5 books that are UNADAPTABLE!

[@simontheewok]

The thing about House of Leaves is that it's impossible to even adapt it into an audiobook. You HAVE to physically read it and jumble it back and forth as you jump from various sections of the book to solve the insanity presented in the footnotes. Read it for the first time this year and absolutely love it.

[@RussellFlowers]

It's a book that was barely adaptable into a book.

[@AWarrenJohnson]

If House of Leaves were to be adapted to film, it would need to be a four season show and focus on one of the stories. First season would be the found footage of the family exploring the house and would benefit from an old-school 22-24 episode season and would be in full color. A reference to the full color edition. The second season would be Zampano's story. This season would be around 15-16 episodes and shot in black and white with key film elements (if you know, you know) in blue or red. A reference to the two color edition. Season 3 would be five episodes and have the subtile The Navidson Record under the House of Leaves title. Each episode focuses on each character in the record and each episode would be around two hours. This season would have the visual feel of documentaries of the 50s through the 90s, but would be in black and white and scenes frequently end cutting off the last few words of sentences. A reference to the incomplete edition. Season 4 would focus on Johnny's story and be completely black and white. A reference to the black and white edition. This season would be about 10 to 15 episodes. All the "apendicies" would be found online and on a bonus disc. I feel that by constructing an adaptation in this way, some of the themes around time and feeling unsettled that every season feels disjointed from each other would mimic the experience of reading the book and having to refer back to other episodes in different seasons. The one draw back is that all four seasons would have to be released at the same time. I feel that fans would really enjoy putting together different watch order lists and would generally have a good time with it.

[@MsSarahJosephine]

Found out my sister was trying to read it on her kindle. I begged her for her own sanity to stop and gave her my own physical copy.

[@silvertown3394]

It was adapted into a Doom (the videogame) mod. A big swing, but fantastic

[@mabusestestament]

Hey, a lot of movie adaptations are quite different compared to the books they’re based on. If you’d make a movie adaptation of House Of Leaves, you would make use of the medium film instead of how the book makes use of the medium… book.

[@Thepopcornator]

They used to say The Lord of the Rings was unadaptable.

[@Dunybrook]

I'd argue it still is because of the changes that were made in the films. In some ways it's just its own thing and only has the names in common.

[@larry3498]

The Lord of the Rings remains unadaptable.

[@joelspaulding5964]

​@@DunybrookNonsense. Never in the history of cinema or drama has ANY screenplay been exactly as the book.

[@brianmurphy250]

Same for Dune, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Fight Club.But they pulled it off in these cases.

[@aaronmarkham4424]

The Two Towers and Return were so far off from the books they shouldn't be called Lord of the Rings...

[@coyoteartist]

I would kill for an animated Dark Tower. As to the -last entry. Just conceptually, I could see a set changing as the elements of what he's actually living in is revealed. You start out with a white tower that looks like a tower and as the elements are revealed, the visual shifts. That sounds to me more like something that would work better in animation too. But it's an interesting concept anyway.

[@Bunk_off]

That could be pretty good. Get Tarantino to direct a ministries. Could be amazing. But keep king out of it, except for the royalties.

[@waltwright84]

I loved your House Of Leaves video, both stylistically and content-wise. I admit I only watched it because I loved the author's sister's companion album (2000's album "Haunted" by Poe) which I had commented on. The book is next in my queue to read because your video was so convincing, and I've been listening to Haunted a lot recently. It still holds up 24 years later! Keep up the great work.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

Thanks

[@melodiemeldrum3918]

Haunted is such a fantastic album, one of my desert island picks to this day. Like you, I've never gotten around to reading House of Leaves, but I'm kind of inspired to dive into it now!

[@alexandertracy8479]

I definitely want an animated Dark Tower series. I remember they actually made a film with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. I was good, but not great, but my dad said it was all the books put into a 90 minute film. So u could definitely see it as an animated series

[@rammelbroadcasting]

It wasn't great 😕

[@Punkyscout]

There is a movie with the same name of the dark tower... And apparently it did draw some inspiration from the books 😂 Actually loved the prospect of having Mathew McConaughey and Idris Elba on the project... But the plot and script really took me out of it 😢

[@joekapp6826]

You remember? Is this movie so obscure that it requires a special memory to recall it?

[@gi0nbecell]

@@joekapp6826 no, but it was so bad that I force my mind to forget about it.

[@andrewrowland7640]

I took it to be the next iteration of Roland's journey.

[@baronvonyossi681]

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov - the book is structured as a delusional self-obsessed editor providing line-by-line commentary on the final unfinished poem by a famous poet, but he’s convinced that the poem was actually written about his own (possibly imagined) backstory. The reading experience involves constantly flipping back and forth between the poem and the commentary and cross-referencing the various footnotes, and would be absolutely impossible to recreate in any other medium Mark Lawrence’s Library Trilogy, for similar reasons to Book Of The New Sun - there are certain major twists that would be impossible to conceal in any visual medium.

[@aboubenadhem9066]

A show could get close to Pale Fire if it were edited with an audio commentary track by a “friend” of the deceased director.

[@mandramas]

Pale fire can be adapted as mockumentary with a framing device that is longer. But the point is Pale Fire is poetry, that is always unadaptable unless you make a word by word voiceover

[@nathanielvalla6142]

Several of these sound like they could be adapted into video games. I could definitely see avenues for Dark Tower and House of Leaves to be done that way.

[@KenLieck]

Actually, there's a Doom mod called MyHouse.WAD that's based on House of Leaves and it has had people all abuzz about it for a year or two now. Plenty of playthroughs, analyses and reviews can be found on KZbin.

[@TheJhtlag]

The funny thing is that would make sense in a way, a non-linear format for a non-linear book.

[@pedrotorresboreli9708]

The House Of Leaves description reminded me of those Sam Barlow FMV games, Her Story, Telling Lies and Immortality. Immortality jumped to me because of the way the gameplay works through film reels and you see things that aren't in the film while playing. It could work in a game format like that.

