6 books to read before they become TV series

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

There's a huge buzz surrounding the adaptation of Liane Moriarty's bestseller about three mothers of kindergarteners, who get caught up in a murder. Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman have signed on to produce and star in this HBO scandal-in-the-playground series.

The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel

This long-in-the-making series will finally run on ABC this summer (June 18), with a cast of fresh-faced, mostly unknown actors. It's based on Lily Koppel's fictional account of the first families of space travel. The women in the book go from anonymous military wives to celebrities — and as the world follows the exploits of their husbands, they form a strong bond.

Margaret Atwood trilogy

Acclaimed film director Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) is turning Margaret Atwood's dystopian trilogy — Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam — into a series for HBO. Atwood's acting as a consultant and told Entertainment Weekly that she hopes to "just stay alive long enough to see it."

(Photo, Random House)

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Stephen King is working with J.J. Abrams (Lost) to turn his 2011 time-travel novel into a nine-hour miniseries for Hulu. James Franco will star as an English teacher who travels back in time to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

Gary Shteyngart's 2010 bestseller and award-winner is being made into a series by the same team that created Netflix's House of Cards. And they've set their sights on Ben Stiller to play the lead character, an old-fashioned guy in a tech-obsessed culture, who falls for a materialistic Korean-American woman.

A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Daniel Handler

Daniel Handler's children's book series has already been adapted into the 2004 feature film starring Jim Carrey. Now Netflix is ordering up a show based on all 13 novels about the Baudelaire orphans. No director or stars are currently attached, but Handler is involved in finding the people to execute his unique creation.

Click on the pink 'up' arrow to read about each book and TV show.

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