Books on the big and small screens 

With our ever-growing entertainment industry that needs ever more content to turn into movies and television shows, there is always one reliable source for ripping yarns that requires no subscription or power source: Books! 

A substantial number of the mysteries, thrillers, comedies, and romances that you see on the big and small screens were initially popular novels by well-known or up-and-coming authors. 

Here are some books that you can read to get ahead of the hype, or to get deeper into a story that you watched and loved.

The Murderbot Diaries is a series of short, comedic sci-fi novels by Martha Wells, about a mostly robot, partly-human, heavily armed machine designed to protect its human owners.

However, our robo-protagonist has subverted its programming and now has free will. And what it wants more than anything is to be left alone to binge-watch television shows. The books cover the “SecUnit’s” (Security Unit) adventures, having to pretend to still be obedient while protecting the humans that it finds woefully stupid.

This fun series is now a television show, Murderbot, on the Apple+ streaming service, starring Alexander Skarsgård as our favorite SecUnit.

Last year’s movie Wicked was a huge hit, bringing the popular Broadway musical to the screen. Then it turned out that the movie was only the first half of the story, to be concluded in the upcoming Wicked: For Good.

However, few people seem to know that the Broadway version of Wicked was based on the first in a series of books by Gregory Maguire, telling the story of Oz from new perspectives.

And of course, this series is itself based on the long-running series of fantasy novels by L. Frank Baum, beginning with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was published way back in 1900 — and many of which were written in Coronado.

1980s movie fans might remember the film The Running Man, a dark-humored dystopian story in which Arnold Schwarzenegger is framed for a crime and forced to fight for his life in a televised battle arena/game show. The movie was loosely based on a short story written by Stephen King (under the pseudonym Richard Bachman).

A remake of The Running Man will be coming out later this year, starring Glenn Powell. This version promises to more closely follow the book’s story, with more thrills and fewer campy one-liners.

The Woman in Cabin 10 was a bestseller by Ruth Ware, from the newly popular thriller subgenre of “Woman witnesses a murder but no one believes her, so she has to go solve it” novels. Travel writer Lo Blacklock is on a luxury cruise, only to see someone thrown overboard in the night. But come morning, all the passengers are accounted for… and no one believes her. This story will soon be a Netflix movie starring Keira Knightley and Guy Pearce.

Coulson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Nickel Boys also recently got the movie treatment. The book alternates between the 2010s and the 1960s, following an African-American business owner, played by Ethan Herisse, as he recalls his teen years in an abusive reform school.

The movie takes an experimental approach, filmed in point-of-view shots of the two main characters, making it highly immersive and possibly uncomfortable for the audience. Nickel Boys is now streaming on Prime Video, after its theatrical release. 

Check out these books and more ready-for-the-cinema titles at the La Mesa Branch Library.

While you’re here, sign up for the library’s all-ages Summer Learning Challenge. Read books (or enjoy other educational activities) to win prizes! We’ll also be hosting summer events like concerts, art programs, book clubs, and more. 

Find all the details — and much more — here.