[@darrenbent7601]

They already tried to adapt the "The Dark Tower" first book into a movie, it starred Idris Elba as the Gunslinger. And I totally agree with you about it being animated. Look at the Simpsons, 30+ years and they haven't aged.

[@KenLieck]

On the other hand, King of the Hill is returning and Bobby Hill is now 21!

[@wolfgangoschmann2573]

I heard that Mike Flanagan (who is a huge Dark Tower fan) wants to make a Dark Tower tv series where each season covers each book. He also mentioned that there is one specific scene from one of the books that he knows exactly how he would film and is excited to film it if given the chance. Edit: I did not watch your full explanation to Dark Tower when I wrote this. So I did not know that you already knew this.

[@johnbrant3355]

Dark Tower really only needs three seasons.

[@wolfgangoschmann2573]

@ yeah but I feel like it would be cleaner to have seven seasons and every season named after each book. Less confusing on when one book ends and when the next starts.

[@residentpotato6023]

After the S-show he did with the Dark Tower I wouldn’t let him film a Frosted Flakes commercial.

[@wolfgangoschmann2573]

@@residentpotato6023 He didn’t make the dark tower movie

[@richarddeese1087]

"Lord Foul's Bane" & "Nine Princes in Amber" are both unadaptable. I'd love to see an animated version of Zelazney's Amber Chronicles. tavi.

[@zeroatlantis]

I agree Thomas Covenant would be an impossible sell as a main character...but that story on screen would be amazing.

[@TheEclecticGoat]

@@zeroatlantisIt’s doable, it just wouldn’t make money because the idea if a passive protagonist you don’t like is too foreign to people

[@_Chipster]

​@@TheEclecticGoatI don't know if they could get away with certain things that happened in story in today's society - mainly what happens with Lena. Change what happens with Lena, you change fundamentally change the motivations and subsequent actions of Trell, Triock, Aterian, Elena, and Covenant himself through the entire first series.

[@Ldunk]

I am so glad that you picked "The Book of the New Sun". I love this series. It's so true about it being unadaptable. One of my favorites of all time.

[@eddiejc1]

I would nominate "The Wild" by Whitley Strieber. It is a werewolf book, but not the kind you are used to. The protagonist doesn't get bitten by an animal and change into a two-legged furred "wolf man" every month on the night of the full moon. He changes into an actual wolf, and the change is permanent. The reason I believe this is unadaptable is not the special effects, but rather how to show that this wolf has human intelligence without seeming to be a ridiculous variant of "The Shaggy Dog" films.

[@SeekerOfSand]

House of Leaves was actually tried to be adapted back in 2017 with the author's involvement for a TV Series, it didn't go through but you can actually see some screenplays online. It did not copy the book in the sense that you are reading someone else's writing, but adapted the medium: in the show, the issue was about video tapes and actual films. I found it pretty fitting overall.

[@strangebeer]

Dhalgren by Samuel Delany...utterly a book that is beyond adaptation.

[@DonaldWalker-su8nj]

I was going to mention the same book!

[@jeffturner9203]

Me too!

[@jasonwilson4138]

It would make just as much sense as a movie as it did in book form lol

[@TheHortoncrow]

I saw the title, and was immediately like, "If House of Leaves isn't on here....."

[@gnarwhal7562]

The only medium I could possibly see House of Leaves being adapted into properly would be video games. Tons of survival horror titles like Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Clock Tower, etc. deal with puzzle solving and backtracking, so I could maybe see it working there. Maybe

[@ken.droid-the-unique]

I would suggest that the book "S" (or The Ship of Theseus) by J. J. Abrams would be challenging to adapt. Similar to your description of House of Leaves, the experience of reading the text, the conversation between two people in marginal notes in two timelines, and reading the postcards/materials tucked into the pages make it a great experience.

[@KenLieck]

Ah, yes. And Crispin Hellion Glover produced similarly elusive reading in his books "Oak-Mot" and "Rat Catching".

[@wraith313]

They could adapt it but it would be lost in translation. I think they would end up using Eric and Jen as the "movie" and have the book and straka etc be a prop. Kinda like how they did DaVinci Code

[@whovian1018]

I’m just casually watching this because it popped up on my feed and now I am adding House of Leaves onto my Christmas list because it sounds like a perfect book. TARDIS-like building, people going mad, funky layouts, mystery galore? Count me in

[@kkuudandere]

I highly recommend it, at least for the experience. But it is true that it's very polarizing. It's one of my favorite books, but my best friend gave up maybe 30 pages in- which I totally forgive her for, because it's A Lot 😅

[@bobsteele55]

3 more unadaptable books I would add are "Finnegan's Wake" by James Joyce, "The Atrocity Exhibition" by J.G Ballard and "Barefoot in the Head" by Brian Aldiss. Three books that are difficult enough to read, let alone adapt. "The Book of the New Sun" series is among my all time favourites btw. Totally agree with what you had to say about it. Very very rewarding series of books to read. Honestly Wolfe's prose is a pleasure to read in itself, even if you disregard the fantastic story.

[@jbum]

Finnegan’s Wake was the first book that popped in my head when I saw the title of this video.

[@tintinismybelgian]

What do you think about Alan Moore's Jerusalem? I think that the Dead Dead Gang section would be the most adaptation-friendly part.

[@bobsteele55]

@@tintinismybelgian -Haven't read it I'm afraid. I'll certainly put it on my reading list though. Loved "Watchmen" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen".

[@tintinismybelgian]

@@bobsteele55 Jerusalem is a very long book. Spoiler Alert: It has no scenes that actually take place in the city of Jerusalem.

[@bobsteele55]

@@tintinismybelgian -Thanks for the info 👍

[@nikkort8956]

I first read House of Leaves a few years ago, and to this day it lives rent-free in my head. It's absolutely unadaptable! I don't even think an audiobook would do this book justice. There's power in the experience of having to heft the book around, flip it over, turn pages band and forth to crack codes...there's NO WAY an audiobook could capture the visceral exhaustion and exhilaration I experienced reading the book. A movie adaptation would be impossible. You're telling 3 stories at the same time, each one linked to and dependent upon the other. I knew as soon as I saw the title of this video that HoL would be on it--I'd have been VERY disappointed if it wasn't!

