For me, the number one would be Lord of the Rings. I remember seeing The Hobbit in the library as a kid but never had any interest. When I saw The Fellowship of the Ring I didn't even realize it was intended to be more than one movie. Several years later I read the books and got really into the whole story and it's now my favorite story of all time.

Yep... same for me. I saw Fellowship of the Ring when I was 14. I immediately went and bought a full paperback version of The Lord of the Rings and read it all.

Good call on Crichton.

I read both Jurassic Park and Sphere after having seen the movies. I still think Sphere is an amazing book.

DallasTeleAg said:

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Good call on Crichton.

I read both Jurassic Park and Sphere after having seen the movies. I still think Sphere is an amazing book.

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I'd love to see Sphere get remade

I had a roommate that was a huge Crichton fan. He was pretty excited about Sphere as a movie.

The excitement passed.

I actually enjoyed it. The book was better, but the movie was fun. Wouldn't mind another interpretation though.

PatAg said:

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DallasTeleAg said:

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Good call on Crichton.

I read both Jurassic Park and Sphere after having seen the movies. I still think Sphere is an amazing book.

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I'd love to see Sphere get remade

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I read Sphere in a single 24 hour period when I was about 20. Only time I've ever done that with a book.

When I saw they were making a movie I was stoked and went opening day. It was so awful.

Vince Blake said:

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Shawshank Redemption (one of the rare occasions where the movie is better)
Fight Club
Interview with a Vampire

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These. And 2001 and 2010.

LOTR

Bran Stokers Dracula. Had never read the book until I saw the movie. The book is unique in that it's written as a series of diary entries but still flows well.

I read Jurassic Park before the movie came out, but wouldn't have known about it without hearing about the movie. Still my favorite book, actually re-reading right now for I don't know how many times. But like others have said, it turned me on to Chricton.

American Psycho
Dune

Orlando Ayala Cant Read said:

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The Godfather

(For the film fans there's so so much more backstory in the book on Genco, Luca Brasi, and Sonny's ability to please women)

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This one right here. I ended up reading all of Puzo's books.

House of Cards- the original BBC version based on a three book collection
House of Cards the US version

A River Runs Through it.
Field of Dreams - Shoeless Joe.

Vince Blake said:

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Shawshank Redemption (one of the rare occasions where the movie is better)
Fight Club
Interview with a Vampire

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Fight Club got me hooked on Palahniuk. Survivor is his best.

Saving private Ryan got me real curious about WW2 non fiction so during the absence of television during my study abroad I read a ton of this.

Also the blind side movie / money ball got me interested in sports non fiction.

Black Cauldron -> Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series.
Christine -> all of King's stuff
Silence of the Lambs -> Harris Hannibal series

AgBQ-00 said:

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Lonesome Dove...read the whole series because of the mini series on TV

Hunt for Red October

Jurassic Park

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These exact ones for me too

Same for me, except it was the '78 version.

Wait... you read the Two Towers but not The Fellowship or Return of the King? I can't stand skipping books, knowing i'm missing out on so much. I also can't imagine reading the Two Towers and not wanting to read Return of the King. It's literally the climax of the entire story, is the shortest of the three sections, and is absolutely fantastic.

Orlando Ayala Cant Read said:

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The Godfather

(For the film fans there's so so much more backstory in the book on Genco, Luca Brasi, and Sonny's ability to please women)

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It was such a shame they couldn't work Lucy Mancini's story into the adaptation.

Most books I've read because of a movie were adaptations from the movie, which I used to do a lot when I was younger. Before the internet, there was no good place to get more of a movie I loved, so the only option was to buy the book and read it. Way back in the day, I did this with a lot of 80s movies (Karate Kid, Star Wars, Back to the Future, etc.). Then I made fortunate choice to do it with Jurassic Park. Holy crap did I love every Michael Crichton book after that. Jurassic Park, Lost World, Sphere, Congo, Pirate Latitudes, Prey, Timeline (read 3 times), Rising Sun. I've also just realized that there are a bunch of Crichton's I've never read. Sweet!

Trying really hard to come up with one - I read a lot of novels when I was growing up so I was mostly in the books->movie cycle.

I did go and read a bunch of Elmore Leonard stories after finishing Justified.

Philo B 93 said:

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Most books I've read because of a movie were adaptations from the movie, which I used to do a lot when I was younger. Before the internet, there was no good place to get more of a movie I loved, so the only option was to buy the book and read it. Way back in the day, I did this with a lot of 80s movies (Karate Kid, Star Wars, Back to the Future, etc.). Then I made fortunate choice to do it with Jurassic Park. Holy crap did I love every Michael Crichton book after that. Jurassic Park, Lost World, Sphere, Congo, Pirate Latitudes, Prey, Timeline (read 3 times), Rising Sun. I've also just realized that there are a bunch of Crichton's I've never read. Sweet!

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I remember reading the Home Alone movie book. Before Jurassic Park came out in theaters I was generally reading RL Stine and other young adult horror authors. Once Jurassic Park came out, I started reading Crichton and never looked back. I think I liked Congo and Sphere better than Jurassic Park.