When authors write books, the intention is not necessarily to have their words become instant literary classics or have them turned into Hollywood gold.

Often with books though, the latter is true, as Hollywood directors and producers often scramble to find new ideas and seek to bring new life to the characters first mentioned in literature.

In some cases, the reasoning for making a film is to truly bring characters from exceptional works to life, or to simply give images to stories that are otherwise hard to picture, such as the movie adaptations of Peter Benchley's Jaws and Cameron Crowe's Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Other cases are meant to breathe new life into a classic work. While most high school students forced to read the plays of William Shakespeare, or the novels of Jane Austen may not exactly be motivated to, watching movies like 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless can provide them with entertainment-and give them better understanding of the stories behind Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Austen's Emma without the old language.

Of course, some of the more successful film adaptations in terms of box office numbers have simply been ways to capitalize off of a wildly popular book series. Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games come to mind in these cases. And while sometimes these films may not always impress in the same way the books might, they certainly help catapult the actors cast in them to new reaches of fame.

Enstars has compiled a list of 10 books and series that were later adapted for the big screen. The first on the list is The Great Gatsby.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's timeless tale of greed and corruption in the flashy pre-Depression era of the 1920s is excess at its best. It is told through the eyes of a true outsider who was welcomed in anyway, Nick Carraway, and the story he shares of the battles between 'new money' and 'old money', as well as trying to stay on top no matter the cost, is powerful. Fitzgerald's tale is so well-written that it is one of the few that is hard to claim as a boring read.