As much as I'd love a true adaptation of The Long Walk and Ender's Game, I think Hollywood and the American public are to chicken shait to ever allow it.

I think it's long overdue that The Lord of the Rings gets made into a great film.

And here I thought the literary community hated how Hollywood ruined good books.

Good list. I read the first five books, among others, and I didn't have to click through 21 pages to see them all. I approve.

oldebayer: and I didn't have to click through 21 pages to see them all

You are the reason I clicked. Imagine my dismay when I had to click through 3 pages to see them all.

I was going to say you rawk, but... never mind.

Meh, they'll just Starship Trooperize the Long Walk...

I'd like to see someone redo The Running Man while they're at it, and have him fly a damn plane into a building while gutshot.

But yeah, a decent list, although a few of em are already on their way to the screen.

I read this earlier today. Pretty decent list, but I'd love to see Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk made into a movie with the Fight Club treatment.

I'd love to see Christopher Moore's Lamb made into a movie.

Frank Darabont has the rights to Long Walk which bodes well considering what he did with Shawshank and Green Mile. Let's just hope his version of The Mist does well. I was never a fan of that story, but I know it's a favorite among the King faithful.

And I agree with the person who said Running Man needs a faithful adaptation. I would also like to see non-TV versions of The Stand and It.

agreed that a faithful adaptation of 'the long walk' would be awesome. i got chills the first time i read that story. another king story which would be great is 'i am the gate'.

I'll go with most of that list, but I would like a good Battletech movie. The books were written by some pretty great writers, Mike Stackpole, Loren Coleman and Blaine Lee Pardoe being among them, and seriously, who couldn't get over a Byzantine plot spanning hundreds of light-years and centuries of war involving giant robots? Flame if you like, call it pulp if you like, but I honestly thing either the Warrior Trilogy or the Blood of Kerensky trilogy would be at least decent fare for the sci-fi nuts out there. Pickings have been rather slim for us the last year or so. I don't count any superhero movies, nor any "day after tomorrow dark future" movies. I think a good Battletech series of movies would work wonders for both kids and those adults who played the tabletop and video games. Hell, they're even separated enough time-wise that you wouldn't need to have the same actors for the main roles. Kerensky takes place 25 years after Warrior. It could work, I tell you!

Plus it would get the monstrosity of Robot Jox out of everyone's thoughts. That's worth anything.

/"You. Stupid. Shiat. Davions don't die that easily." Easily one of the best lines in the BTech universe.
//Someone cue Ogre yelling "NERDS!"

Confederacy of Dunces has been optioned by every actor, every director, and every producer in Hollywood. It's been in development for twenty years, and it's never going to happen.

At this point, it should be left alone.

19. World War Z by Max Brooks

... The book is probably too episodic in its current form, but cherry-picking key sequences...(sniff) the tales of the anti-zombie canine corps...

I would cry like a baby in the theater

Missing:

Enders game

The Forever war

I kind of want to see Good Omens made into a movie. It could prove interesting.

But, then again, I also want a cat with plaid fur named Spot, so you sort of have to pick and choose.

/Stripes, if the cat has paisley fur

A Confederacy of Dunces should never, ever, ever, ever be made into a film. Any possible film adaptation, no matter how good, wouldn't scratch the surface of how brilliant the novel is.

/ever
//for-ev-er
///you're killing me, smalls

Snow Crash is missing, list fails.

I think World War Z would be great for an HBO miniseries, like Band of Brothers, with interviews setting up the episodes. But, they'll probably try to cram it into a two hour movie, oh well.

I nominate Dave Eggers' "They Shall Know Our Velocity" over "Heartbreaking Work"

Ooh, how about "The Life Of Pi". That shiat would be crazy!

World War Z is already being adapted for the screen by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski for Brad Pitt's production company.

Time travellers wife?

WTF, why make a movie about a time traveling pederast who molests a younger version fo himself? That book shouldn;t have been written, much less turned into a movie.


World War Z could be good, and I think they are making it, but I don't have high hopes.

Oh, I figure I should throw in my own suggestions.

