2021 Books To Movies & TV Adaptations

While we are hoping this year will eventually move on to a new normal compared to last year, we’re still starting off at home which means it’s a good time to get started on all those 2021 Books To Movies & TV Adaptations. There’s no shortage of books to read before their movie or series is released in 2021. Especially with streaming services picking up the slack. In fact, with numerous projects delayed last year there’s an almost overwhelming amount of books to read. That just means there’s guaranteed to be something for everyone on this list!
Since there is still a lot of uncertainty, I’d expect at least a few of these dates may change(especially the early theater releases) but I’ll keep everything as up to date as I can find!
 

2021 Books To Movies & TV Adaptations

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Movie-⭐⭐
Release Info: Janurary 13th, Netflix

Summary: Balram Halwai is a driver for a rich Indian family. Hoping to pull himself out of his own poor village he uses his cunning and wit to try to break through the caste system and rise to the top.

Starring: Adarsh Gourav, Rajkummar Rao, Priyanka Chopra
 

The Dig by John Preston (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Movie-⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: January 29th, Netflix

Summary: Based on a true story, in 1939 a wealthy widow believes her land contains treasure and hires an archaeologist. The Sutton Hoo dig is no ordinary dig and on the eve of World War 2 love and rivalry grow as everyone is searching for answers.

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan, Lily James
 

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Book-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: February 3rd, Netflix

Summary: Kate Mularkey knows she’s at the bottom of the eighth grade social list, but then Tully moves into her neighborhood and wants to be her friend. Tully has is all-beauty, brains, ambition-but none of it is enough to make up for the loneliness she’s felt ever since being abandoned by her mother. Tully and Kate become best friends but over the decades as they get everything they want, for one a family and the other fame & fortune. But then one act tears them apart and puts their 30-year friendship to the test.

Starring: Katherine Heigl, Sarah Chalke, Beau Garrett
 

Always and Forever, Lara Jean (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Book 3) by Jenny Han (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: February 12, Netflix

Summary: Lara Jean is having a great senior year with all sorts of plans and trips to look forward too. But as a girl who dreads change, unexpected news throws all of her plans in disarray and she must decide whether to listen to her head or her heart.

Starring: Lana Condor, Noah Centineo
 

French Exit by Patrick deWitt (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: February 12th, limited theaters

Summary: Frances Price had planned on dying before her money ran out, but her husband’s dead, she’s still alive, and the bank account is on life support. To put it all behind them Frances and her adult son Malcolm pack up the cat(who may have the spirit of her widow in him) and head to a small apartment in Paris.

Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Lucas Hedges
 
DVD // Digital

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Book-⭐⭐, TV Series-⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: February 17, Netflix

Summary: Louise is a single mom who gets a rare night out and meets a man, David, sparks fly and the night ends with a kiss. She goes to work Monday to meet her new boss, only to find that he’s the man from the bar, and married. As Louise gets to know her new boss and his wife she’s drawn into a orbit with more questions then answers, like why is Adele so scared of David.

Starring: Tom Bateman, Simona Brown, Eve Hewson
 

Nomadland by Jessica Bruder (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Movie-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: February 19th, Hulu & in Theaters

Summary: Invisible victims of the devastating 2008 financial crisis and ensuing recession, thousands of older adults took to the roads in their vans & RV’s. With no other choice from after an economy collapsed they created a community of nomads travelling around a country let them down.

Starring: Frances McDormand
 

Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: February 19th, Disney+

Summary: Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of ‘Terrible Things Can Happen To You!’ is just the person to step in and help a squirrel with a vacuum cleaner accident. Now Ulysses the squirrel has superhero powers and both of them will be changed forever, and filled with hope and heart.

Starring: Alyson Hannigan, Ben Schwartz, Danny Pudi, Matilda Lawler
 

Beartown by Fredrik Backman (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: February 22, HBO Max

Summary: In a town where hockey is everything, star player Kevin is the hope for bringing a championship home. But a violent act will leave a young girl traumatized and town torn apart.

