Books on TV: New adaptations to watch for

Audiences have been watching for decades as Hollywood tries to cram its favorite books into two-hour movies, with varying degrees of success.

Now, however, television is catching up, and it offers one important thing that movies just can't: time.

Deep in the throes of what some critics are calling the golden age of television, producers are turning to bookshelves for inspiration. With anywhere from four to 34 hours at their disposal, directors can take time with the material, bringing more fully-realized literary worlds to life.

This isn't a new idea. The BBC packed the 90s with adaptations of Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen and others. More recently, critical darlings like "Friday Night Lights," "Dexter," and "Game of Thrones" have been pulled from the page. But the trend is accelerating, and everything from fantasy epics to Russian classics are getting their own series.

Many recent adaptations have already found audiences ("Outlander," "The Leftovers," "Orange is the New Black"). Below are some new projects headed for the small screen, and others that have recently debuted.

Books being adapted into television shows

"Anne of Green Gables" by L.M. Montgomery

Forthcoming

Start braiding your hair — Anne Shirley is back.

Last month, Variety reported that the CBC is set to produce a new spin on the series, which has been a sensation around the world for over a century. According to Reuters, the books have sold more than 50 million copies in 20 different languages.

Montgomery's series follows the spirited orphan Anne Shirley as she learns to adapt to life on Prince Edward Island. The show will be called simply "Anne," and it is set to premiere in Canada in 2017. Moira Walley-Beckett, best known for her work on "Breaking Bad," will serve as the executive producer and writer.

"Adapting Anne's story really excites me," Walley-Beckett told Variety. "Anne's issues are contemporary issues: feminism, prejudice, bullying and a desire to belong. The stakes are high and her emotional journey is tumultuous. I'm thrilled to delve deeply into this resonant story, push the boundaries and give it new life."

"The Night Manager" by John le Carre

Forthcoming

Le Carre is the master of spy novels — it can't hurt that he actually once was a spy — and the latest BBC adaptation of his work will be "most radical ever done," the author's son told The Guardian.

The six-part series takes on le Carre's 1993 novel, "The Night Manager," a post-Cold War thriller about a former soldier and his nemesis, a charismatic arms dealer. The adaptation's cast boasts a string of familiar faces, including Hugh Laurie of "House" and Tom Hiddleston of "The Avengers."

The show will debut this month on the BBC, and on AMC in the U.S. in April.

The Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante

Forthcoming

Ferrante fans suffering withdrawal after the fourth and final book in the series came out in September will get a boost in the form of a 32-part television adaptation. The beloved quartet of books traces the friendship of two women, Elena and Lily, over the course of their entire lives, beginning in Naples in the 1950s.

The series became tremendously popular in recent years, though the author's true identity remains a mystery. For those hoping to skip the books and simply catch up with the show, there will still be some reading involved: subtitles. The New York Times reports that the show will be filmed in Italian, in Italy.

"11-23-63" by Stephen King

Now airing on Hulu

Stephen King likes messing with time: His 2011 hit novel tells the story of a man who travels back to 1963 to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. But as everybody knows, time travel is never that simple.

The television adaption has some serious star power behind it: James Franco plays Jake Epping, the time-traveling history revisionist, and J.J. Abrams, fresh off of "Star Wars," is an executive producer.

"The Magicians" series by Lev Grossman

Now airing on SyFy

Grossman's popular series, centered on a magical school called Brakebills, has long been hailed as the grim, grown-up version of "Harry Potter." Young magicians struggle to master spells — and their own emotions — before inevitably getting sucked into an otherworldly adventure with deadly consequences.

SyFy made its own alterations before unleashing the TV series. Brakebills is now a grad school instead of a college, and the characters — Quentin, Alice, Eliot, Penny — have been aged four to five years to compensate. There are enough longing glances and smoldering looks to make the show seem a bit like "Dawson's Creek" with magic — if that can be taken as a compliment.

"The Interestings" by Meg Wolitzer

Forthcoming

Wolitzer's sprawling tale of friendship and love is heavy on the angst — both teenage and middle age. "The Interestings" unfolds over three decades, following a group of friends who meet as high schoolers at an arts camp and struggle to maintain their bond as they confront the realities of aging.