Since Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World takes plot elements from many books besides those two, but it begs for a sequel, I'd take elements from these two books in the Aubrey/Maturin series and make a film:



It would pretty much be the best thing ever, especially if Peter Weir and the principle actors (save the hobbit as Borden, if you've read the books you probably know why)

mdfitzsimmons: I think World War Z would be great for an HBO miniseries, like Band of Brothers, with interviews setting up the episodes. But, they'll probably try to cram it into a two hour movie, oh well.

BRILLIANT

liam76: mdfitzsimmons: I think World War Z would be great for an HBO miniseries, like Band of Brothers, with interviews setting up the episodes. But, they'll probably try to cram it into a two hour movie, oh well.

BRILLIANT

One of my friends made a comment about World War Z and the fact JMS is adapting it:

"It'll be interesting to see [how he adapts it into a film] since he's such a structure Nazi."

Throw in the fact that JMS has pretty much already admitted that in order for it to be a watchable movie, you'd have to basically take the interviewer and put him in the action. So what I expect is a fairly standard 3-act structure centered around a character created specifically for the movie, taking the place of the interviewer, who finds himself in the middle of the action. With probably a nice fancy prologue that shows stuff that happens in other countries "up to that point."

I bet that the "narrator" ends up being a reporter sent to cover the Battle of Yonkers, and spends most of the time in the US. Other stuff would be covered through dialogue, I guess.

/just my best guess
//could work
///miniseries with real interviewer would kick ass, too

mdfitzsimmons: I think World War Z would be great for an HBO miniseries, like Band of Brothers, with interviews setting up the episodes.

THAT would be farking awesome. However, as much as people hate this sort of thing, I would want it filmed amateur style, as if the film were archival. A mixture of "professional" film crews, or the equivalent that would exist during World War Z, and amateur mini-DV film as well. Film smuggled out of Russia...somebody taping the zombies in the water climbing onto the ships...OOH OOH...SUBMARINE FOOTAGE, underwater zombies. Oh dear Jesus, I think I wet myself...

Ubik made into a movie. OMG NO! Never!

I can never get that time I spent reading it back. Its a good idea but Philip K Dick beats it to death. As a short story it would've been ok but he went on wayyy to long.


Now Good Omens.... that would be amazing. Or Anansi Boys (by Neil Gaiman) would rock too.

tdpatriots12: So what I expect is a fairly standard 3-act structure centered around a character created specifically for the movie

God damn it. This is the worst thing that could be done to it. They HAVE to find a way to preserve the structure of the book.

nesler: tdpatriots12: So what I expect is a fairly standard 3-act structure centered around a character created specifically for the movie

God damn it. This is the worst thing that could be done to it. They HAVE to find a way to preserve the structure of the book.

That structure doesn't lend itself too well to the big screen. A miniseries? Sure, but a movie? You've got to craft a new structure unless you want it to be 6 hours long.

Ubik made into a movie. OMG NO! Never!

How about Clans of the Alphane Moon? I'd pay to see that.

Looking over this list...I may have to read them all...what I haven't read yet, anyways.

The Road? Are they high? That was the most depressing book EVER. Jesus H. There is no plot. It's just..darkness. Can you imagine watching the scene where the guy stumbles into the locked up basement cellar? Holy Christ. I'd puke on myself. However, I am extremely pleased that No Country For Old Men has been made into a film. Judging from the trailer...EXTREMELY faithful to the text.

"When Pixar's John Lasseter took over Disney's animation department"...Every time I'm reminded of this, I want to laugh my ass off. God, I hope he gets Disney back on track.

The Hobbit...who gives a shiat. But World War Z...drool.

let the hobbit die a slow painful death ... wait, we're still at that stage. someone shoot it. everyone hates midgets anyway.

I'm still waiting for Uncle John's Bathroom Reader: The Movie.

MEPHISTO IN ONYX by Harlan Ellison.

I am excited about "Jonathan Strange &..." being made into a movie. The book had some good imagery but got pretty dull in spots. Anyone else read this?

JerseyTim- I'd love to see Christopher Moore's Lamb made into a movie.

That would be hysterical,only with the right director and cast. It would probably be easier to do A Dirty Job.

EvilElecBlanket: As much as I'd love a true adaptation of The Long Walk and Ender's Game, I think Hollywood and the American public are to chicken shait to ever allow it.

