26 Books Everyone Should Read Before They Become TV Shows

Updated on 2/23/2020 at 6:30 PM

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Hollywood has long looked to books for movie inspiration, but more than ever before, books are now inspiring your favorite TV shows, too. Last year, books and graphic novels like Watchmen, Shrill, and The Witcher became some of the year's most talked-about shows, and 2020's lineup of book-to-TV adaptations is looking even more robust. From the pulp horror of Lovecraft Country to the romantic historical drama series Bridgerton, books across every genre are heading for the small screen — and if you want to keep up with all of the adaptations coming your way, then consider this your reading list for the year.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

What it's about: The 10-part HBO Max series follows the confident Ifemelu as she falls in love with her classmate Obinze in Nigeria. Their paths diverge after school, as Ifemelu heads to America, where she grapples with discrimination for the first time, and Obinze begins an undocumented life in London.
Who's starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Zackary Momoh, Uzo Aduba, and Corey Hawkins.
Read Americanah.
Release date: TBA

The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin

What it's about: Stoneybrook, CT, teens Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey start their own babysitters club in this 10-episode Netflix series that is set to tackle timely topics like "divorce, racism, and belonging," per the official press release.
Who's starring: Alicia Silverstone and Mark Feuerstein.
Read The Baby-Sitters Club.
Release date: TBA

Belgravia by Julian Fellowes

What it's about: Set at the Duchess of Richmond's ball, the Epix series begins two days before the Battle of Waterloo, then moves forward 25 years to see how the social elites who were in attendance are still dealing with the secrets from that night.
Who's starring: Philip Glenister, Alice Eve, Tamsin Greig, Harriet Walter, and Tom Wilkinson.
Watch the trailer for Belgravia.
Read Belgravia.
Release date: April 12

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

What it's about: The Peacock series imagines a utopian society where peace has been attained through the outlaw of monogamy, history, and privacy. When two citizens of this new world head to a place called the Savage Lands, they find themselves involved in an uprising that could tear society apart.
Who's in it: Alden Ehrenreich, Jessica Brown Findlay, Harry Lloyd, Kylie Bunbury, and Joseph Morgan.
Read Brave New World.
Release date: TBA

Briarpatch by Ross Thomas

What it's about: Investigator Allegra Dill returns to the border town where she grew up to find her sister's killer in this USA Network series.
Who's in it: Rosario Dawson, Jay R. Ferguson, and Kim Dickens.
Watch the trailer for Briarpatch.
Read Briarpatch.
Release date: Feb. 6

The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver

What it's about: The NBC series Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt For the Bone Collector finds the injured detective Rhyme teaming with a young profiler to bring down notorious serial killers.
Who's in it: Russell Hornsby, Arielle Kebbel, and Michael Imperioli.
Watch the trailer for Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt For the Bone Collector.
Read The Bone Collector.
Release date: Jan. 10

The Bridgerton Series by Julia Quinn

What it's about: Set against the backdrop of regency-era London's high society, the Netflix series follows the eight Bridgerton siblings as they try to find spouses in a highly competitive market.
Who's in it: Julie Andrews, Adjoa Andoh, Lorraine Ashbourne,
Jonathan Bailey, and more.
Read The Bridgerton Series.
Release date: TBA

The Council of Dads by Bruce Feiler

What it's about: NBC's Council of Dads follows a man named Scott who calls on his group of friends to help parent his children after he experiences a health scare.
Who's in it: Sarah Wayne Callies, Clive Standen, Tom Everett Scott, and J. August Richards.
Read The Council of Dads.
Release date: March 10

Cursed by Frank Miller and Thomas Wheeler

What it's about: The upcoming Netflix series puts a new spin on Arthurian legend by focusing on the backstory of the Lady of the Lake.
Who's in it: Katherine Langford, Bella Dayne, Devon Terrell, and Peter Mullan.
Read Cursed.
Release date: TBA

Defending Jacob by William Landay

What it's about: A shocking crime rocks a small town in this Apple TV+ limited series. In the aftermath, an assistant district attorney finds himself torn between his job and his desire to protect his son.
Who's in it: Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, Jaeden Martell, Cherry Jones, and Pablo Schreiber.
Read Defending Jacob.
Release date: April 24

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian

What it's about: In this HBO Max original, flight attendant Cassandra Bowden wakes up next to a dead body after a night of drinking. With no recollection of the events of the night before, she opts not to tell the police, setting off a chain of dangerous events.
Who's in it: Kaley Cuoco, Michiel Huisman, Rosie Perez, Zosia Mamet, and T.R. Knight.
Read The Flight Attendant.
Release date: TBA

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

What it's about: Told from the perspective of a young slave called Onion, the Showtime series follows John Brown and his crew of abolitionist soldiers as they prepare for the 1859 raid on the Army depot at Harpers Ferry that helped start the Civil War.
Who's in it: Ethan Hawke, Daveed Diggs, Wyatt Russell, and Joshua Johnson-Lionel.
Read The Good Lord Bird.
Release date: Feb. 16