[@chellyfishing]

I’ve heard that the author won’t allow an audiobook, but I can’t find a source on this and he actually was working to adapt it into a TV show at one point so that’s probably not true. Still, it doesn’t even have an ebook, it’s so particular to print, that I don’t know how an audiobook would work. Different voices? Layered audio? Pitch shifting? I think it would take some truly outside-of-the-box thinking.

[@zombie_reagan]

im doing an essay on infinite jest and adaption currently and im planning on discussing other unadaptable book, so this is literally the exact video ive been looking for

[@jn3440]

The first two books that came to my head somehow weren’t mentioned, Blood Meridian and Gump and Co. are like prime examples of unadaptable books.

[@IvoLouro]

The Culture series by Iain M. Banks are also unadaptable due to its complexity and scope as a sci fi series. Layers upon layers of political, economic and philosofical ideology as well as a vast universe with complex life and species... mix all that and add violence, politeness and humour to most characters and situations.

[@ChrisJohnson-pr9jq]

@@IvoLouro yes 🤘

[@drezicollinz_]

the Sci fi elements in the culture will be difficult to adapt, machines with 4 dimensional minds existing in hyper space wouldn't be easy to adapt at all

[@booties012345]

i knew house of leaves would be on here, there are some books that are too much about being a book to be able to adapt. i always thought that invisible monsters by palahniuk would be extremely difficult if not impossible to adapt, but then we did get fight club so... maybe?? great video, definitely gave me a few new titles to check out.

[@leviathan_is_me]

The "Jake" problem in "The Dark Tower,".... I have thought of this. They COULD just have him played by a different kid actor and go the route of putting 1 easily identifiable feature (a birthmark on his face, a scar....) that each iteration will have. Them go with either not even mentioning it, just to "King" it up or make some explanation of why. Wouldn't work 100%, but Kings works usually.needna little tweaking to be adapted anyway.

[@RedAce93]

I just wanted to say, I found your channel a couple days ago and I've been loving all your content! Keep up the great work and the awesome recommendations!

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@@RedAce93 Thanks

[@metallicaddictno1]

Hi! I just found you channel, I've watched a couple other videos and I love it! I agree with you a 100% with House of Leaves, it's the experience of reading it what makes it so good, not so much the story (and I'm not saying the story is bad), I've found that to enjoy House of Leaves you have to like puzzles as much as reading, I really did enjoy it when I read it :)

[@BrianRatkus]

Truth be told, there are no bad adaptations--for writer's at least. If a movie is great, people buy the source material in droves; if it sucks, fans complain about how much better the book is and therefore recommend it to a new audience.

[@hgman3920]

Anything by HP Lovecraft. Yes, there have been attempts to adapt his work to film, but there is no way to fully convey the essence of his cosmic horror on film in a way which doesn't diminish it. I also think it would be incredibly difficult to adapt Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus in a way which conveys the transcendent and magical wonder of the circus. Finally, I defy anyone to adapt The Illuminatus Trilogy to any visual medium.

[@clownpendotfart]

The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society did a solid (silent) adaptation of The Call of Cthulhu.

[@JackManhire]

I know you haven't read it yet, but Blood Meridian is often on this list. Also, I think you can argue that The Shining is unadaptable because of the descent into madness. Kub's version was unable to adapt that significant bit

[@whitleypedia]

Came here to say the same abt Blood Meridian

[@pacman52280]

I read an article awhile ago from a link on Google which said that Bone Tomahawk proves that an adaptation of Blood Meridian is possible.

[@eddiejc1]

You can say that Kubrick"solved" the problem by writing a completely different story. In King's novel, for all of his faults, Jack Torrence loves his wife and son, which is the source of the true horror when the Overlook Hotel transforms him into a homicidal maniac out to kill both. In Kubrick's film, Jack Torrence has secretly HATED his wife and son, and the hotel merely nudges him into something that he has always WANTED to do. That's why Jack Nicholson's character seems a bit off from the very beginning. And considering that King based the character of Jack Torrence off of himself, that's also why he vehemently dislikes the movie. To say that Torrence wants to kill his wife and son is to say Stephen King wants to do the same which he takes personally. My problem with the film is the abuse Shelley Long suffered at the hands of Stanley Kubrick, which affected her the rest of her life. Kubrick had no faith in Long's ability to portray an traumatized woman, so he traumatized her on film.

[@nikoteardrop4904]

Stanley Kubrick didn't adapt The Shining. He looked at the book and made his own movie vaguely inspired by the novel.

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

I figured it would be #1 on the list.

[@rodrigovalerosancho2234]

Adapting the unadaptable? Cronenberg somehow managed with The Naked Lunch.

[@mismissy]

My ex made me watch The Thing. Just the mere mention of Cronenberg makes my stomach churn 😂

[@mabusestestament]

I remember when people claimed that Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas was unadaptable and then a very well done movie adaptation was made by Terry Gilliam.

[@eddiegolden6972]

One could argue about how successful the adaptation was.

[@mabusestestament]

@@eddiegolden6972 Imo the movie is fantastic🍻

[@KJ-of6lf]

I would submit "left hand of darkness", Hyperion, Canticle for Liebowitz, and nearly any Heinlein book (Stranger in a Strange Land especially).

[@CrimeFighterFrog]

My pick is definitely Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. Anyone who has read it knows what I mean.

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

I haven’t read it, but based on what I know about it, I’m inclined to agree.

[@pegasusactua2985]

Thomas Pynchons books in general are unadaptable. The only book of his that has gotten a movie version so far was Inherent Vice and thats only because it was his shortest book and the most straightforward one story wise. And even then people complained that the plot in the movie was difficult to follow lol.

