30 Movies Based on Books Releasing in 2017 and Fall 2016

Feel a movie can never do justice to a book? Or do you wait expectantly for your favorite books to be interpreted on the big screen? Whichever camp you belong to, it's always good to be in the know. With that in mind here are eleven books that you might want to brush up on before the movies release this fall, and twenty more to keep an eye out for in 2017 and beyond.

Your editor,
Davina

PS: If we've missed any good titles, please do add them by posting a message using one of the options at the bottom.

Fall 2016

The Ninth Life of Louis Drax: A Novel by Liz Jensen A psychologist begins working with a young boy who has suffered a near-fatal fall, and finds himself drawn into a mystery that tests the boundaries of fantasy and reality. Releases Sept 2, 2016 More about this book

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs When Jacob discovers clues to a mystery that spans different worlds and times, he finds Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. But the mystery and danger deepen as he gets to know the residents and learns about their special powers. Directed by Tim Burton. Releases Sept 13, 2016 More about this book

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman Released in Sweden in late 2015, A Man Called Ove (originally titled En man som heter Ove) tells the story of Ove, an ill-tempered, isolated retiree who spends his days enforcing block association rules and visiting his wife's grave. Ove (rhymes with hoover) has finally given up on life just as an unlikely friendship develops with his boisterous new neighbors. Releases Sept 30, 2016 More about this book

The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl's Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster by Tim Crothers The astonishing true story of Phiona Mutesi, a teenager from the slums of Kampala, Uganda, who becomes an international chess champion, based on the 2012 nonfiction book of the same name by Tim Crothers. Releases Sept 30, 2016 More about this book

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins The blockbuster first novel by Paula Hawkins will soon be one of the season's most talked about movies. Rachel takes the same train every day. Every day the train stops at the same spot overlooking a row of back gardens. She starts to feel she knows the residents of one of the houses, and their lives seem perfect, until something shocking happens. The train moves on but everything's changed. Releases Oct 7, 2016 More about this book

A Monster Calls by Siobhan Dowd and Patrick Ness A boy seeks the help of a tree monster to cope with his single mom's terminal illness in this unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor. Releases Oct 21, 2016 More about this book

Inferno: A Robert Langdon Novel by Dan Brown When Robert Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Dr. Sienna Brooks, and together they race across Europe against the clock to foil a deadly global plot. This is the third Robert Langdon movie based on Dan Brown's fourth Robert Langdon book. If you enjoyed the first two films, this will be for you. Releases Oct 28, 2016 More about this book

American Pastoral by Philip Roth In 1968, a hardworking man, who's been a staple in his quaint community for years, watches his seemingly perfect middle class life fall apart as his daughter's new radical political affiliation threatens to destroy their family. Releases Oct 28, 2016 More about this book

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling The adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York's secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter goes to Hogwarts. The book behind this movie is not a novel but the textbook that Harry Potter and friends study at Hogwarts. In 2001, J.K. Rowling brought it to life in a 128 page small format book with 80% of the cover price of each book donated to Comic Relief. Sales from this, and the companion volume, Quidditch Through the Ages, had raised over £17 million as of 2009. Releases Nov 18, 2016 More about this book

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk: A Novel by Ben Fountain The adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York's secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter goes to Hogwarts. The book behind this movie is not a novel but the textbook that Harry Potter and friends study at Hogwarts. In 2001, J.K. Rowling brought it to life in a 128 page small format book with 80% of the cover price of each book donated to Comic Relief. Sales from this, and the companion volume, Quidditch Through the Ages, had raised over £17 million as of 2009. Releases Nov 18, 2016 More about this book

A Long Way Home: A Memoir by Saroo Brierley Movie titled: Saroo A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family. Based on Saroo Brierly's 2014 memoir, the movie title was originally anounced as Lion, but now appears to be releasing as Saroo. Don't forget the Kleenex! Releases Nov 25, 2016 More about this book

Recently Released

The Light Between Oceans: A Novel by Margot L. Stedman Paperback Apr 2013. 384 pages. Published by Scribner A lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat. Released in the US on Sept 2, 2016 with a disappointing 31% rating from Rotten Tomatoes. UK audiences will have to wait until early November and, somewhat ironically given the setting, Australians will apparently have to wait until December 26. More about this book

Movies Coming in 2017

Sophie and The Rising Sun by Augusta Trobaugh A quiet, unassuming man, Mr. Oto is taken in as a gardener by Miss Anne, resident of a sleepy Georgia town in 1939. Neighboring Sophie lost her love during World War I and has resigned herself to a passionless existence until the day Mr. Oto speak for the first time. For Mr. Oto, whose heart has been full from the moment he saw Sophie, it is one of life's miracles. Releases Jan 27, 2017 More about this book

Live by Night by Dennis Lehane Starring Ben Affleck, this movie is also written and directed by him. Set in the Prohibition era, this is a riveting epic, based on Lehane's novel of the same name. The plot is layered with a diverse cast of loyal friends and callous enemies, tough rumrunners and sultry femmes fatales, Bible-quoting evangelists and cruel Klansmen, all battling for survival and their piece of the American dream. Releases Jan 13, 2017. More about this book