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

What it's about: Hulu's gender-swapped take on High Fidelity focuses on record-store worker Rob as she revisits her top-five heartbreaks of all time.
Who's starring: Zoë Kravitz, Jake Lacy, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph.
Watch the trailer for High Fidelity.
Read High Fidelity.
Release date: Feb. 14

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb

What it's about: This HBO limited series follows the lives of identical twin brothers as they face betrayals and heartbreak in 20th century America.
Who's starring: Mark Ruffalo, Melissa Leo, Rosie O'Donnell, Kathryn Hahn, and Archie Panjabi.
Read I Know This Much Is True.
Release date: TBA

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

What it's about: The lives of the privileged Richardson family are upended when the family's matriarch invites a mother and daughter living out of their car to move into their rental property.
Who's starring: Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Joshua Jackson.
Watch the trailer for Little Fires Everywhere.
Read Little Fires Everywhere.
Release date: March 18

Locke & Key by Joe Hill

What it's about: After the murder of their father, three siblings move to their family home in Massachusetts, where they discover magical keys that open doors that were best left closed in this new Netflix series.
Who's starring: Jackson Robert Scott, Connor Jessup, Emilia Jones, and Sherri Saum.
Watch the trailer for Locke & Key.
Read Locke & Key.
Release date: Feb. 7

Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

What it's about: With executive producers Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams behind this adaptation for HBO, Lovecraft Country is one of 2020's most anticipated series. The show is set in 1950s Jim Crow America and follows Atticus Black as he travels across the country with his friend Letitia and Uncle George in search of his father. Along the way, they have to deal not only with racism but with terrifying monsters, as well.
Who's starring: Jonathan Majors, Michael Kenneth Williams, Courtney B. Vance, and Jurnee Smollett-Bell.
Read Lovecraft Country.
Release date: TBA

Normal People by Sally Rooney

What it's about: Hulu's 12-part series will explore the unlikely romance between school friends Marianne and Connell during their time at university.
Who's starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal.
Watch the trailer for Normal People.
Read Normal People.
Release date: TBA

The Old Man by Thomas Perry

What it's about: Dan Chase is an aging CIA operative who is living off the grid when an attempt on his life forces him to revisit the past that he thought was buried. The Old Man is part of FX and Hulu's new FX on Hulu arrangement, per Deadline.
Who's starring: Jeff Bridges, Austin Stowell, John Lithgow, Amy Brenneman, and Alia Shawkat.
Read The Old Man.
Release date: TBA

The Outsider by Stephen King

What it's about: The murder of a young boy sends a small town spiraling in this riveting HBO series. While the boy's death seems to be an open-and-shut case, a supernatural element could be at play.
Who's starring: Jason Bateman, Ben Mendelsohn, and Cynthia Erivo.
Watch the trailer for The Outsider.
Read The Outsider.
Release date: Jan. 12

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

What it's about: The upcoming HBO miniseries is told from the perspective of a Jewish-American family as they watch the rise of a fascist president in an alternative American history timeline.
Who's starring: Winona Ryder, Zoe Kazan, Anthony Boyle, and John Turturro.
Read The Plot Against America.
Release date: TBA

The Stand by Stephen King

What it's about: CBS All Access is taking a stab at adapting Stephen King's sprawling postapocalyptic novel about a group of survivors left behind in a plague-ravaged America.
Who's starring: Alexander Skarsgard, Whoopi Goldberg, Owen Teague, Greg Kinnear, Brad William Henke, Daniel Sunjata, James Marsden, Amber Heard, and more.
Read The Stand.
Release date: Fall TBA

The Stranger by Harlan Coben

What it's about: A man's perfect life is shattered when a stranger tells him a secret that leads him to mistrust his wife in this new series from Netflix.
Who's starring: Richard Armitage, Siobhan Finneran, Hannah John-Kamen, and Jennifer Saunders.
Watch the trailer for The Stranger.
Read The Stranger.
Release date: Jan. 30

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

What it's about: Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House franchise continues with The Haunting of Bly Manor, based on Henry James's novella The Turn of the Screw. This installment will focus on a nanny who moves to a remote house to care for two orphaned children who may or may not be plagued by ghosts.
Who's starring: Victoria Pedretti, Henry Thomas, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Kate Siegel.
Read The Turn of the Screw.
Release date: Fall TBA

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

What it's about: Cora, a young slave girl on a Georgia plantation, plots an escape on The Underground Railroad in this Amazon series from award-winning director Barry Jenkins.
Who's starring: Thuso Mbedu, Chase W. Dillon, Aaron Pierre, Joel Edgerton, William Jackson Harper, and Lily Rabe.
Read The Underground Railroad.
Release date: TBA

You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz

What it's about: HBO's miniseries The Undoing focuses on a successful therapist whose life unravels when a death makes her question everything about her family. The series will reunite Nicole Kidman with Big Little Lies writer David E. Kelley.
Who's starring: Kidman, Hugh Grant, Donald Sutherland, and Lily Rabe.
Watch the trailer for The Undoing.
Read You Should Have Known.
Release date: TBA