[@CrimeFighterFrog]

@ I think you could probably adapt The Crying of Lot 49.

[@clownpendotfart]

@@pegasusactua2985 PTA is supposedly adapting Pynchon's Vineland now.

[@pegasusactua2985]

@@clownpendotfart No he's making a movie that will share some plot elements with Vineland but it's not a straightforward adaptation.

[@kirkeverist1335]

PKD’s VALIS contains its own adaptation - a film that seems to describe his madness draws Horselover Fat to meet Sophia - and itself adapts the work that’s even less adaptable, the Exegesis (which is far larger than the excerpts included in most versions). But a fascinating opera was rendered of VALIS in the 1980s that set Dick’s words to remarkably memorable music.

[@WPharolin]

Gene Wolfe is so underrated. His books are like onions, and with each re-read you peel off another layer, seeing more than you did with each previous read of it. I remember reading 'The Shadow of the Torturer': "The picture he was cleaning showed an armored figure standing in a desolate landscape. It had no weapon, but held a staff bearing a strange, stiff banner. The visor of this figure’s helmet was entirely of gold, without eye slits or ventilation; in its polished surface the deathly desert could be seen in reflection, and nothing more." Realizing it was an astronaut on the moon and the stiff banner was the American flag made me go back and re-read the entire beginning. This is a book that demands your attention. And this is one of the more obvious examples. There are so many details hidden throughout the book that require observation skills and real world knowledge, but you're rewarded with a richer experience and understanding of the world if you can find even just some of them.

[@lilymortis845]

I would love to see the Dark Tower animated, I think it could capture a lot of the series' soul, the scope and atmosphere.

[@nordwithnovelty]

Animated would also help a lot with the fact that so many sections just take place in people's head... which is why so many SK books don't seem to translate well to film

[@KenLieck]

@@nordwithnovelty There's also the possibility of part animation and part live action, don't forget...

[@LadyValkyri]

I agree with you about The Dark Tower... Jake. Jake is the sticking point. Good idea about the animation angle. Or perhaps do something with CGI? I haven't read the others you mention, but saved 3 of them to my Amazon wishlist. Thanks!

[@WolvenDragonZ]

Goosebumps My Best Friend is Invisible is one I always think of when it comes to unadaptable books. It depends on being a non visual media for the story to where you'd have to change the plottwist if you adapted it and weaken the whole thing

[@V9incent]

From the top of my head: Clive Barker's "Mister B Gone" and "Galilee". William S Burroughs's " The Soft Machine", "The Ticket That Exploded", "The Nova Express"

[@photogbrandie5744]

Brand new viewer. I saw the title of the video and had to watch because I knew…I just knew…the tower would be in this list. As a Constant Reader, I have to believe man. It’s Flanagan. If anyone can do it, he can. A tv series instead of one janky movie, a season per book give-or-take; I think it can be done. I’ve just started my 15th (17th?) journey to the tower and I need an adaption before I die. I’d love for Stephen to be able to see at least the first part of it before he moves on to the clearing at the end of the path himself, and he’s getting up there in age. Anyway, I guess I’ll keep watching. As soon as I saw you grab the book, I had to pause and say something.

[@leviathan_is_me]

"Valis", to me, was a character study on a character from some other story. Perhaps a villain from someone elses story... this is his backstory. Something like that. Gives it a new light.

[@dougsundseth6904]

Zelazny's "Amber Chronicles". Much of the impact of the series comes from the surrealism and grand vistas, neither of which would work at all on screen. Brunner's "Stand on Zanzibar" - Mostly told in snippets of news articles and reports, it was difficult to follow on paper; it would be incoherent on screen

[@pommelhorsepommelhorse8731]

Apparently there have been several tries to adapt John Kennedy Tool's "A Confederacy of Dunces" but nobody seems to be able to do it. This is probably because it would end up seeming sad and the main character pathetic - as opposed to how funny and moving it is to read. It wouldn't be difficult to create the world of New Orleans the book describes - but the getting the correct Tone would take a master.

[@jerrymichaelbrooks]

New Orleans in the 60s is a time and place that is impossible to understand unless you were there. Nuances of meaning in every sentence, and between them, characterize this book. I vote for - impossible to adapt.

[@brianmurphy250]

@@pommelhorsepommelhorse8731 I’ve tried to read it twice…I guess I’m a pleb since I just didn’t get it. Same for The Catcher in the Rye…if the main character is just too unsympathetic/ annoying I don’t want to my waste time. Especially since the plot of both novels just seems to follow them both around as they do nothing but annoy others. I never got the huge hype they both get heaped upon them

[@mabusestestament]

Could easily be adapted, pretty straightforward novel. People might just as well name a random novel and say it’s unadaptable. Amazing that there are any book to movie adaptations at all! 🙂

[@mabusestestament]

@@brianmurphy250 If it’s not your cup of tea then fair enough of course, but people like them for being funny and/ or insightful.

[@brianmurphy250]

@ I respect them as literary works on that level, I just was perplexed when I read lots of celebrity interviews…I think it was DeCaprio who said he cried when he realized he was too old to play Holden in a movie adaption. Then it got so over used I never sure if it was based on iconic character study or just people parroting “I love Catcher in the Rye!” ( like some hipsters who used to pretend to listen Bob Dylan or read Shakespeare…it became the “cool thing to like”) or it genuinely spoke to folks on a level I wasn’t at. I’m going to try again to broaden my narrow horizons! I Appreciate your kind response and happy holidays!

[@wabba67]

My suggestion: Alastalon salissa by the Finnish author Volter Kilpi. It's a stream-of-conciousness novel; the events take place during just a few hours, it has plenty of inner monologues, and one of the famous "scenes" is the main character selecting which pipe to smoke, and this process takes up 70 pages. Sadly, the book has not been (officially) translated into English. You might be able to make a Lynchian adaptation of this book, but it would be quite the challenge.