The series is set to be directed by Mike Newell. Deadline announced that Lauren Ambrose, of "Six Feet Under," has been cast as Jules, the main character with acting aspirations, but a less romantic reality.

"MaddAddam" by Margaret Atwood

Forthcoming

The queen of dystopia is getting her television throne: Margaret Atwood's trilogy — "Oryx and Crake," "The Year of the Flood" and "MaddAddam" — is set to be adapted for HBO.

Darren Aronofsky will be at the helm; he's best known for the disturbing and stylish "Black Swan." He should be right at home in Atwood's post-apocalyptic world where genetic mutations have altered what's left of humanity.

"Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn

Forthcoming

Gillian Flynn conquered the big screen with "Gone Girl" — she wrote not only the novel but the screenplay as well, which is rare for Hollywood adaptations. Now she's tackling TV by adapting her debut novel, "Sharp Objects."

Published in 2006, the book follows reporter Camille Preaker as she investigates a string of brutal murders in her hometown. Get ready for some twists.

"His Dark Materials" series by Philip Pullman

Forthcoming

Forget the 2007 film "The Golden Compass." Most people who love this supernatural young adult series have purged that Nicole Kidman adaptation from their minds.

The BBC is now adapting the series for TV, so you'll need to study up on daemons and dust and the dangers of the Magisterium. The books follow Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry on adventures through parallel universes.

"War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy

Released January 2016

Apparently more people lie about reading this book than have actually read it, if a recent Telegraph poll is to be believed. It will definitely be easier to bluff your way through the Russian classic after you watch the six-part BBC adaptation.

The book begins in 1805, with Napoleon's armies inching ever closer to Russia's borders. It tracks the drama of five aristocratic families and their young, privileged heirs. Clocking in at over 1,000 pages, it's considered one of the longest books in popular literature, but if you have eight hours, now you can get the gist.

"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke

Released in 2015

This is another hefty tome that called for a multi-part adaptation. Released in 2004, this magical sensation captured the imaginations of many: It landed on the New York Times bestseller list and won the Hugo Award for best novel.

Think of "Pride and Prejudice," then add a fairy, lots of magic, Napoleon and a dash of Charles Dickens. The book is a classic comedy of manners mixed up with a supernatural spin on early-1800s England. Naturally, the BBC took it on for adaptation; the seven-part series premiered last spring. No word yet on a second season.

"Super Sad True Love Story" by Gary Shteyngart

Forthcoming

Shteyngart's biting, satirical 2010 novel has been scooped up by Ben Stiller and is now reportedly heading to Showtime, according to Variety.

The book follows Lenny Abramov and Eunice Park, both the children of immigrants, as they try to navigate life and love in a near-future, dystopic version of New York, where the world has been overrun by war and social media. (Five years after its publication, the book's predictions about people constantly live-streaming their every thought seem prescient.)

"A Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket (a.k.a Daniel Handler)

Forthcoming

Hollywood took a run at this fantasy series for children in 2004, but all that truly yielded was the chance for Jim Carrey to play another maniacal villain with questionable hair.

The 13-book series is probably better suited for a television series, which allows the time for Handler's stylish, swirling, steampunk stories to unfold. The series follows the Baudelaire orphans, escaping danger and death (and their own dark-hearted family members) in a modern twist on Gothic lit. Netflix has picked up the rights for the new series, but there's no word yet on a release date.

"The Man in the High Castle" by Philip K. Dick

Released in 2015

What if Germany and Japan won World War II?

That's the alternate reality where Dick's classic novel takes place: The book picks up in the 1960s, in a U.S. that has been split between Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany.

The television show rearranges history as well, imagining an underground U.S. resistance that's working to overthrow Axis rule through smuggled propaganda films. The ten-episode series premiered in 2015. A second season is planned for later this year.

"Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel

"Wolf Hall" was begging for a television adaptation for the costumes alone, not to mention the backstabbing, scheming and general drama that came with castle-living in 1500s England.

Mantel's Man Booker prize-winning novel was adapted by the BBC, and brought the affairs of Henry VII, Thomas Cromwell and Anne Boleyn back into fashion. The first season debuted last winter, and it won a Golden Globe for Best Miniseries.

Correction (Feb. 22, 2016): The original version of this story was unclear on the timing of "The Night Manager." The book is a post-Cold War thriller. The story has been updated.