To ask what book you'd like to see adapted for TV or film?

[Collidascope]

They keep remaking Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Little Women.

What book would you like to see adapted?
I'd love to see The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (and I know, there is one TV series from ages ago), Evelina by Frances Burney, who was said to have inspired Jane Austen. Oh, and The Power by Naomi Alderman.

Another vote for Rivers of London, with Paul McGann as Nightingale. Not sure who could play Peter, though - I think Noel Clarke is too old now as Peter is in his is mid-twenties when the series starts.

if they hurry up they could get the chap (gah - forgot his name, Alfie something?) who played Dean Thomas in the Potter films.

And yy to Pratchett but done properly and not the pile of foetid dingo's kidneys we're about to be served up.

From the classics? Silas Marner. And maybe some really good Georgette Heyer books (Venetia, the Toll Booth, Bath Tangle. Maybe even An Infamous Army)

Howl's Moving Castle (the Miyazaki version does not count) or The Lives of Christopher Chant by Diana Wynne Jones.

The Chrestomanci (sp?) Series would be a good TV adaptation, as would everything ever written by Mr Terry Pratchett.

I'd quite like to see the Women's Room done, although it would end up being a very slow paced character profile of a series.

@Mochudubh

Shardick by Douglas Adams. I used to think it could only be done justice with an animation but I think CGI is up to it now for a live action version. I'd always pictured Brian Blessed as Bel ka Trazet (sp? it's a long time since I read the book) but he may be too old now.

Richard Adams! (Assuming you mean Shardik -- I'll be mortified if there is in fact a Douglas Adams novel called Shardick...)

I know I read this in my teens, but it's his other novel in the same universe, the sort-of prequel Maia (with some of the same characters), that I remember better. (Mind you, when I reread it as an adult, what strikes me is how pervy it is about very young girls' bodies and sexuality, and how airy its take on enslaved prostitutes is.)

I'd love to see a good film or tv adaptation of Donna Tartt's The Secret History -- I have cast this in my head from time to time, but unfortunately, some of my best picks are now either dead (Philip Seymour Hoffman as Bunny) or far too old (Robert Sean Leonard as Richard) or far too awful and preoccupied with selling vagina candles (Gwyneth Paltrow, my original Camilla).

I'd like Alex Jennings as Julian Morrow, maybe Saoirse Ronan as Camilla, a magically de-aged Andrew Scott as Henry? Timothée Chalamet as Francis?

Interesting to see the love for the Rivers of London books, I don't know anybody IRL who reads them.

At the risk of hijacking, what do fans also read? I devour anything by Heide Goody & Iain Grant - Oddjobs, Clovenhoof, etc. Not the same, far more flippant, but great all the same.

@wink1970

Interesting to see the love for the Rivers of London books, I don't know anybody IRL who reads them.

At the risk of hijacking, what do fans also read? I devour anything by Heide Goody & Iain Grant - Oddjobs, Clovenhoof, etc. Not the same, far more flippant, but great all the same.

Rivers of London fan here! I mostly read science fiction and fantasy - Lois McMaster Bujold, Melissa Caruso, Zen Cho, Robin Hobb, Robin McKinley, Naomi Novik, Terry Pratchett, John Scalzi, Carrie Vaughn, and Connie Willis. Hadn’t heard of the books you mentioned, but they sound interesting.

I have read a couple of interviews with Ben Aaronovitch where he’s said a lot of the RoL fans are fans of crime fiction, not SF&F, which has surprised him. I can see why - I think of them as ‘police procedurals with magic’ rather than ‘urban fantasy’ books.

The Heart's Invisible Furies

@ginghamtablecloths

I'd love to see Coming Up For Air by George Orwell. It's a great story which is beautifully written but would probably be thought rather dated now.

Oh, yes, great idea.

I'd hope they wouldn't follow the style of the film version of 'Keep the Aspidistra Flying' and turn it into a twee nostalgia-fest, though.

@Collidascope I haven’t read the whole thread so someone might have mentioned it but The Power is in pre-production :)

[quote Hotpinkparade]@Collidascope I haven’t read the whole thread so someone might have mentioned it but The Power is in pre-production :)[/quote]
Oh, I didn't know! That is exciting.

Agree with a proper detailed, big budget, non-cheesy, Harry Potter series.

I also want to see a really faithful adaptation of Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I refuse to acknowledge the existence of the Nicholas Cage abomination. It would have to be a mini-series, not a film, of around 3-6 episodes in the same vein as the BBC's big budget Les Mis from a few years ago. It needs to be understated, beautiful, brutal and devastating in equal measures.

Girl, Woman, Other would lend itself to a really interesting series with an episode per chapter/character.

Agree with The Power - had no idea this was already in pre-production so that news has cheered me right up.

All The Light We Cannot See would make a gorgeous, slow burning, atmospheric series.

I was really looking forward to the forthcoming adaptation of Americanah with Lupita Nyong'o but I read recently that this has been pulled due to covid delays and clashing schedules.

The Night Circus could make an excellent short series in the right hands.

I second The Passage too.

@wink1970 I’m a big RoL fan and read tons of Urban fantasy. Harry Dresden, The Hollows, The Mercy Thompson series, Starry Hollows series, Sabina Kane series. Among the several series I love

Someone up thread mentioned Connie Willis. How about To Say Nothing of the Dog?

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

I suppose the reason they haven’t done Shardlake is that it would cost so much to do it properly. One of the things I read them for is the detailed descriptions of settings, especially big set pieces like the Progress of the North in Sovereign, and place tends to be important to the plot. It’s not that it couldn’t be done but unless you had a Game of Thrones budget you would have to massively cut down the number of locations to make it manageable. I wish they would though!

They made Wolf Hall and The Tudors though - there are loads of tudor sets and costumes available.

I read a while ago that Branagh bought the rights, hoping to star in it, but then was too busy doing other things, so maybe that's why it hasn't happened yet. And I think Branagh is too old.

Mayflower Maid/Jamestown Woman/Restoration Lady.

I'd love to see a really good adaption of Georgette Heyer stuff but would hate Netflix to get their greasy paws on it as they'd trash it, likely so would BBC. Actually, thinking about it I'd rather they just left it alone as they'll just do something totally unwatchable.

I'd like to see adaptations of Rosemary Sutcliff novels, maybe Sun Horse Moon Horse, or The Armourer's House, or Dawn Wind, which I absolutely adore.

A Court of Thorns and Roses series

I haven't read the full thread (mostly because I feel so uneducated when I've never even heard of these books, let alone read them!) but I'd be surprised if Small Great Things isn't made into a film. To me, it was written purposely to be adapted.

Oh so many......Maggie O’Farrell The Hand That First Held Mine, Kate Atkinson, Behind The Scenes at the Museum, brilliant family sagas spanning the decades which I’m sure would work brilliantly on screen Also Yeonmi Park, In Order to Live, about her escape from North Korea as a teenager - gripping. Would make a superb female lead film.

The Smoke Jumper, far superior to the Horse Whisperer

I think Rosie Cavaliero would make a good Ruth Galloway, not so sure about Harry.

Thought exactly the same on How to Measure a Cow @brightonmyday

I’d like more classic kids books adapted by Studio Ghibli. Arrietty was such a wonderful adaptation of The Borrowers, and /felt/ far more like the book than the previous live action film. I think they could do great things with The Secret Garden, A Little Princess and similar.