[@msj7872]

Agree on The Dark Tower. Possible , but very hard. It would have to be a generously long mini series, and they would have to film all of the boys scenes first and hope after everything is done they don't need to re-film any. And, if it's on NETFLIX there is a good chance, no matter the popularity, of it getting cancelled the first year.

[@brantjustilian3791]

I remember a couple years ago there was a dark tower movie on Hulu or Amazon prime. I don’t quite remember. All I do remember for that movie is that it was a disappointment.

[@KenLieck]

Well, whaddaya know! The imdb lists both a 2017 feature film starring Idris Elba & Matthew McConaughey and a 2020 TV movie. The latter actually had a decently high rating!

[@ranuelthebard3751]

How about a book written in 1897 that seems like it should be adaptable, has in fact had many adaptations, but has never had a faithful adaptation that captures the experience of reading the book or even faithful representations of the characters? I'm talking about Dracula. It's an epistolary novel told via a collection of newspaper clippings, letters, transcripts, and journal entries written by multiple people. No adaptation I have seen has even tried to capture that shifting POV and how the reader has to piece together what is happening. Characters are combined, left out, or are all there but with their characterizations changed significantly. Dracula himself is rarely book accurate. In the book he is seen outdoors on an overcast day not bursting into flame at the least touch of sunlight. He first appears as an old man but gets younger in appearance as he feeds regularly instead of not changing as shown in the Bela Lugosi version. He seems to be a perfectly normal Eastern European upper class gentleman of the period at first unlike the bizarre 1992 film. Mina is frequently reduced to a damsel in distress, combined with Lucy, and even presented as Van Helsing's daughter in one version. Lucy is often sexualized even before she is turned if she is even in the adaption. She has been Seward's daughter instead of his love interest and Jonathon's wife instead of Mina. Jonathon is often made to be a much weaker person. Every single Dracula movie that claims to be based on the source material falls short in some substantial way of being true to the novel.

[@clownpendotfart]

The BBC's 1977 miniseries is a very faithful adaptation. The Angry Videogame Nerd rated it the most faithful, even though it combined Quincy and Holmwood into one character named "Quincy Holmwood".

[@ranuelthebard3751]

​@@clownpendotfartCombining 2 major characters doesn't seem all that faithful.

[@clownpendotfart]

@@ranuelthebard3751 How "major" is Quincy?

[@ranuelthebard3751]

@@clownpendotfart He is the only one to have prior experience with vampires before dealing with Dracula, one of the two who finally kill(?) Dracula, the only member of the group hunting Dracula to die and his death is a big dramatic moment, and Mina and Jonathan name their son after him. He at least deserves better than to be cut and his part assigned to someone else based on that. Plus, he's a pretty distinct character if a bit of a stereotype.

[@clownpendotfart]

@@ranuelthebard3751 The 70s BBC adaptation does include his part in fighting Dracula at the end, getting killed, and everyone coming back in remembrance of him.

[@KenLieck]

Now you have me trying to think of five that were said to be unadaptable but wound up on film anyhow... Catch-22 and The Naked Lunch immediately spring to mind. Maybe The Watchmen for scope (Gilliam said he might've done it if it was to be a miniseries instead). Vonnegut's Slapstick? But is that unfilmable or is it just that the movie (Slapstick of Another Kind) was so unwatchable? And fifth... The Griffin & Sabine trilogy perhaps? Or is it more that those are just gimmicky novelty items that probably aren't adaptable into actual books? BTW, What do you think about the adaptability of Jerusalem by Alan Moore? I haven't started into it yet but I noticed there is a sort of free teaser of the audiobook here on KZbin -- and that's around *seven hours long!* Think I'm gonna give that a listen now, actually...

[@BrianRatkus]

I would say that a faithful adaptation of Naked Lunch is impossible. (Even if it were a miniseries, viewers would find its scatterbrained nature annoying and eventually lose interest.) But I think Cronenberg made the best attempt by catching the spirit of the book, with the body horror aspect, even if the finished product wasn't faithful.

[@atlasunderthesky]

Really glad i found your channel! We have really similar tastes and opinions so any time you recommend something i havent read it goes straight to my TBR. Ive never heard of Book of the New Sun but it sounds right up my alley.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

Check it out it's one of my favorite series of all time. Look into it a little bit first because it's not for everyone but boy I love it.

[@adamcapoferri6903]

A hot take, but any of Toni Morrison's books. All would be fabulous, prize winning films/shows. But the nuance and introspection and magic that brings the reader into the character's lives is what I believe is unadaptable.

[@TabethaAurochs]

Wow. I hadn't thought about her books being adapted, nor did I realize I've never heard of, much less watched, a film adaptation of any of her books. Now that I have, I absolutely agree. Morrison's novels incorporate elements of magical realism to varying degrees, but her style of magical realism is unique to her, and often unique from one book to the next. The function of those magical elements is rarely in the foreground, and often it does not feel magical as you're reading it-it feels tangible, grounded, and very real; and it's always in service to the story and characters, never the other way around. Or it feels that way. How Morrison weaves and reveals these certain magical or supernatural or otherwise unseen forces throughout the story is one of her greatest skills as a writer. There is a quality to her writing that I can only describe as gorgeous, but it falls egregiously short of capturing the way words and emotion and dialogue and narrative and description and character converge upon each other in a way that can only be experienced by engaging with the text. In my opinion 💜

[@jennipherlewis3221]

Beloved starring Oprah and Danny Glover in 1998. Not well received but an attempt was made.

[@barbaralawrence7284]

I love your videos! Great recommendations! Thank you so much.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@@barbaralawrence7284 Thank you!

[@saintdonoghue]

This terrific video virtually demands a response!

[@rammelbroadcasting]

Glad you liked it!

[@charlieroberts5961]

Steve is actually an undercover Stephen King, Murakami, and Danielewski fan confirmed.

[@bluetarantulaproductions6179]

"Moriarty" by Anthony Horowitz is one book I can think of that would be kind of hard to do an adaptation of correctly. The book (without spoilers) is a "what if" Professor James Moriarty survived the battle with Sherlock Holmes at Reichenbach Falls at the end of the classic book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "The final problem".

