So, yesterday my wife and I watched two movies based on a book series: Enola Holmes and Enola Holmes 2, based on the series with her name by Nancy Springer. We had watched the first one in 2020, but when we started watching the second one, we couldn’t remember the first so we went back and started over.

As Benjamin Lee wrote in The Guardian, in his review of the second one in 2022:

There’s more of the same in Enola Holmes 2, an equally boisterous romp that’s equally as hard to remember once it’s over but one that should keep its many fans engaged enough to warrant further sequels.

And indeed, there is a third one in the works, according to Millie Bobby Brown, who portrays Enola in the movies. As well as I think there should be. It’s true, like Lee said, that they’re hard to remember, but Brown along with a great ensemble cast including Helena Bonham Carter as her mother and Henry Cavill as her brother, Sherlock, made the movies popcorn fun enough for me and my wife to want to watch more.

I must admit that I now want to try Springer’s series. I also realize that this isn’t the first time I have wanted to read a book or series after watching the movies. Probably one of the first movies with which this was the case for me was Field of Dreams, which was based on the book Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella. I think I read the book or attempted to read it but as I remember at the time I didn’t like it and thought the movie was better.

Other movies based on books or series I wanted to read after watching the movie or movies include The Maze Runner, High Fidelity, The Last of the Mohicans, Bladerunner, Dolores Claiborne and Misery to name a few. Some I did and some I enjoyed (loved The Maze Runner series) while others I didn’t (High Fidelity – worked better for American audiences with a record shop since I recognized more of the music). On the latter, I did enjoy some of Nick Hornby’s other books such as A Long Way Down.

So, how about you? Any books or series you wanted to read after seeing the movie that they were based on first? Feel free to share in the comments.

This is part of The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz. And in case you missed it, on Thursday I posted about my three good things for the week, which this week mainly was one thing: a negative biopsy, a negative biopsy, a negative biopsy! for my wife.