Happy Read a Book Day!

Yesterday was Read a Book Day, so at the risk of sounding like a grandparent who hates all millennials, GO READ A BOOK! If you are anything like me then you like to read but don’t really spend enough time doing it. For example, I read more this summer than I usually do, but I also spent the last two weeks binge watching Breaking Bad (no regrets).

Don’t get me wrong, movies and TV are great. Books are great too. So to encourage more reading, here is a short list of highly anticipated movies all of which were based on books you should read before you catch them in theaters!

Divergent

This book by Veronica Roth is the first installment of a trilogy set in dystopian Chicago. It’s about 16-year-old Beatrice Prior (later changes her name to Tris) who doesn’t quite fit in. This society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Each year, all the 16-year-olds are divided into a faction according to a personality test, but Beatrice/Tris doesn’t fit perfectly into any one faction, which is a secret she must keep hidden. The movie starring Shailene Woodley comes out in 2014!

The Fault in Our Stars

Another YA novel adaption, this bestselling book by John Green is about 16-year-old cancer patient Hazel Grace, who falls in love with Augustus Waters. It’s a love story and it will make you cry, so keep a box of tissues near by. The movie, set for a 2014 release, also stars Shailene Woodley.

Carrie

If YA books aren’t your thing, I totally get it. Maybe you are more into horror? Maybe Stephen King? His book Carrie has been re-imagined into a new movie starring the wonderful Chloe Moretz, and you should read the thrilling 1974 novel before you get to the theater.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is based on a short story by James Thurber and first appeared in The New Yorker in March 1939. It’s about a man named Walter Mitty who is running mindless errands with his wife and daughter. While is waiting he has five heroic daydream episodes. In 1947 the story was made into a movie of the same name and has since been remade into a movie set to be released this Christmas!

Images via Wikipedia. Featured image courtesy of ShutterStock.