[@kayla_eevee]

Sometimes, it's the simplest things that get me to subscribe to a channel I haven't checked out before. I really enjoy the way you say "because." I've never read The Dark Tower (apart from that iconic opening line, of course) but there's a significant chance I'll end up watching and loving Mike Flanagan's adaptation. I have a really weird relationship with Stephen King stories. For some reason, King's writing style just does not work for me but I've loved pretty much every adaptation of his work that I've seen.

[@bamadave83]

Kafka on the Shore confused the hell out of me

[@MelissaBlue]

That's a lot of Murakami. KotS is particularly odd. And also not a fan of the cat subplot.

[@Kim_Miller]

Another one to consider is "Ella Minnow Pea" by Mark Dunn. It's the story of a town where there is a plaque saying 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog'. Yep, every letter of the alphabet. But then somebody notices that one of the letters has fallen off, so from then on that letter is never used in the book. And then there's another letter fallen off. And then....... So as the book progresses it uses less and less of the alphabet. And with that in mind you might like to think about the title of the book.

[@macheesmo3]

Blood Meridian You can't skimp on the violence and sheer debauchery or you miss the point and I'm not sure Hollywood is going to go there . Or even if it could pull it off without it coming off as exploitation. You can't capture the Judge without the subtext of the prose either. Without the subtext, he's just a one dimensional, comic book villain. So much of the book is in the prose that I'm skeptical that any adaptation would be anything more than a stylized, violent western.

[@katiecook6006]

The right actor/director team might be able to get close. I'm just wondering who would even audition😂

[@sebastiancintron29]

My top pick would be, a series that is near and dear to my heart The Demonata series by Darren Shan. Same author of the Cirque du Freak series, (and we saw how well they adapted that) the Demonata is this super effed up, uber violent gory series that tackles humans and their encounters with demons. The demons are super grotesque and the stuff of nightmares, lietrally the first book one demon is an eight armed monstrosity with cracked skin, a hole in his chest filled with silver snakes and a face that is always looking like its on the verge crying and hes the main antagonist of the series, you have a demon baby with maggots or roaches on its head that are always eating at the head his eye sockets are empty with the exception of lights inside the sockets and the final demon is a dog whose paws end on female human hands with long nails and the head of a crocodile. And thats just the 3 demons in the first book. The series gets conceptually weird and messed up but in a good way. And the reason i think its unadaptable is because of the level of violence and how you would need practical effects of a god in order to do these creatures justice.

[@losgann]

Imajica by Clive Barker has unadaptable qualities much like The Dark Tower (massive scope and things that would be expensive and impractical to do in live action) and The Book of The New Sun (aspects of the plot/environment/characters that are obscured through the writing that wouldn't work if they had to be shown on a screen). It also deals with a lot of offputting/disturbing content and themes, so there's no way an adaptation would get the budget it needs to be any good. Phenomenal read though, highly recommended.

[@lordshinigami7313]

As soon as I saw unadaptable my first thought was to Imajica. However upon some further reflection I think adapting it into something akin to the series Love, Death + Robots would actually do Imajica a lot of justice. I'm thinking of episodes like Beyond the Aquila Rift and The Secret War. It would be insanely expensive to make and because of Barker's relative obscurity outside of Hellraiser would also likely bomb, but I really think it's possible with the technology we have right now.

[@FritzCopyCat]

_Wuthering Heights_ is notoriously unadaptable. Of course, many have tried...

[@natenathan2654]

Dont worry about jake aging for the dark tower movie series/ 7 season miniseries. Just makes it seem like roland's quest took longer is all. Tou would have to film the gunslinger and drawing of the 3 back to back, since there are plot reasons there, but if jake is older for the wastelands, well its because roland has been training his ka tet in gunslinging for 6 months or a year. Im a huge stephen king fan btw, i just dont think this would take much away

[@tommix6016]

A lot of the weird of the New Sun is that things are so far into the future that there are mosaics weathering out of montainsides and that many creatures and objects are imported from the stars. The sheer age and breadth of humanity and it's experiences makes what is familiar to us as unfathomable as neolithic so ieties.

[@matthewwhite3967]

The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. A 10 volume fantasy epic. Think War & Peace meets the Iliad. On a surface level, there are probably certain things that could be adapted, fantasy has been pretty popular to adapt in recent years. But the sheer scope of this series I think would be too daunting to attempt. There are books in the series that have totally different characters and locations from the ones you’ve already read, and if adapted as a show you’d have to spend seasons away from a large portion of the cast. Not to mention it would have to feature quite a bit of SFX to bring the magic and strange fantasy races to life. I just don’t think it would be possible to adapt.

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

Shit, I can’t understand the book, let alone an adaptation🤣

[@tonyfrance4100]

I came here wondering if this series would be on the list. It's my favorite fantasy series of all time, and an unbelievably deep read. I think it could do well as an animated series, especially seeing how amazing Arcane and Blue Eye Samurai have been, but any live action adaptation would be a total mess.

[@jensraab2902]

I'm going to reinterpret the question in the way I think you did over the course of the video, which is: Which book is unadaptable into a movie that is decent and works well. Using this, I'd say Lem's _Solaris_ is such a book. Yes, I know there are adaptations but they don't really reflect the book. Anyone who has read it (it's quite short actually) should know what I'm talking about. Another book that's coming to my mind is Joyce's _Finnegans Wake._ I've never read the book, nor do I intend to read it because I want my books to have a plot and be comprehensible. From what I understand, nobody (other than Joyce himself, I guess) has an effin clue what this book really is about. It seems like it's a gigantic inside joke and the only person who gets it, gets all the references in the book, was Joyce himself. So, I guess it's even more unadaptable than the books mentioned in the video because how are you gonna adapt a book that it essentially incomprehensible? Might as well try to adapt the Voynich Manuscript... Awesome video, though! I have a few of the mentioned books on my reading list and these kinds of videos remind me that I really should get around to reading them soon!

