Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, a fun way to get yourself thinking and sharing about books and bookish things.

September 10: Top ten books I would love to see as a movie/TV show

This is on the condition that Hollywood would not massacre the original story or its intent… in a perfect world, right?? Here are my picks, in no particular order (click title links for full book reviews):

1. The Dinner by Herman Koch
I just read this one recently and think it would make an excellent film (or stage production). The pretentious fine-dining restaurant and small cast of characters are a great setting.

2. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen
This might be a difficult adaptation, since the “White City” hardly exists anymore, but the juxtaposition of serial killer H.H. Holmes and architect Daniel H. Burnham’s lives at the time of the1893 World’s Fair in Chicago is fascinating. I saw on Wikipedia that Leonardo DiCaprio bought the film rights in 2010… but eh, it’s Wikipedia, so who knows.

3. Arcadia by Lauren Groff
I think this could be a beautiful film, especially the first part of the book on Bit’s childhood at the utopian hippie commune.

4. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Coastal Italy in the 1960s. Movie stars from Cleopatra. Enigmatic novelists. Love and romance, family secrets… it’s already pretty cinematic—what more could you want in a movie?

5. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
It’s a great action/adventure story and with the fantastical virtual world vs. bleak actual world settings, I think Ready Player One would be a great film if done right.

6. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
This has romance (not quite rom-com, though) written all over it. Success for this as a film really depends on the casting—the leads must have palpable chemistry. And the thought-provoking ending would have to be done the same as the book, no changes!

7. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
This book had a quiet cinematic quality to me as I was reading it, much like a few others on my list. Set on a remote fictional island off the coast of Australia, The Light Between Oceans is a family drama posing heavy ethical questions. Again, I liked the ending as is.

8. City of Thieves by David Benioff
Two buddies on a seemingly impossible quest in war-torn Leningrad fighting Nazis? Dark but not depressing? I think this could totally work. And I love Kolya.

9. The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro
Another one mixing history and mystery with a little bit of romance thrown in, a story based Boston’s famous Gardner Museum heist is an excellent setting for a movie.

10. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
This would definitely be the biggest budget film on my list—halftime show with Beyoncé? $$$. But it was a good, kind of heartbreaking story, and Billy Lynn is a very memorable character.

Some honorable mentions that I think are in the process of being made into films: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

What are some book-to-film adaptations you’d like to see?