World Literature

This weekend might not have been the biggest box-office success of the year, but it was notable for at least one reason: three of the four wide releases—family reunion drama This Is Where I Leave You, Liam Neeson action flick Taken 5 A Walk Among the Tombstones, and The Maze Runner—were adapted from bestselling novels. Obviously, that means it’s high time we take a look at the books that Hollywood has been using (and occasionally abusing) in 2014. It’s not a comprehensive list; too much digital ink has already been spilt on young-adult anything (sorry, Maze Runner), and we won’t be responsible for endorsing yet another Nicholas Sparks production (lookin’ at you, Best of Me), but here are nine noteworthy book-to-movie adaptations this year.

The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel

Movie: The Monuments Men
Release: February 7

Is there no World War II property safe from the Hollywood machine? Apparently not in 2014: a full third of the books on this list are set during that war. With Robert M. Edsel’s account of the men and women who tried to save “degenerate” works of art from the Nazis, George Clooney probably had the trickiest task, and turned in an uncharacteristically flat adaptation of a much more colorful book.

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

Movie: A Long Way Down
Release: June 5

Four lost souls meet atop a London building; all there to jump, suicidally, to their death, but the serendipity of their meeting convinces them to form a kind of un-suicide pact. June’s adaptation, which starred an unlikely quartet of actors—Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots, and Aaron Paul—explored themes of, ya know, mortality and stuff.

All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

Movie: Edge of Tomorrow
Release: June 6

If you’re one of the people who still believes in Tom Cruise’s star power, you might’ve thought the movie, in which Cruise keeps reliving the same day in a war against aliens, was a (pretty darn decent) sci-fi remake of Groundhog Day. In fact, the source material was a 2009 combat novel by Japanese writer Hiroshi Sakurazaka. We get that the original title wasn’t great, but “Edge of Tomorrow” is possibly the most generic choice since that Lady Gaga song.

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Movie: This Is Where I Leave You
Release: September 19

Last year, in its search for the next great family reunion drama, Hollywood turned to the stage—but August: Osage County didn’t quite connect. This year, it’s back to the books. In Jonathan Tropper’s This Is Where I Leave You, a crisis similar to August’s forces a family back together, with predictably boisterous results. Middle-class white families, you so crazy!

A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block

Movie: A Walk Among the Tombstones
Release: September 19

In crime writer Lawrence Block’s 10th Matthew Scudder book, the cop-turned-private eye investigates the kidnapping and murder of a client’s wife. Which obviously means you cast Liam Neeson, serial avenger of violence against women. (It’s Scudder’s second outing at the movies, after Jeff Bridges’ turn in 1986’s 8 Million Ways to Die.) Per Block’s noir-ish source material, Neeson gets to frown and brood and say stuff like “I do favors for people” with gravelly conviction—perfect for his particular set of skills .