Whether it’s cutting scenes or completely altering a character’s fate, alteration is inherent to the nature of adaptation. But there are some titles that are so radically different in their adapted versions that it almost seems they lifted the title and nothing else.

Sept. 6 is National Read a Book Day, and while we thoroughly endorse picking up any book that suits your fancy, we wanted to direct your attention to a few popular titles that are utterly different in their original book form. If you already loved (or even hated) the film/TV series/Broadway show, reading the source material will be a completely new and different experience. (Spoilers abound!)

Big Little Lies (2017)

When Liane Moriarty’s best-selling novel became a hit television adaptation this past spring, some readers were surprised to find deviations from the source material in the HBO series. In the book, Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) finds herself engrossed in the drama of her friends and neighbors, but in spite of the swirling storm she brings with her, she enjoys relative domestic bliss with second husband Ed (Adam Scott). The Emmy-nominated series upped the ante, making Madeline an adulterer and granting her an intrigue of her own—it deeply enriched the character and gave her greater agency beyond meddling in her friend’s lives (and also made for a spectacular connection point between her and her teenage daughter).

The Natural (1984)

The central plot of the 1984 film and 1952 novel remains the same: a late career baseball prodigy named Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) is offered a bribe to throw the final game of the season, but he ultimately decides not to take the offer. In the film, his decision ends with a resounding success—a light-shattering hit that wins his team the pennant. Hobbs gets a not-so-happy ending in the original novel: he resolves to try to win the game, but he strikes out at his final at-bat and others question whether he threw the game on purpose (thus permanently besmirching his record).