Looking for your next book to read?
Over the last few years, it feels like just about all of our favourite books have made the jump from the page to the screen.
And, thankfully, this year looks to be no exception.
Here are 8 books to read before watching the movie or TV show in 2019.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon, have formed an unlikely friendship spanning 6,000 years and have grown fond of life on earth.
However, with the end of time growing near and the approaching Armageddon the pair are forced to join forces to try and find a way to save the world. Oh, and to find the Antichrist – who someone “seems to have misplaced.”
Starring: David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Frances McDorman, Jon Hamm.
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass tell the story of Lyra, an orphan, who lives in a parallel universe in which science, theology and magic are entwined.
The epic story Pullman tells is a spellbinding adventure featuring armoured polar bears, magical devices, witches and daemons.
Starring: Dafne Keen, Amir Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anne-Marie Duff, James McAvoy.
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Bernadette Fox is notorious. To Elgie Branch, a Microsoft wunderkind, she’s his hilarious, volatile, talented, troubled wife. To fellow mothers at the school gate, she’s a menace. To design experts, she’s a revolutionary architect.
And to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, quite simply, mum. Then Bernadette disappears. And Bee must take a trip to the end of the earth to find her.
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Cate Blanchett, Judy Greer, Troian Bellisario and Billy Crudup.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The timeless tale of four sisters – Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth – experiencing both hardship and adventure in Civil War New England.
Though the March family may be poor, their lives are rich with colour, as they play games, put on wild theatricals, make new friends, argue, grapple with their vices, learn from their mistakes, nurse each other through sickness and disappointments, and get into all sorts of trouble.
Starring: Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, Meryl Streep, Laura Dern and Saoirse Ronan.
It by Stephen King
To the children, the town was their whole world. To the adults, knowing better, Derry Maine was just their home town: familiar, well-ordered for the most part. A good place to live. It is the children who see – and feel – what makes the small town of Derry so horribly different.
In the storm drains, in the sewers, IT lurks, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each one’s deepest dread. Sometimes IT reaches up, seizing, tearing, killing …Time passes and the children grow up, move away and forget. Until they are called back, once more to confront IT as IT stirs and coils in the sullen depths of their memories, reaching up again to make their past nightmares a terrible present reality
Starring: Finn Wolfhard, Bill Skarsgård, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, James McAvoy.
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Natasha is a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. She is not the type of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when her family is twelve hours away from being deported. Falling in love with him will not be her story.
Daniel has always been the good son, the good student, living up to his parents’ high expectations. Never a poet. Or a dreamer. But when he sees her, he forgets all that. Something about Natasha makes him think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store – for both of them. Every moment has brought them to this single moment. A million futures lie before them.
Starring: Yara Shahidi, Anais Lee, Charles Melton and John Leguizamo.
The Good Liar by Nicholas Searle
Roy is a conman living in a small English town, about to pull off his final con. He is going to meet and woo a beautiful woman. He will swiftly move in with her and together they will live the seemingly calm life of a retired couple – evenings in front of the television, a little holiday in Berlin. Then he will slip away with her life savings.
But who is the man behind the con and what has he had to do to survive this life of lies? And why is this beautiful woman so willing to be his next victim?
Starring: Helen Mirren, Russell Tovey, Ian McKellen and Jim Carter. .
The Rhythm Section by Mark Burnell
Stephanie Patrick’s life is destroyed by the crash of flight NE027: her family was on board and there were no survivors. Devastated, she falls into a world of drugs and prostitution – until the day she discovers that the crash wasn’t an accident, but an act of terrorism.
Filled with rage, and with nothing left to lose, she joins a covert intelligence organization. But throughout her training and operations she remains focused on one goal above all: revenge.
Starring: Blake Lively, Sterling K. Brown, and Jude Law.
A good book can do just about anything; from taking you on a wild and fantastical adventure to making you feel like an all-knowing super sleuth (if you figure out the killer twist).
But what’s good to read? Each week, #Bookmarked will help you out – with an insight into the best novels hitting shelves right now and other faves that everyone needs to read at least once in their lives.
