The New Year means it’s time to update your reading list, and 2024 is set to debut many exciting and anticipated page-to-screen adaptations. Directors and showrunners are drawing from contemporary hits (It Ends With Us), enduring classics (Frankenstein), and epic dramas (Dune) for screen versions to be released early in the New Year. With their textual roots in historical retellings, YA novels, and action-packed comics, these 15 adaptations’ sources are well worth a read before you see them in the theater or on your screen.
Society of the Snow: The Definitive Account of the World’s Greatest Survival Story, by Pablo Vierci $27 $30 now 10% off $27In 1972, a Uruguayan Air Force flight crashed into the Andes mountains. The horrific incident had devastating consequences and became a grueling fight for survival when the remaining survivors made a society of their own. In the barren snow, with no access to food or water, they sat patiently awaiting a rescue team that may have never arrived. Journalist Pablo Vierci recounts the true story of those 72 days in the snow, drawing from the survivors’ stories as they battled freezing temperatures and deadly avalanches.
Society of the Snow, starring Enzo Vogrincic Roldán, Matías Recalt, and Agustín Pardella, is streaming on Netflix.
$27 at Amazon Buy $27 at Amazon Buy
Lord God Made Them All, by James Herriot $13 $18 now 28% off $13The forthcoming season of All Creatures Great and Small takes place in the throes of World War II with Tristan Farnon enlisted in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. His absence is felt by his brother Siegfried, who struggles to keep the household in order. Meanwhile, James and Helen are trying to decide whether they want to start a family, and the addition of two new characters (student vet Richard Carmody and bookkeeper Miss Harbottle) brings dramatic complications to the proceedings.
All Creatures Great and Small’s fourth series, starring Samuel West, Anna Madeley, and Nicholas Ralph, is currently airing on PBS.
$13 at Amazon Buy $13 at Amazon Buy
Echo: The Saga of Maya Lopez, by David Mack and Joe Quesada $30 $35 now 14% off $30Part of phase five of the MCU, Echo follows Maya Lopez (a.k.a. Echo) in the wake of 2021’s Hawkeye miniseries. Maya makes the journey back home to Oklahoma, where she has the chance to reconnect with her Native American heritage. Here, she takes time to reflect on the importance of family, community, and how her identity defines her.
Echo, starring Alaqua Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Chaske Spencer, will stream on Disney+ and Hulu January 10.
$30 at Amazon Buy $30 at Amazon Buy
Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, by Donald L. Miller $20 $22 now 9% off $20Depicting the lives of World War II American bomber boys, Masters of the Air takes place between wartime England and German prison camps as it follows the airmen who flew through the skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden. The 100th Bomb Group of the United States Army Air Force — a brotherhood nicknamed the “Bloody Hundredth” — faced harrowing and vicious violence in the skies and on the ground they destroyed.
Masters of the Air, starring Austin Butler, Callum Turner, and Anthony Boyle, premieres on Apple TV+ January 26.
$20 at Amazon Buy $20 at Amazon Buy
The Expatriates, by Janice Y. K. Lee $18 $18Following the tumultuous lives of an expatriate community in 2014 Hong Kong, The Expatriates centers on three women as their personal and professional lives collide over a family tragedy. The temporality of expat life comes up against victimhood, privilege, maternity, marriage, and death as each of these women’s struggles become surprisingly interwoven in this web of desire.
Expats, starring Nicole Kidman, Ji-young Yoo, and Jack Huston, is streaming on Prime Video January 26.
$18 at Amazon Buy $18 at Amazon Buy
The Peasants, by Władysław Reymont $32 $32The feuds, scandals, and romance of a late-19th-century Polish village are at the center of The Peasants’ dramatic narrative. When a young woman is made the bride of a widower and the village’s wealthiest farmer, her life is uprooted with comic but tragic fallout. Playing out in four parts, each corresponding to the four seasons, she finds herself wrestling with conflicting desires as the farmer’s eldest son and other leading men in the community catch her eye. Embedded in the landscape of rural Poland, The Peasants chronicles how village gossip and deep-rooted patriarchy collide.
The Peasants, starring Robert Gulaczyk, Sonia Mietielica, and Miroslaw Baka, is in theaters January 26.
$32 at Amazon Buy $32 at Amazon Buy
The Tiger’s Apprentice, by Laurence Yep $8 $8Laurence Yep’s action-adventure fantasy novel is the first in The Tiger’s Apprentice trilogy, which charts a young boy’s life changing forever when he meets Mr. Hu, a talking tiger, and discovers he has magical powers. In this world where animals can take human form, the young boy joins up with a gang of creatures as they face off against an evil force trying to obtain an ancient talisman that the guardians protect.
The Tiger’s Apprentice, starring Leah Lewis, Michelle Yeoh, and Henry Golding, will stream on Paramount+ February 2.
