more times when the lights flicker and go out, leaving them in terrifying blackness for long minutes. What will happen when the generator finally fails?"

Film Version: Fresh from the success of Atonement, awesome young actress Saoirse Ronan and another hot newcomer Harry Treadaway lead the ensemble cast of this highly-anticipated fantasy-adventure film. The movie also stars Bill Murray as the Mayor of Ember, Tim Robbins, Mackenzie Crook, Martin Landau, and Toby Jones. Directed by English filmmaker Gil Kenan.

[ IMDb movie details ] [ Author's official website ]

Part 3 of a 5 parts series

While some of the most engrossing films are based on original scripts, there are some equally awesome movies which are based on adaptations of some of today's best-selling novels and non-fiction books. In this feature, we listed 50 of the most anticipated book to movie adaptations for 2008 and beyond.

The list is quite diverse- thrillers and horror, coming-of-age, fantasy and adventure, classics, romantic novels, crime and drama. Some of them are currently 'works in progress' and soon to be released, while some are still at the stage of being optioned by various extremely excited filmmakers and producers.

- - -

"Gilbert grafts the structure of romantic fiction upon the inquiries of reporting in this sprawling yet methodical travelogue of soul-searching and self-discovery. Plagued with despair after a nasty divorce, the author, in her early 30s, divides a year equally among three dissimilar countries, exploring her competing urges for earthly delights and divine transcendence. First, pleasure: savoring Italy's buffet of delights — the world's best pizza, free-flowing wine and dashing conversation partners — Gilbert consumes la dolce vita as spiritual succor. 'I came to Italy pinched and thin,' she writes, but soon fills out in waist and soul. Then, prayer and ascetic rigor: seeking communion with the divine at a sacred ashram in India, Gilbert emulates the ways of yogis in grueling hours of meditation, struggling to still her churning mind. Finally, a balancing act in Bali, where Gilbert tries for equipoise 'betwixt and between' realms, studies with a merry medicine man and plunges into a charged love affair. Sustaining a chatty, conspiratorial tone, Gilbert fully engages readers in the year's cultural and emotional tapestry — conveying rapture with infectious brio, recalling anguish with touching candor — as she details her exotic tableau with history, anecdote and impression."

Film Version: As reported by Cinematical: "Paramount Pictures recently picked up the rights to Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir Eat, Pray, Love for Pretty Woman Julia Roberts to star. I know Pretty Woman was a long time ago but it meant a lot to me, ok? Besides, who doesn't love a "hooker with a heart of gold" story? I know I do. And remember that scene when Richard Gere showed her the box with the necklace in it and then closed the lid on her hand so she jumped and then they both laughed? Priceless. " [ read more ]

[ IMDb movie details ] [ Author's official website ]

Part 2 of a 5 parts series

While some of the most engrossing films are based on original scripts, there are some equally awesome movies which are based on adaptations of some of today's best-selling novels and non-fiction books. In this feature, we listed 50 of the most anticipated book to movie adaptations for 2008 and beyond.

The list is quite diverse- thrillers and horror, coming-of-age, fantasy and adventure, classics, romantic novels, crime and drama. Some of them are currently 'works in progress' and soon to be released, while some are still at the stage of being optioned by various extremely excited filmmakers and producers.

- - -

Set in 1955, the plot focuses on the hopes and aspirations of Frank and April Wheeler, self-assured Connecticut suburbanites who see themselves as very different from their neighbors in the Revolutionary Hill Estates. April is an aspiring actress who yearns to move to Paris, while Frank copes with toiling away at a corporate job he despises by drinking too heavily and engaging in an affair with a co-worker. The couple's marriage slowly dissolves into endless cycle of bitter arguments and jealous recriminations.

Film Version: Another anticipated film starring Leonardo diCaprio in which he reunites with his co-star from The Titanic, Kate Winslet. The film also stars Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon and Kathryn Hahn.