The Shack by William P. Young A grieving man receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called "The Shack." Releases March 3 More about this book

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman The Zookeeper's Wife based on the true story of the same name by Diane Ackerman accounts the true tales of the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who saved hundreds of people during the Nazi occupation by hiding them in the animals' cages. Active in the Polish resistance, they also kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Releases March 31, 2017. More about this book

 

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. HBO's adaption of Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, starring Oprah Winfrey, will premiere at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 22 according to Deadline. More about this book

 

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon If you love Eleanor and Park, Hazel and Augustus, and Mia and Adam, you'll love the story of Maddy, a girl who's literally allergic to the outside world, and Olly, the boy who moves in next door . . . and becomes the greatest risk she's ever taken. Due in theaters May 19. More about this book

 

A Wrinkle in Time: Book 1 of the Time Quintet Series by Madeleine L'Engle After the disappearance of her scientist father, three peculiar beings send Meg, her brother, and her friend to space in order to find him. Based on the 1962 story by Madeleine L'Engle and starring Oprah Winfrey. Releases July 28, 2017. More about this book

Limited Release in 2016
(General Release in 2017?)

• The Lost City of Z by David Grann. Based on Grann's 2009 nonfiction book and starring, among others, Robert Pattinson, is releasing at the New York Film Festival in Oct 2016, presumably in time to be eligible for Oscar consideration, but no general release date is shown.
  
  
• Silence by Shûsaku Endô. The film of Endo's 1996 book about two seventeenth century Jesuit priests in Japan is slated to be on limited release in the USA from November, presumably also aiming for Oscar eligibility. It stars Liam Neeson and is directed by Martin Scorsese (and apparently has been a "passion project" of Scorsese's since 1991). No general release date has been announced.
  

In Post Production

• HHhH by Laurent Binet In Laurent Binet's mesmerizing debut, we follow Jozef Gabcík and Jan Kubis from their dramatic escape from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to their fatal attack on Reinhard Heydrich, the most lethal man in Hitler's cabinet.
  
  
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Filming began in May 2016 and is expected for release in 2017, but a date has not been confirmed.
  
  
• The Circle by Dave Eggers. This sci-fi movie based on Eggers' 2013 book is to star Tom Hanks and Emma Watson. Filming began in September 2015 and it is expected to release in 2017.
  
  
• The Long Home by William Gay. Directed by and starring James Franco this indie movie is expected to release in 2017.
  
  
• The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers. The movie adaptation of Powers' 2012 book about two young American soldiers in Iraq finished filming in January 2016 and is expected to release in 2017.
  
  
• Thank You For Your Service. Based on the nonfiction work by David Finkel which offers an unflinching but deeply humane look inside the heads of those who must live the rest of their lives with the chilling realities of war.
  
  
• London Fields. Based on the 1989 novel by Martin Amis, the release of this movie has been delayed by legal issuese, but should be coming to movie theaters some time in 2017.
  
  

In Development

• Looking for Alaska by John Green. Optioned by Paramount a decade ago, but still "in development" (much to the frustration of the author), so don't expect anything anytime soon.
  
  
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. With director and producer in place, the movie adaptation of Tartt's 2013 novel would seem to be moving in the right direction, but no cast has been announced as yet.
  
  
• Matched by Ally Condie. Production seems to have stalled on Condie's YA trilogy.
  
  
• The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. Optioned in 2015 but little in the way of news since.
  
  
• Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick. Channing Tatum is due to make his directorial debut with the movie adaptation of this 2013 young adult novel by Quick, also the author of The Silver Linings Playbook.
  
  
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. Dreamworks Studios have the rights to Rainbow Rowell's charming 2013 novel for young adults, and apparently Rowell is writing the screenplay.
  
  
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Marie Semple. Cate Blanchett is set to star in the movie adaptation of Semple's 2012 novel, but filming is yet to start.
  
  
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Summit Entertainment and David Heyman (producers of the Harry Potter films) have the rights to adapt Morgenstern's 2011 novel.
  
  
• The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Leonardo DiCaprio is set to star as the torture-loving 19th century serial killer at the heart of The Devil in the White City based on Larson's 2003 nonfiction work. It will be his sixth collaboration with Martin Scorsese. This movie has been in development for a long time but industry buzz seems to indicate that it actually might happen now.
  
  
• The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud. The word in early 2015 was that Jeff Bridges was to star in The Emperor's Children, but information has been scant since then.
  
  
• The Personal History of Rachel Dupree by Ann Weisgarber. Viola Davis will star in the film adaptation of Ann Weisgarber's novel. Filming is due to begin in 2017.
  
  
• The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell. According to The Hollywood Reporter in 2013, Keira Knightley is to produce and star in The Other Typist set in 1920s New York, but there have been no updates since.
  
  
• The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. Lionsgate acquired rights in 2012 to Towles' novel set in New York City in 1938. The last known update was that Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber (The Fault in Our Stars), had been hired to write the screenplay.
  
  
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Lily James (Downton Abbey, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies) is to star. Filming is set to begin in the U.K. in Spring 2017 (update 10/26/16)