I Know This Much Is True. Poster of the 2020 TV series and cover of the 1998 book
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I Know This Much Is True
Wally Lamb, 1998
TV series vs book
Derek Cianfrance, 2020

The show takes place in Three Rivers, Connecticut in the early 1990s. With medication, Thomas is able to live his life in relative peace and work at a coffee stand, but occasionally, he has severe episodes of his illness. Thinking he is making a sacrificial protest that will stop the Gulf War, Thomas cuts off his own hand while at a public library.


What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Poster of the 1993 movie and cover of the 1991 book
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What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Peter Hedges, 1991
movie vs book
Lasse Hallström, 1993

In the small town of Endora, Iowa, Gilbert Grape is busy caring for Arnie, his mentally impaired brother who is turning 18, as they wait for the many tourists’ trailers to pass through town during an annual Airstreamers’ Club gathering at a nearby recreational area. With Bonnie’s morbid obesity leaving her unable to care for her children on her own, Gilbert has taken responsibility for repairing the old house and being protective to Arnie, who has a habit of climbing the town water tower, while his sisters Amy and Ellen do the rest.


Natural Born Killers. Poster of the 1994 movie and cover of the book novelization
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Natural Born Killers
Leslie Stout, 1994
movie vs book   [NOVELIZATION]
Oliver Stone, 1994

Mickey Knox and his wife Mallory stop at a diner in the New Mexico desert. The couple camp in the desert, and Mallory reminisces about how she met Mickey, a meat deliveryman who serviced her family’s household. Following the Knoxes murder spree is a self-serving tabloid journalist, Wayne Gale, who profiles them on his show, American Maniacs, soon elevating them to cult hero status.


Cape Fear. Poster of the 1991 movie and cover of the 1957 book, The Executioners
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The Executioners
John D. MacDonald, 1957
movie vs book
Martin Scorsese, 1991

Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) is a lawyer living in North Carolina with his wife Leigh (Jessica Lange) and teenage daughter Danielle (Juliette Lewis). Unbeknownst to him, however, his former client is a naturally intelligent and single-minded psychopath; he learned how to read and studied law in prison, and even unsuccessfully appealed his own conviction several times.


The Basketball Diaries. Poster of the 1995 movie and cover of the 1978 book
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The Basketball Diaries
Jim Carroll, 1978
movie vs book
Scott Kalvert, 1995

Teenager Jim Carroll is a drug-addicted high school basketball player who regularly gets into mischief with his friends Pedro, Mickey and Neutron on the streets of New York City and at school. A teacher who notices the boys engaging in drug use tells Jim and Mickey that they are suspended for a week, and Swifty tells Jim he will never play basketball for his school again.


August: Osage County. Poster of the 2013 movie and cover of the 2008 book
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August: Osage County
Tracy Letts, 2008
movie vs book
John Wells, 2013

The title designates time and location: an unusually hot August in a rural area outside Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Violet’s middle daughter Ivy is single and the only one living locally; Barbara, her oldest, who has inherited her mother’s mean streak, arrives from Colorado with her husband Bill and 14-year-old daughter Jean.


The Firm. Poster of the 2012 TV series and cover of the 1991 book
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The Firm
John Grisham, 1991
TV series vs book
Lukas Reiter, 2012

The series continues the story of attorney Mitchell McDeere who, as a young associate 10 years earlier, had brought down the prestigious Memphis law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which had been operating as a front for the Chicago mob. After a difficult decade, which included a stay in the Federal Witness Protection Program, McDeere and his family now emerge from isolation to reclaim their lives and their future -only to find that past dangers are still lurking and new threats are everywhere.


Whip It. Poster of the 2009 movie and cover of the 2007 book, Derby Girl
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Derby Girl
Shauna Cross, 2007
movie vs book
Drew Barrymore, 2009

Bliss Cavendar is a misfit in the small town of Bodeen, Texas, with no sense of direction in her life. Intrigued, she and her friend Pash attend a roller derby bout under the pretense of going to a football game, where they see the Holy Rollers defeat the Hurl Scouts, a perennially unsuccessful derby team.


Nerve. Poster of the 2016 movie and cover of the 2012 book
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Nerve
Jeanne Ryan, 2012
movie vs book
Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman, 2016

High school senior Venus Vee Delmonico longs to leave Staten Island for college, but is avoiding telling her mother as they are still mourning the death of her older brother. Her friend Sydney becomes popular in Nerve: an online reality game of truth and dare, but without the truth element – where people either enlist as players or register to watch as watchers.


Back Roads. Poster of the 2018 movie and cover of the 1999 book
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Back Roads
Tawni O'Dell, 1999
movie vs book
Alex Pettyfer, 2018

After his mother is imprisoned for killing his abusive father, Harley Altmyer is left to care for his three younger sisters in rural Pennsylvania. Harley forgoes his college education, working dead-end jobs to pay the bills and raise his siblings. Scarred by his past, Harley becomes infatuated with Callie Mercer, the older married woman who lives nearby.


A Million Little Pieces. Poster of the 2018 movie and cover of the 2003 book
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A Million Little Pieces
James Frey, 2003
movie vs book
Sam Taylor-Johnson, 2018

In 1993, following a drug-induced accidental fall, James Frey is brought home and packed off to a rehab center by his older brother Bob Frey, Jr. It is there where he meets interesting people, with whom he forms relationships and who play an important role in his life both during and after his time in the clinic.


The Switch. Poster of the 2010 movie and cover of the 1996 book, Baster
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Baster
Jeffrey Eugenides, 1996
movie vs book
Josh Gordon, Will Speck, 2010

Kassie, a single 40-year-old woman, decides to conceive using a turkey baster. Seven years later, she reconnects with her best friend, the insecure Wally, who harbors a hidden truth: he substituted her chosen sperm sample with his own.