[@steved1135]

Agreed. As I myself noted, just because it's been adapted, though not well, doesn't mean it's been adapted...

[@clownpendotfart]

I read Solaris after seeing the Tarkovsky film, and I've also seen the earlier Russian TV version. I don't think the book was that different, it just had extra chapters on Solaristics that wouldn't make sense to adapt.

[@jensraab2902]

@@clownpendotfart I didn't know there was an earlier TV version so I can't speak about this but I would say that these chapters on Solaristics are an integral part of the text. It's been too long since I've read the book and then watched the movie to be able to point to specific things. I didn't enjoy the book and therefore wouldn't want to read it again. I found the Tarkovsky movie incredibly boring but it was definitely more faithful to the text than the one by Soderbergh. I actually liked the American movie better because it was not faithful. Normally, you are unlikely to hear me say these words but in this case, the movie added somewhat of an interesting story which is lacking in Lem's text. This is part of my problem with the book, there's not much of a plot, which is also why it's hard to adapt in a way that it reflects the book. I am fully aware that the problem lies on my side with the text; it's just not for me. Anyway, it's been too long for me to point to specific but I remember that when I watched the movies I thought that even the boring Tarkovsky movie improved on the book because it was different, and that it would be hard to put all the history bits about Solaristic in a movie and stay faithful to Lem's vision. But it's fine if you see things differently. It's not a hill I want to die on, I'm not even keen on fighting there! 😉 _Solaris_ just was the first example that came to my mind which is why I mentioned it. Anyway, thanks for your comment! It's often good to have differing perspectives.

[@Samuel-b]

The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons deserves a mention as well. I don't know how you can possibly adapt that series faithfully.

[@Zozette27]

The first book I thought of as being unadaptable is ‘The Gods Themselves’ by Isaac Asimov.

[@werothegreat]

I might put Wheel of Time on this list. I have been enjoying the Amazon show (which I know is not a popular opinion among fans of the books, whatever), but the fact remains that if they're planning on putting out a season every 2 or 3 years, they're just not going to finish on time. There is just too much stuff, and those actors who were just barely not teenagers in season 1 are going to be in their 40s or 50s by the time this thing is over, if they even finish. There is a massive cast of characters, and there are certain scenes that, even with CGI, I'm not sure how you'd do them, particularly the very very end.

[@bfwebster]

Most of Mark Helprin’s novels. They tried with “Winter’s Tale”, and it was a mess. ADDED: Love the #1 choice. I need to go back and reread Wolfe’s novels.

[@Punkyscout]

For the dark tower, I would love a take changing actors, maybe with a longer span of movies/TV show, like in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus", where multiple actors played the same character. It would fit with the multidimensional spirit of the story and we could get lots of great cast showing their similar but different interpretation of the characters... and also avoid the 25 year old Jake by the end xDD. Maybe even a mixed media project, with animation, live-action TV show , movie... It would be real crazy to adapt everything and keep it clean and consistent, so why not embrace it?

[@NostalgiNorden]

Three body problem actually has 2 adaptations....

[@clownpendotfart]

Even more than that! It has at least 2 Chinese adaptations, and one English-language one.

[@clownpendotfart]

There are multiple adaptations of Three-Body Problem. China has produced both a 30 episode (which seems excessive to me) live-action adaptation, along with an animated one. I watched the Netflix adaptation first (and liked it) before reading the first book, and didn't think the book was all that unadaptable, but I also haven't read the sequels (which I've read were partially mixed into the first season of the Netflix show). I'm currently reading Milorad Pavic's "Dictionary of the Khazars" because it was on J. G. Keely's list of fantasy recommendations, and I think that would be even less adaptable than any novel you're listing. It's more adaptable than Ambrose Bierce's "The Devil's Dictionary", but Bierce was writing an actual (humorous) dictionary, and this is more like three conflicting encyclopedias on the same subject, along with some supplementary material.

[@Bababadalgharaghtak]

The Illuminatus! Trilogy, In Search of Lost Time, Naked Lunch, A Sentimental Novel, and anything by James Joyce.

[@jameslooker4791]

House of Leaves sounds like a serial TV drama where each season starts with a new writer.

[@zeroatlantis]

I have a list that I suspect is parallel to this one: Books that I'm shocked no one has adapted yet. It very well could be that they're unadaptable. In no particular order: Thomas Covenant Chronicles - Donaldson Myth Series - Asprin Xanth Series - Anthony Callahan's Saloon Series - Robinson Coyboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille - Brust The Paladin - Cherryh Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates (and) Villa Incognito - Robbins

[@alexandredelarge1901]

I think The House of Leaves is actually doable! Just not in any conventional, hollywoodian or national television way, but there sure is a way to adapt that experience into a new medium. One example that comes to mind is the way internet ARGs are conducted, and how some companies have developed them for marketing purposes (longlegs, CDPR's Cyberpunk 2077). Sure it wouldn't be airing on movie theaters or HBO every week, but there are other interesting ways to adapt a story and (probably) make it profitable.

[@splifftachyon4420]

Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius Tetralogy. They did adapt the first book to film in the 70's, but it by and large failed to capture the essence of the book. And that first one, The Final Programme, would be possibly the most adaptable. The remaining three books...it would be difficult if not impossible.

[@Pelerin985]

I do admit, Fortiche doing an animated version of Dark Tower would be dope

[@davidwilson1691]

I’d add Into The Deep by Ken Grimwood to this list as well. Part of the book involves dolphins and their thoughts and communication with each other. I don’t think that could be translated to the screen in a way that would truly work. On the flip side of that though, I’d love to see someone put Ken Grimwood’s Replay on screen, as that could make a fantastic movie.

[@TheUncleRuckus]

They already made a Dark Tower movie adaptation in 2017.