Starring: Ulf Stenberg, Miriam Ingrid, Oliver Dufåker
 

Cherry by Nico Walker (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Movie-⭐⭐
Release Info: February 26th, theaters; March 12th Apple TV

Summary: An Army medic leaves the service and goes home to his wife, but the stress of long-distance and his new PTSD has both of them falling right into the middle of the opioid crisis. Hooked on heroin they’re soon in debt and he turns to something he thinks he could be really good at, robbing banks.

Starring: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo
 

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Movie-⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: March 3rd, Netflix

Summary: Fed up with the sexist status quo at her high school, Vivian Carter is inspired by the discovery of her mom’s rebellious past. She creates a feminist zine and anonymously uses it to start a revolution.

Starring: Amy Poehler, Hadley Robinson, Ike Barinholtz
 

Chaos Walking(The Knife of Never Letting Go) by Patrick Ness (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: March 5th, theaters

Summary: Ever since the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men around him think and they can hear him. In a town full of men Todd knows when he goes from boy to man he’s going to find out what they’ve been hiding. Todd flees with his dog and discovers a stranger, a woman, except they were all killed by Noise, weren’t they?

Starring: Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Mads Mikkelsen
 
DVD // Digital

Made For Love by Alissa Nutting (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: April 1, HBO Max

Summary: After ten years in a suffocating relationship a woman escapes only to discover that her tech billionaire husband had implanted tech into her brain. Now he can track her in every way, including her ’emotional data’ as she tries to rebuild her life and her independence.

Starring: Cristin Milioti, Billy Magnussen, Ray Romano
 

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Series-⭐⭐⭐⭐, Six Of Crows Book-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, Shadow and Bone-⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: April 23, on Netflix

Summary: Alina is a soldier who knows she may not make it across the Shadow Fold, a darkness full of monsters that has split her nation in half. When an attack on her best friend reveals her dormant powers she’s whisked away to train as a member of the Grisha, a magical elite force. But nothing is as it seems and with the darkness growing she must confront the secrets of the Grisha and her heart.

Starring: Jessie Mei Li, Freddy Carter
 

Without Remorse by Tom Clancy (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Movie-⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: April 30th, Amazon Prime

Summary: When John Clark’s wife is killed, the former Navy SEAL vows revenge only to find himself amidst an even bigger conspiracy then he ever imagined. How does he become the CIA legend Mr. Clark? Without mercy, without guilt, without remorse.

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell
 

Jupiter’s Legacy by Mark Millar(author), Frank Quitely(Illustrator) (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Paperback
Release Info: May 7th, Netflix

Summary: The first generation of superheroes have been keeping the world safe for decades, but what happens when their kids don’t want to follow the family footprints.

Starring: Josh Duhamel, Ben Daniels, Leslie Bibb
 

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Book-⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: May 14th, Amazon Prime

Summary: A young woman named Cora makes an amazing discovery during her attempt to break free from slavery in the deep south. The Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor: engineers and conductors operate a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil.

Starring: Thuso Mbedu, Chase W. Dillon, Joel Edgerton
 

The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: May 14th, Netflix
My Rating: Book-⭐⭐
Summary: Anna Fox is agoraphobic, spending her time at home drinking too much and spying on her neighbors. When a new family moves in they seem to have it all, but Anna witnesses a shocking act and all of a sudden her world is turned around. What’s real, what’s imagined, and what really happened that night?

Starring: Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Anthony Mackie
 

Infinite(The Reincarnationist Papers) by D. Eric Maikranz (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: June 10th, Paramount+

Summary: Evan Michaels has always felt different, struggling with clear memories of other lives. Then he meets Poppy, who isn’t just like him but is part of the Cognomina-a secret society of people who have recall of all their past lives. But before he can join and be their equal he must pass their tests.

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Dylan O’Brien, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jason Mantzoukas
 

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway by Beatrix Potter (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle
Release Info: June 11th, theaters

Summary: Thomas and Bea are now married and they live happily with Peter and his whole Rabbit family. But Peter gets bored with this farm life and heads into the city for a new adventure, creating chaos for his family everywhere he goes.

