Most of the best movies we cherish were books or short stories before they were adapted. In this article, I'm not going to pick out good films that were bad books - I'm going to choose the best movies that came from the best books. Literature is indeed a sacred thing, which itself is dying because people (children, included) don't read anymore. I remember picking up my first novel when I was 12: War And Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I couldn't put it down. And now if I was to hand Tolstoy's historical masterpiece to my nephew, he'd turn his nose simply because it's too long. Americans in particular don't read all that much and we writers, especially those of us proficient in fiction are typically asked, "Where are the great books?" Well, I steal a phrase from a great man in replying, "Where are the great readers?" My following list is purely my own opinion and I don't base greatness on the number of sales because that would be stupid. Notable exceptions from my list include Psycho, a great movie but an appalling book. There is also To Kill A Mockingbird, highly overrated, and Fight Club, which I thought to be just as bad in movie form as it was book. And so we begin, the greatest books or short stories that were made into some of the greatest movies...