7 Screen Adaptations That Are Better Than the Book, According to Your Favorite Authors

Updated on 6/22/2018 at 10:15 AM

If there's something all avid readers can agree on, it's that the book is always better than the movie. Don't fight us on this. There are intricacies and internal monologues that can only be conveyed on the written page, and plot points that aren't feasible due to budget, time constraints, or a combination of the two. However, there are those rare anomalies where the adaptation can hold its own, and dare we say it . . . might be better? Don't take it from us, but from the bestselling authors who have been there, done that.

At a POPSUGAR Play/Ground panel, seven superstar authors spoke about the process of adapting their novels for the screen. From Sara Shepard's seven-year run with Pretty Little Liars (and your soon-to-be obsession The Elizas) to the groundbreaking fantasy novel, Children of Blood and Bone, by recent Harvard grad Tomi Adeyemi that has already been acquired by FOX, these women know a thing or two about going from printing press to cinematic masterpiece. So, when they're watching instead of reading, we're taking note. Read on for their favorite screen adaptations of the books they hold near and dear.

Big Little Lies

"Big Little Lies; it elevated the source material in such an interesting way. It was a great book that I remember reading in a day, and then the show was somehow even more evocative, and you felt like you were there. And Nicole Kidman was just phenomenal." — Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Olive Kitteridge

"A miniseries called Olive Kitteridge on HBO. It was collection of short stories. It was just beautifully done and the book was wonderful, too. I'm a such a reader. It's rare for me to love something as much as I love the book, but for that I just loved it." — Sara Shepard, author of Pretty Little Liars

What's Eating Gilbert Grape

"What's Eating Gilbert Grape: I think a lot of people don't realize it was a book before it was movie. Great movie, but such a heartfelt, wonderful novel as well." — Camille Perri, author of The Assistants

Never Let Me Go

"Never Let Me Go, which was an amazing dystopian sc-fi novel by the writer Kazuo Ishiguro. It's a devastating book, so suspenseful and so heartwrenching, and the film is such a great adaptation. It sort of keeps you in this very sheltered world and it's so sad, it's brilliant." — Georgia Clark, author of The Bucket List

The Outsiders

"When I was a kid my favorite book was The Outsiders. It was the first book that made me feel. I remember like in third grade feeling tears on my face and I was like legitimately confused, like, "What's going on with me?" I never loved something that much. And when I found out there was a movie, I watched it and it's kind of just like the book. I don't know if that's actually a good adaptation, but for how I was at that age, all I wanted to see was what was in the book on the screen. That's what I needed at that age." — Tomi Adeyemi, author of Children of Blood and Bone

Carrie

"I really love Stephen King's Carrie, the first one with Sissy Spacek. I watched it far too young and it haunts me forever." — Megan Abbott, author of You Will Know Me

It

"Stephen King's It, including the old one that was made for TV, which was good too, for different reasons. I'm waiting with bated breath for the next installment to see if it can stand up to the childhood one where they're grownups. Fingers crossed." — Kendare Blake, author of Three Dark Crowns