Books based on other books

This year I read Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. On the island of Bougainville, a teacher reads Great Expectations to his class and the ramifications are disastrous. Mister Pip uses themes from the Dickens book as part of its own story.

Read it too, and really enjoyed it! And I haven't even read Dickens!

Oh, I liked Mister Pip too!

I've got Drood on the shelves, which is based on Dickens' unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood, I believe. And it looks about as long as a Dickens novel... ;)

Im hoping this group will come back to life- I am always interested to see which books pop up in other books.

With Mister Pip, Great Expectations wasnt so much in the book, as a huge part of it. I loved it. And was glad to have read GE first, as Mr Pip helped me understand it more.

Ransome revisited by Elisabeth Mace, published in the USA as Out there, has a group of run-away children in a post-apocalypse landscape using Arthur Ransome's Swallowdale as a practical guide and beacon of hope.

I've not read it yet, but it's said to be a pretty bleak read.

I want to tackle The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Drood this year - both have been on my shelf for a while now. Matthew Pearl's The Last Dickens is a nice companion for those, I really enjoyed it and his previous works based on Dante and Poe. I'm hoping to take Dorian off my TBR pile, Will Self's reworking of The Picture of Dorian Grey.

I'm also planning on exploring some Sherlock inspired works and maybe some fairytale retellings if anyone has any recommendations. Out of interest, do you like to have read the original first?

The Beekeepers Apprentice looks at Sherlock in retirement, I thought it was a very good treatment of the character and a great read.

Thanks for that suggestion, and it's nice to see that if I get on with it there's a whole series. I've added it to my list for this year!