Starring: James Corden, Domhnall Gleeson, Rose Byrne, Margot Robbie
 

2021 Books To Movies & TV Adaptations

Fatherhood(Two Kisses For Maddy) by Matt Logelin (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: June 18th, Netflix

Summary: Matt and Liz were high school sweethearts and when they finally settled down they had it all. But when Liz suddenly dies 27 hours after giving birth Matt must deal with his grief while taking on the responsibilities of raising a daughter all on his own.

Starring: Kevin Hart
 

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: June 25th, Disney+

Summary: Dozens of children reply to a newspaper ad looking for gifted children. After a sereis of mind-bending tests only four are chosen. Their task? To go on a secret mission for a an eccentric, benefactor.

Starring: Tony Hale, Kristen Schaal, MaameYaa Boafo
 

Sex/Life (44 Chapters About 4 Men) by B.B. Easton (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: June 25th, Netflix

Summary: A suburban mother of two takes a fantasy-charged trip down memory lane that sets her very married present on a collision course with her wild-child past.

Starring: Sarah Shahi, Mike Vogel, Adam Demos, Margaret Odette
 

Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Book-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: July 12th, HBO

Summary: Ronan Farrow’s intimate, revealing interviews with whistleblowers, journalists, private investigators and other sources for his book Catch & Kill. How Harvey Weinstein was finally taken down in Hollywood infamy.

Starring: Ronan Farrow
 

The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Book-⭐⭐⭐⭐, Movie-⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: July 23rd, Netflix

Summary: In 1960 Jennifer Stirling wakes up in the hospital with no memories, just a letter asking her to leave her husband. In 2003 journalist Ellie finds the same letter and becomes obsessed with discovering the story behind it, desperately hoping it can save both her career and her own love life.

Starring: Felicity Jones, Shailene Woodley, Joe Alwyn
 

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Book-⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: August 18th, Hulu

Summary: Nine people, all who need a little help with life in different ways, head to a remote health resort. They know it will involve some work but they have no idea just how challenging these next ten days will be.

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Luke Evans, Tiffany Boone, Bobby Cannavale, Manny Jacinto
 

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Amazon // Audiobook
Release Info: September 16th, Peacock

Summary: This follows the early adventures of famed Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who finds himself pulled into a series of deadly puzzles when his mentor is kidnapped. The CIA forces him onto a task force where he uncovers a chilling conspiracy.

Starring: Ashley Zukerman, Sumalee Montano, Raoul Bhaneja, Eddie Izzard
 

Foundation by Isaac Asimov (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Series-⭐⭐⭐, Book-⭐⭐
Release Info: September 24th, Apple TV

Summary: A complex saga of humans scattered on planets throughout the galaxy all living under the rule of the Galactic Empire.

Starring: Jared Harris, Lee Pace, Lou Llobell, Leah Harvey
 

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Amazon // Audiobook
Release Info: October 7th, Peacock

Summary: A brain, an athlete, a princess, a criminal, and a “basket case” walk into detention but only the first four make it out alive.

Starring: Marianly Tejada, Cooper van Grootel, Annalisa Cochrane
 

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Book-⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: October 13th, Hulu

Summary: The series takes viewers to the epicenter of America’s struggle with opioid addiction, from the boardrooms of Purdue Pharma, to a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA.

Starring: Michael Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, Kaitlyn Dever, Phillipa Soo
 

The Last Duel by Eric Jager (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Movie-⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: October 15th, theaters

Summary: Based on a true story during the Hundred Years’ War, a knight returns home to find his wife accusing squire Jacques Le Gris of raping her. A deadlocked court leads to a teenaged King Charles VI declaring a trial by combat.

Starring: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck
 

Dune by Frank Herbert (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Book-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, Movie-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: October 22nd, theaters & HBO Max

Summary: Paul Atreides is heir to the noble family tasked with ruling a world with one of the most coveted substances in the universe. When his family is betrayed he sets on a journey toward a destiny bigger than he could have ever imagined.