[ IMDb movie details ] [ Variety article ]

Part 4 of a 5 parts series

While some of the most engrossing films are based on original scripts, there are some equally awesome movies which are based on adaptations of some of today's best-selling novels and non-fiction books. In this feature, we listed 50 of the most anticipated book to movie adaptations for 2008 and beyond.

The list is quite diverse- thrillers and horror, coming-of-age, fantasy and adventure, classics, romantic novels, crime and drama. Some of them are currently 'works in progress' and soon to be released, while some are still at the stage of being optioned by various extremely excited filmmakers and producers.

- - -

31. Peace Like a River - I have always been a sucker for books that deal with magical realism and most especially if it has a narrator that speaks from the heart, one that tells the truth in his most peculiar way. And there is no other book that I really connected with than Leif Enger’s Peace Like A River.

With 320 pages of pure reading pleasure- the book is comparable, even better than some of my other favorite books in this genre- Robert McCammon’s A Boy Life, Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes and the classic The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. When I learned that talks of a movie adaptation is in the offing, I was rejoicing (almost jumping with joy!). For those who want a small taste of this novel, let me quote from the book’s description:

“Born with no air in his lungs, it was only when Reuben Land's father, Jeremiah, picked him up and commanded him to breathe that Reuben's lungs filled. Reuben struggles with debilitating asthma from then on, making him a boy who knows firsthand that life is a gift, and also one who suspects that his father is touched by God and can overturn the laws of nature.

The quiet 1960's midwestern life of the Lands is upended when Reuben's brother Davy kills two marauders who have come to harm the family. The morning of his sentencing, Davy -- a hero to some, a cold-blooded murderer to others -- escapes from his cell, and the Lands set out in search of him. Their journey is touched by serendipity and the kindness of strangers, and they cover territory far more extraordinary than even the Badlands where they search for Davy from their Airstream trailer. "

Film Version: The Hollywood Reporter said that Leif Enger's book is being adapted into a movie for Warner Bros. Pictures and is set to star Billy Bob Thorton. Kathy McWorter adapted the screenplay and Brad Pitt, David Brown and Kit Golden will produce.

[ IMDb movie details ] [ Casting news from about.com ]

Last part of a 5 Parts series

While some of the most engrossing films are based on original scripts, there are some equally awesome movies which are based on adaptations of some of today's best-selling novels and non-fiction books. In this feature, we listed 50 of the most anticipated book to movie adaptations for 2008 and beyond.

The list is quite diverse- thrillers and horror, coming-of-age, fantasy and adventure, classics, romantic novels, crime and drama. Some of them are currently 'works in progress' and soon to be released, while some are still at the stage of being optioned by various extremely excited filmmakers and producers.

- - -

"It's 1808 and that Corsican upstart Napoleon is battering the English army and navy. Enter Mr. Norrell, a fusty but ambitious scholar from the Yorkshire countryside and the first practical magician in hundreds of years. What better way to demonstrate his revival of British magic than to change the course of the Napoleonic wars? Susanna Clarke's ingenious first novel, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, has the cleverness and lightness of touch of the Harry Potter series, but is less a fairy tale of good versus evil than a fantastic comedy of manners, complete with elaborate false footnotes, occasional period spellings, and a dense, lively mythology teeming beneath the narrative. Mr. Norrell moves to London to establish his influence in government circles, devising such powerful illusions as an 11-day blockade of French ports by English ships fabricated from rainwater. But however skillful his magic, his vanity provides an Achilles heel, and the differing ambitions of his more glamorous apprentice, Jonathan Strange, threaten to topple all that Mr. Norrell has achieved. A sparkling debut from Susanna Clarke--and it's not all fairy dust. "

Film Version: From TimeOut: "Christopher Hampton, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 'Dangerous Liaisons', has finally finished the first draft of his screen adaptation of Susanna Clarke's epic fantasy novel 'Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell'. 'It took a fair amount of time to work out some way to encapsulate that enormous book in a film of sensible length,' he said. 'But it was lots of fun – and very unlike anything I have ever done before.'

[ IMDB movie details ] [ Author's official website ]