[@tsukasa1608]

The Three-Body Problem is definitely ADAPTABLE, it already had multiple adaptations, and the Chinese drama series was almost a page-by-page recreation of the 1st book. What they ment unadaptable was actually the 3rd book in the trilogy "Death's End", the scope was just too grand and the collapse of dimension, 4th dimensional world and the world 1.8billion years later as described in the book were just impossible to visualize with our current technology.

[@jacksonfaulkner2971]

To go with the puzzle nature of House of Leaves: S by JJ Abrams would be tough. Not impossible, but difficult. Two students writing in the margins of a novel, going back and forth with each other, it could be cool. Also, Cain's Jawbone. I could see some artsy "all the shots are out of order" thing, but part of the joy is taking it apart. Last, Scorched Atlas. I honestly think any text that plays on defamiliarization is hard to adapt for the same reason as The Book of the New Sun, but also this book is made to be destroyed. Literally.

[@UltraVBluerayman]

I did the same with the 3 body problem, watched the 1st ep then didn't watch the rest until recently. Yeah really good show.

[@camilaorellana447]

Orhan Pamuk's "My nane is Red". It is a murder mystery, and each chapter is told to you by one of the characters in the first person. For example, there are chapters that the victim tells you, and he tells you "well, I'm the victim, this bastard killed me, I hate him," he tells you about the meeting with the murderer, the murder, etc., as he never names the murderer, you don't know who the murderer is. There are also chapters that are narrated to you by the murderer himself, such as "I am the murderer, I killed this idiot this way, etc", but he does not name himself either. There are also chapters that are narrated to you by the person who is investigating and other characters, and chapters that are narrated to you by, for example, Death (the abstract concept), or the color red (the abstract concept). You can only achieve that effect with a book, any image would reveal the mystery. I also think of more introspective books, which take place in the character's mind.

[@thefinalfrontear]

I knew House of Leaves would get a mention for its format alone, but I don't know why I also assumed Blood Meridian would be on this list. I was so convinced that at the end of the video I had to go to the video chapters to make sure I didn't zone out and miss it. I dont even think its the most unadaptable I just keep hearing people talk about it

[@Cutpear]

Two books that come to mind are Finnegans Wake and Gravity’s Rainbow

[@cynfaelalek-walker7003]

11:40 I think this one can be done If either 1) We did something new and put sections of the book like just beside the main movie/series while playing. 2)Do it as found footage and again put a dedicated section for the book. 3) Have a new character, or an amnesiac personality spend time reading the book with us. I think something similar could be applied to House of Leaves.

[@logsupermulti3921]

I think you could adapt Book of the New Sun, into a game anyway. Because it's kind of already been done. Caves of Qud is an RPG that like BotNS takes place in the far future after the collapse of an extremely advanced civilization. It works because the game's visuals are extremely simple, borrowed from the fact the first versions of the game were entirely text based. So you can sort of work out what something is supposed to be, but the richness of the game comes from the text descriptions of objects, structures and people. Which can be as obscure and flowery as the writers can manage.

[@scaper8]

I think something like _The Book of the New Sun_ could work in an audio adaption. Something like a radio or podcast play/series. But any visual media is going to hit the problems you described.

[@undrhil]

8:03 they could film all of the scenes involving the 11 year old now while he is 11 and then splice them into the series as it goes along?

[@colbyfitzsimmons767]

I agree everything can be adapted as long as censorship does not come into play or corporate greed doesn't ruin it

[@ChrisJohnson-pr9jq]

The complete chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson is also a good shout 🤘

[@sjnmhn]

Now in this Advanced CGI and AI world, any novel is adaptable!! just need even budget to produce it!!

[@steved1135]

Agreed. My alltime favourite fantasy series.

[@douglasdea637]

Ugh. Read the first, didn't like it and stopped.

[@steved1135]

@@douglasdea637 Lots of people felt similarly. Some people can't handle an atypical protagonist.

[@Paul_Bond.]

Good luck getting the audience on side for a protagonist who is a whining, sniveling rapist.

[@thecrispymaster]

I'm not sure any work is unadaptable, it's just in that adapting it you can't create a direct translation but approach it from a different angle to make it work as a film or TV show while keeping the spirit of the source material (which imo is the more important aspect of an adaptation). If anything, it forces creativity when you can't just transplant from one medium to another, and it's that that has resulted in some of my favourite film adaptions.

[@ottototo8]

Rammel, you magnificent bastard. I read your book!

[@nickn271]

The only way I can see house of leaves working is through some format similar to a DVD with menus. There are so many footnotes and stuff it’s almost an interactive book. You can choose to follow the footnotes or brute force through the narratives. So all that to say it is very much unadaptable because there’s no way anything like I described would happen.

[@GM_Joe]

For Dark Tower you would have to film everything at once, at minimum you would have have to film every scene from all 7 movies where Jack is in it as you film the first movie, hoping that you will get to use that footage. Would take a very brave director

[@tiredcerulean]

i would argue breakfast of champions by kurt vonnegut should be up here. his prose and narration is so important that vonnegut himself is a character within the narrative. it also connects into a lot of his other novels which wouldnt work when isolated. apparently they had tried to adapt it in the 90s and it bombed so badly that it was pulled before distribution.

[@maxalexander855]

Surprised ‘This is how we lose the time war’ isn’t in here. I really wouldn’t see it possible to have that visualized in a movie

[@undrhil]

18:03 meanwhile, the Shannara series immediately gives away that the show takes play in a version of our world that is post-apocalyptic. And the books took I don't even know how many years before it reference to anything that made it sound like it was supposed to apocalyptic Earth

[@andrewcrow1031]

Great video! There aren’t many Dick stories that could be adapted. Blade Runner is a cool little movie, but it ain’t Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? On the other hand, everyone said Dune was unadaptable and then along came David Lynch with what I think is a masterpiece. Thanks for the show!

[@AttackonGames]

Even if they might be unadaptable would love to see a huge fan of them try the number 1 book would be tough but I think if they made it look like what they think it is and it slowly becomes what we know it could work (haven’t read it yet) 😊