10 Books Every Film Fan Should Read Before Watching the Adaptation

Most of us know the feeling of leaving a cinema and hearing someone say the book was better. Sometimes that’s true, and sometimes the film just does something different. Either way, the page usually gives you something the screen can’t, like a character’s private thoughts or the slow build of a setting.

This list mixes classics and recent novels that have reached, or are reaching, screens between 2025 and 2026. Some films are already out, and one or two are still ahead. Each pick comes with a reason to read first.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel centres on the intense romance between the orphaned Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. The 2026 film stars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in those roles. Director Emerald Fennell took a looser approach than a faithful retelling, aiming to capture how a teenage girl might feel reading the book for the first time.

That makes the original worth having in your head, since you can then see what the film keeps and what it reinvents. Readers seem to agree. Penguin reports, citing The Guardian, that sales of the novel grew by 469% between 2025 and 2026. That’s more than fivefold, for a book that’s nearly 180 years old.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

In Weir’s 2021 novel, a junior high science teacher named Ryland Grace wakes on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there. He slowly learns he’s on a last ditch mission to save Earth. The book is funnier than that premise suggests.

The film stars Ryan Gosling and reached theaters on March 20. The story leans heavily on discovery, so knowing how it unfolds on the page lets you appreciate the craft of the adaptation. The novel was a 2022 Hugo Award finalist for Best Novel.

The Odyssey by Homer

It’s one of the oldest stories still in wide circulation, and it’s had plenty of translations. It follows the clever Greek warrior Odysseus on his long journey home after the Trojan War, facing sirens, cyclopes and witches, all to reunite with Penelope. Pick a translation that suits your taste, because they vary a lot in tone.

Christopher Nolan adapted the epic poem for the screen, with Matt Damon as Odysseus and Anne Hathaway as Penelope. Reading Homer first helps you spot which episodes Nolan chose to include. It also shows how much a poem built for recitation can shift when it becomes a film.

Verity by Colleen Hoover

Hoover’s twisty thriller follows a ghostwriter hired to finish a book series after the original author, Verity Crawford, suffers an accident. The ghostwriter, Lowen, discovers a terrible secret and has to decide what to do with it. The book depends on what the reader is allowed to know and when.

Amazon MGM Studios is scheduled to release the film in the United States on October 2, 2026. Dakota Johnson and Anne Hathaway lead the cast. With the release only days away, there’s still time to read it first.

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

This is the latest Hunger Games novel, a prequel set well before Katniss Everdeen’s story. Collins uses it to fill in the history behind the series’ world. Readers who know the earlier books will find it adds context, while the film should work as a standalone entry too.

The film, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, is scheduled for release in the United States and Canada on November 20, 2026. That leaves a couple of months to read. The interior voice of a Collins protagonist is hard to replicate on screen, so the book is well worth a look.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Shelley’s novel is less about a lightning bolt and more about responsibility, loneliness and what creators owe their creations. Many people know the story only through pop culture shorthand, and the original is quite different. It’s told through nested narrators, which gives it an unusual, layered feel.

Guillermo del Toro’s award nominated adaptation enchanted a whole new generation last year. If you saw it first, the novel still rewards a read, since you can compare the film’s choices against Shelley’s structure. Reading it before a rewatch works nicely too.

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

Henry’s popular novel is a friends to lovers story, and Netflix adapted it. Brett Haley directed the film, which stars Tom Blyth and Emily Bader and arrived on Netflix on January 9. The book moves between past and present, following the pair across years of trips.

That back and forth is a big part of its charm, and it’s the kind of structure films often compress. Reading first lets you judge how well the timeline survives the shift to screen. It’s also an easy, breezy read for a weekend.

Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover

The story follows Kenna, a woman who returns home after a seven year prison sentence and tries to start anew while building a relationship with her daughter. It’s a more emotional drama than the thriller listed above. Hoover’s fans will notice she works across quite different moods.

Maika Monroe plays Kenna, and the movie hit theaters on March 13. The novel is driven by Kenna’s inner struggle with guilt and second chances, which can be hard to convey in dialogue alone. If you haven’t seen the film yet, reading first will give it more weight.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

O’Farrell’s 2020 novel imagines the family life behind Shakespeare’s writing, centering on his wife Agnes and the death of their young son. It’s a work of historical fiction rather than biography, so much of it is invented around a few known facts. The prose is intimate and often lyrical.

Chloé Zhao directed the film version, which reached audiences in 2025. Reading the novel first shows how much of its power comes from interior grief, and it makes the film’s visual choices easier to appreciate. Have tissues nearby, either way.

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

Herbert published this sequel to Dune in 1969, and it’s a shorter, darker book. It follows Paul Atreides after he has gained power, and it questions whether that victory was a good thing at all. Readers expecting more of the first book’s adventure may be surprised.

Denis Villeneuve’s third Dune film is widely expected to draw on this novel, and it’s slated for release later in 2026. Since the book is brief, it’s easy to finish beforehand. Reading it first also lets you decide how well the films handle Herbert’s warnings about charismatic leaders.