$8 at Amazon Buy $8 at Amazon Buy
The Passionate Epicure: La Vie et la passion de Dodin-Bouffant, Gourmet, by Marcel Rouff $17 $17Set in 1885, but plodding over 20 years of slow-burn romance, cook Eugénie and Dodin, the gourmet she works for, are a dream team in concocting dishes that stun anyone who has a bite. Their shared love of food brings them together, but when Eugénie confesses to not wanting to marry Dodin, he decides to enter the kitchen and cook for Eugénie for the first time. The character of Dodin is based on Rouff’s character Dodin-Bouffant, which is loosely inspired by the infamous bachelor Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.
The Taste of Things, starring Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel, and Emmanuel Salinger, will be in theaters February 9.
$17 at Amazon Buy $17 at Amazon Buy
It Ends With Us, by Colleen Hoover $10 $17 now 41% off $10 Photo: Atria Publishing GroupColleen Hoover has become BookTok royalty, and so a film adaptation of It Ends With Us has been much anticipated. The 2016 novel follows fresh graduate Lily, who moves to a new city and falls in love, but her newfound romance faces unforeseen challenges when her first love arrives on her doorstep. Memories of her abusive home resurface and Lily faces patterns of violence that mirror her youth as her world is turned upside down.
It Ends With Us, starring Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, and Jenny Slate, is in theaters February 9.
$10 at Amazon Buy $16 at Bookshop Buy
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley $5 $11 now 55% off $5Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been the subject of endless adaptation, but this new, loosely inspired narrative offers a renewed focus on the subject of rebuilding a man. Lisa Frankenstein is set in 1989 and follows a teenage goth reanimating a corpse from the Victorian era to make him the perfect boyfriend via her broken tanning machine. A coming-of-age romance brews between this bizarre but charming duo as they embark on a murderous journey for life and happiness.
Lisa Frankenstein, starring Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, and Liza Soberano, is in theaters February 9.
$5 at Amazon Buy $5 at Amazon Buy
The Never Game, by Jeffery Deaver $7 $10 now 30% off $7Colter Shaw is like if Bear Grylls became a private investigator; Colter is a lone survivalist who tracks down all sorts of missing people across the country. But his hardest case yet comes when three people are kidnapped across California, and there’s a ticking clock on their lives. However, Colter is simultaneously facing struggles closer to home that require his urgent attention. This investigation kick-starts a domino effect of hair-raising proportion.
Tracker, starring Justin Hartley, Robin Weigert, and Abby McEnany, premieres on CBS February 11.
$7 at Amazon Buy $7 at Amazon Buy
Spider-Man and Madame Web, by Denny O’Neil and John Romita Jr. $10 $10In the depths of New York City, Cassandra “Cassie” Webb is a paramedic who begins to develop clairvoyant abilities. In the comics, Cassie doesn’t actively fight villains, but it seems as though the forthcoming film will offer a creative reimagining if the action-packed trailer is anything to go by. Cassie is tasked with protecting three young women who unexpectedly become the targets of a deadly foe.
Madame Web, starring Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, and Celeste O’Connor, is in theaters February 14.
$10 at Amazon Buy $10 at Amazon Buy
The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard $43 $60 now 28% off $43This spinoff of The Walking Dead is set to reunite two characters from the original series; the focus will be on Rick and Michonne after the events of The Walking Dead season 11. The Ones Who Live is set to tackle the pair’s tumultuous love story. As Rick and Michonne are thrown into another world, they face a war against the dead — or perhaps the living. With their circumstances constantly changing, they’re in a hunt for who they really are, together and apart.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, starring Andrew Lincoln, Danai Gurira, and Pollyanna McIntosh, premieres on AMC February 25.
$43 at Amazon Buy $43 at Amazon Buy
Shōgun, by James Clavell $23 $23Set in 17th-century feudal Japan, Shōgun follows an unconventional trio as they make their own way through a highly nefarious political landscape while trying to reach the top. These characters include English sailor John Blackthorne, who rises up the ranks to become a samurai; Lord Toranaga, who faces threatening political rivals; and Lady Mariko, a highly skilled individual whose unfavorable family history leaves her with a lot to prove.
Shōgun, starring Cosmo Jarvis, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Anna Sawai, premieres on Hulu and FX February 27.
$23 at Amazon Buy $23 at Amazon Buy
Dune, by Frank Herbert $7 $11 now 36% off $7This new chapter in the Dune universe continues to adapt Frank Herbert’s acclaimed sci-fi epic as the clairvoyant Paul Atreides finds himself drawn to the Fremen people. He’s on course to securing his “destiny” as Kwisatz Haderach, a messiah figure. However, first, his loyalty is tested as he faces a war against House Harkonnen, an enemy of House Atreides after they conspired against them. And most importantly, more Zendaya is expected for Dune: Part Two.
Dune: Part Two, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and Rebecca Ferguson, is in theaters March 1.
$7 at Amazon Buy $7 at Amazon BuyRelated
2024 Book-to-Screen Adaptations to Add to Your Reading ListncG1vNJzZmivp6x7t8HLrayrnV6YvK57wKuropucmnyju86kZJqckaXBosDIqKWsZaSreq671aKcZmpgZ4FvtNOmow%3D%3D