This review was originally posted on my blog, Creativity's Corner [creativityscorner.blogspot.com]

I have been meaning to read this book ever since I saw the movie. That in itself is rather unusual, because I am a firm believer in reading the book before the movie. I find that if I see the movie first, that completely colours my impression of the book. When I read a book, I get a very distinct picture of the characters in my head (even if it's very wrong - before I saw the movies my mental Draco Malfoy had black hair!) If I've seen the movie first then I already have a picture of the characters, and I tend to have trouble getting away from it. I was therefore highly surprised to find myself flying through The Princess Diaries. I barely even thought about the movie, aside from the occasional "ooh they didn't quite get that right" (Isn't the movie set in LA? I always thought it was in LA. BIG difference from NYC!)

Some of this may be due to the fact that it's been donkey's years since I've actually seen the movie but I would argue that it's more due to the way the book is written. The quirky, original characters that made me seek out the book are ten times better when you've read them on the page. Lilly is more than just a weird kid who begs for attention in a slightly off TV show, Mia is much more believable (I know it makes for a good story but bad at public speaking? Really? Algebra is much more believable, and besides you don't have to fix that for your story to work out right). As for the ones that weren't necessarily more believable, they certainly make the story more interesting. As much as Grandmere from the book drives me nuts, she makes the story so much more fun!

Not that I'm saying the movie was bad. I loved the movie. I just loved the book that much more. Besides, I needed the fluff =D