John Niven’s excellent debut novel provides an unflattering, unrelenting look at the evils of the music industry during the Brit Pop years. The film’s set to star Nicholas Hoult as Steven Stelfox – the 20-something A&R man who’s willing to do anything to climb the career ladder.
(2014 TBC)
Despite being the reason behind why our Deputy Editor Rebecca claims she now has back problems (it's a big old book, we'll give her that) The Goldfinch is one of last year's biggest must-reads. After an accident that leaves his life in tatters, 13-year-old Theo Decker finds himself alone in world with nothing but a piece of art. There are no details on the film yet apart from the producers of The Hunger Games are on board.
(TBC)
You’ve probably read most of them, but they’re worth revisiting for sure. Jack Black is set to star in this film adaptation about a girl who moves in next to Goosebumps writer R.L Stine. When an evil ventriloquist’s dummy (classic Goosebumps, right?) sets the demons of Stine’s mind free, she must work to restore order.
(2016 TBC)
This book is a staple that's taught in American high schools, but isn't as well known over here. It’s set in a dystopian world where all the world’s pain and suffering has been eliminated and left to rest on the shoulders of just one person – The Giver. The film is set to star Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Alexander Skarsgard and Taylor Swift.
_(_Aug 2014*)
Over The Hunger Games? Don’t you worry, my friend, post-apocalyptic teen fiction isn’t going anywhere. The Maze Runner is another trilogy of the same ilk and focuses on a boy called Thomas who wakes up with no memory to find himself trapped in a maze and facing a Hunger Games-style fight for a chance to escape. The film is set to star Will Poulter and Kaya Scodelario.
(October 2014)*
Speaking of young adult fiction, Divergent’s another trilogy that’s had teens – and adults – clamouring impatiently for the film version. This trilogy is (they’re always trilogies, no?) set in a futuristic Chicago where 16-year-olds are filed neatly into different factions of society. Everyone, except the 'Divergents,' who fit nowhere. What will become of them? Be quick reading these books, though – the first film is out in a month!
(4 April 2014)
You’ve already read Gone Girl by now – and you’re probably all equally as excited about the upcoming Rosamund Pike/Ben Affleck film later this year. But they’re also making film adaptions of Flynn’s earlier novels Sharp Objects and Dark Places. Dark Places – about a girl dealing with the fallout of her brother murdering her family is out first and is going to star Chloe Grace Moretz and Nicholas Hoult while Sharp Objects hasn't been cast yet.
(1 Sept 2014)
Written by Irene Nemirovsky – a French writer who was killed in Auschwitz in 1942 – this novel was found in Irene's notebooks by her daughters 56 years later. It portrays life in France after the German invasion of 1940 and the film’s set to star Margot Robbie, Michelle Williams and Kristin Scott Thomas.
(2014 TBC)
This Thomas Hardy novel from 1874 about Bathsheba, a girl who goes through relationships with three different men and a whole lot of strife (if you read Tess Of The D'Urbervilles at uni, A – well done, and B – you'll get the idea of sort of level of despair we're talking about here). It’s overly dramatic, and a bit long, but well worth a read. The film’s set to star Carey Mulligan and Juno Temple.
(2014 TBC)
Follow Jess on Twitter @jess_commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.
READ MORE: All The Books To Read Before They Hit The Big Screen