I've thought of another one. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's Inferno was a contemporary (at the time it was written) retelling of Dante's Inferno.

Okay, it wasn't originally a novel.

I hear they are using a rock for Keanu's role.

Snork!

Not to veer off topic but if you think this is bad, they are remaking "Point Break". Honestly, this is one of those times that the WTF?!? thing is appropriate.

They already did, it was called The Fast and The Furious.

Yet another Shakespearian play re-told in a modern setting is Ian McKellen's 'Richard III'. I don't think there was ever more than a screenplay written that could qualify as a re-write, but the film was very well done IMHO.

Films have been ripping off classic literature for decades, normally re-writting them with a high school setting. I'm toying with a modern school setting for The Three Muskateers :decision:

But this books idea seems odd to me, a novel is rarely an 'adaptation' of something else. A continuation, yes, seen plenty of 'characters' reused and sequalised/prequalised, but I wondered if a blatant adaptation has been done. Interesting to hear about Christopher Moore's Fool, I might have to look that up.

When I =had= to read Willy the Shake in school, I did not care for the man.
But the plays were not meant to be read. They were meant to be acted.
When you see them on stage, even a farce like THE MERRY WIVES comes alive.
The hombre knew how to put words together.

testing...

Can I repaint the Mona Lisa?

Yet another Shakespearian play re-told in a modern setting is Ian McKellen's 'Richard III'. I don't think there was ever more than a screenplay written that could qualify as a re-write, but the film was very well done IMHO.

I liked the movie but was really glad to have my Shakespearean-buff friend watching with me to help me better understand it. There is also a modern version of Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke that uses Shakespeare's dialogue but the setting is contemporary; I didn't like it very much.

What about re-imagining the classics? Like that whole series of classics with zombies or whatever added in? I haven't read any of them but see them all the time "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" things like that. I am guessing they are more satire rather than a straight rewriting of the books.

Just today I heard of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. And now looking at it on Amazon they also recommend Jane Slayre, Android Karenina and Little Vampire Women.

With very few exceptions, I've thought EVERYTHING in the past century was just a riff on someone else's original novel.

On the other hand, wouldn't Greenpeace have a field day with a retooling of "Moby Dick"?