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson
 

Ragdoll by Daniel Cole (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: November 11th, AMC+

Summary: Detectives look to untangle the case of the Ragdoll Killer, who has killed six people and sewn their bodies into the shape of one grotesque body nicknamed the Ragdoll.

Starring: Lucy Hale, Ali Cook, Thalissa Teixeira
 

The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Movie-⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: November 17th, Theaters. December 1st, Netflix

Summary: Phil and George are brothers and for the last forty years they’ve shared a room on the family ranch, now owners of their vast Montana ranch land. George is gentle, loving, and devoted to the family business. Phil has always been brilliant, and a sadist. When George suddenly marries a young widow and brings her to the ranch, Phil sets out to destroy her, not expecting an unlikely protector.

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst
 

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: November 19th, Amazon Prime Video

Summary: In the third Age, an Age of Prophecy, world and time hang in the balance. The wheel of time turns and turns-memories become legends, legends become myths, myths are forgotten until that Age comes around again. When The Two Rivers is attacked five villagers flee into a world where danger waits in the shadow and the light.

Starring: Rosamund Pike, Josha Stradowski, Marcus Rutherford, Sophie Okonedo
 

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Amazon // Audiobook
Release Info: December 10th, Select Theaters & VOD

Summary: Resolving to achieve professional success without compromising her ethics, Lucy embarks on a ruthless game of one-upmanship against cold and efficient nemesis Joshua, a rivalry that is complicated by her growing attraction to him.

Starring: Lucy Hale, Austin Stowell
 

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Book-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (One of my all time FAVORITES!!), Series-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: December 16th, HBO Max

Summary: When Kirsten was a child, she watched famous actor Arthur Leander die of a heart attack on stage. It was the same day a flu pandemic arrived and civilization ended. Twenty years later she’s part of a traveling troupe of actors and musicians. They go from settlement to settlement in the hopes of continuing the arts in a world barely holding on. Going back and forth between life before & after the pandemic hits, following Kirsten and Arthur’s lives, this story shows how fate binds them all together and how a dangerous prophet might tear it all apart.

Starring: Mackenzie Davis, Danielle Deadwyler, Himesh Patel, Matilda Lawler, Nabhaan Rizwan
 

Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: December 17th, theaters

Summary: Stan Wilson is a carny with a show as a mentalist, a few words and he can manipulate anyone. When he meets a psychiatrist who might be even more dangerous then he is, his ambition turns life into a dream, or is it a nightmare in disguise.

Starring: Mary Steenburgen, Cate Blanchett, Bradley Cooper
 

The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
My Rating: Movie-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Release Info: December 25th, Theaters. January 14th, Apple TV+

Summary: Macbeth is told by three witches that he is destined to be King of Scotland. Urged on by his wife their ambitions to see the prophecy through lead to a spiral of madness, paranoia, and murder.

Starring: Denzel Washington, Frances McDormand
Directed by: Joel Coen
 

2021 Books To Movies & TV Adaptations

Delayed to 2022

Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: August 13th, 2021 January 14, 2022-Theaters

Summary: Vic and Melinda no longer have a loving and fulfilling marriage so an agreement is made-Melinda can have as many lovers as she wants as long as she doesn’t abandon her family. When those lovers start disappearing Vic is the prime suspect as everyone is left wondering if jealousy pushed him over the edge.

Starring: Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (Trailer)

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: September 17th, 2021 February 11, 2022-Theaters

Summary: A peaceful cruise on the Nile river turns deadly when heiress Linnet Ridgeway Doyle is found murdered. Hercule Poirot is left to investigate, finding that once again nothing is quite what it seems.

Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

bookshop.org // Kindle // Audiobook
Release Info: December 22nd, 2021 December 2022-Theaters

Summary: World War II, two sisters are separated by their experiences and ages. In war-torn German-occupied France they must each follow their own paths based on passion and ideals to survive.

Starring: Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning
If that’s not enough for you, or you don’t want to wait, check out 2020 Books To Movies & TV Adaptations for projects already released!

Happy Reading & Happy Screening!
~Alison

2021 books to movies & tv adaptations