I agree. My wife and I are so bored with the same formulaic crap we hardly ever watch Hollywood flicks anymore. You can see everything coming from a mile away, and they just keep plugging the same old things into the same old patterns and it's getting very tiresome.

But then again, as we walked out of the original MATRIX, the guy ahead of us whined to his pal: "Gee, they didn't even tell you what the Matrix was!" If this is the average moviegoer, I guess that Hollywood is directly on target with its audience.

My personal favorite for a movie adaptation would be "The Caves of Steel" by Isaac Asimov. When I first read it (something like 40 years ago), I thought, "What a great movie this would be!"

Alas, nothing yet, and, unfortunately, if they do make it, it would end up being nothing like the book (like, "I, Robot" had only one similarity with the book - the name!)

OIC

Loved The Long Walk, not crazy about the movie idea.

1. The Long Walk (Richard Bachman)

2. Jonathan Strange & Mr .Norrell (Susanna Clarke)

3. The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)

4. The Dogs Of Babel (Carolyn Parkhurst)

5. The Road (Cormac McCarthy)

6. Jernigan (David Gates)

7. A Confederacy Of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)

8. Ubik (Philip K. Dick)

9. The March (E.L. Doctorow)

10. The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck (Don Rosa)

11. "The Moosepath League Chronicles" (Van Reid)

12. The Bonehunters' Revenge (David Rains Wallace)

13. Mister Sandman (Barbara Gowdy)

14. Oh Pure And Radiant Heart (Lydia Millet)

15. Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell)

16. A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers)

17. King Dork (Frank Portman)

18. Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides)

19. World War Z (Max Brooks)

20. The Moviegoer (Walker Percy)

21. The Hobbit (JRR Tolkien)

mommatoldme: I am excited about "Jonathan Strange &..." being made into a movie. The book had some good imagery but got pretty dull in spots. Anyone else read this?

I read it, and quite liked it. I actually enjoyed the dry tone of the book, and really wonder if it'll translate to the screen well.

Of all book adaptations, the one I'm lreally ooking forward to is the HBO adaptation of George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire... although I'm already preparing myself for the inevitability that either a: it'll get canceled after the second season, because it's HBO or b: Martin will continue to write so slowly that the series actually catches up with him, and has to be put on hiatus/cancelled because the books aren't finished yet...

kivelo: EvilElecBlanket: As much as I'd love a true adaptation of The Long Walk and Ender's Game, I think Hollywood and the American public are to chicken shait to ever allow it.

I agree. My wife and I are so bored with the same formulaic crap we hardly ever watch Hollywood flicks anymore. You can see everything coming from a mile away, and they just keep plugging the same old things into the same old patterns and it's getting very tiresome.

Last I heard the script for Ender's Game was almost unrecognizable. Amongst other things, they pulled a Starship Troopers on it and eliminated/combined at least half the characters. Mostly because they didn't like so many names that started with B.

Armor by John Steakley should have been on the list, and pretty close to #1 too.

If Buck Henry has anything to do with "Confederacy" and if Terrence Malick has anything to do with "Movie Goer" they will suck. Yea, verily, they will suck long and hard.

In a world where I have become accustomed to the idea that mediocre individuals will be praised for routine accomplishments, I still stand amazed that people pay Henry and Malick to do what they do: bore people to death.

16. A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers)

Oh, god, what a horrid book. I can imagine the movie would be 2.5 hours of a group of pretentious SoHo twenty-something laughing at you for not getting an inside joke.
(Yes, I know the book was "about" him raising his brother after his parents died)

UKCoolCat: Oh, god, what a horrid book.

You too? I imagined I was the only person who thought that book was merely the creation of the NYC hipster crowd. Hell, even my 21-year-old daughter thought it was total crap.

They say it's getting made, believe it when I see a damn trailer

tdpatriots12: World War Z is already being adapted for the screen by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski for Brad Pitt's production company.

OH GOD NOT JMS!

THERE IS NO HOPE!

Noticeably absent:

The Road is a fantastic book... The right director and casting would be critical though. The son couldn't be some smart ass kid actor cracking one liners and hamming it up for the camera though.

American Gods-Neil Gaiman

Snow Crash-Neal Stephenson

Starship Troopers (I refuse to acknowledge the current one)