Task 18: Read a Book That Was Adapted Into a Movie. Then Watch The Movie. Debate Which Is Better.

[Leslie (updates on SG)]

Tonight, I finished listening to the audiobook version of The Magnificent Ambersons with plenty of time to watch the Orson Welles' movie. The book's great dialogue clearly helped Welles write the script, and it was wonderful to see Welles' genius in direction and cinematography. There were, however, some abrupt transitions in the movie that make more sense after reading the book. Another reason the book is better is because in it, George is more of a villain, making his redemption more satisfactory.

[Julia]

Leslie Ann, If I remember right, what Orson Wells shot and edited is very different from the movie that the studio released. And then they blamed him that nobody wanted to see his movie. It might be interesting to see if there are director's cut versions of "The Magnificent Ambersons" available to be seen.

[Heidi]

Just finished Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Tim Burton is made this into a film and it is supposed to be released later this year.

[Jo]

I read Dark Places for this, and almost immediately watched the film; felt that the book is probably better, simply because I didn't think there was time in the film to give enough depth to any of the characters (although it was a faithful adaptation in the most part, just shallow in comparison). Most of the key scenes were included and the atmosphere was perfect, I just wasn't sure that I'd have enjoyed the film as much if I hadn't read the book and could recognise things. And I'll never know!

[Monica]

Just finished The Lion in Winter. Could not divorce the movie from the play. The movie script follows the play almost exactly. I think the movie is actually better because it adds the settings and the settings help to visualize the atmosphere and help understand the dialogue much better. Both the play and movie were excellent.

[Leslie]

Monica wrote: "Just finished The Lion in Winter. Could not divorce the movie from the play. The movie script follows the play almost exactly. I think the movie is actually better because it adds the..."

Monica, I believe you are 100% right about The Lion in Winter. Book and movie both excellent. Nice choice. I many just have to find time to read/watch also!

[Britta]

I chose Room for this challenge. Just finished the book (which I liked soso) and am planning on watching the movie soon.

[Luella]

I picked A Clockwork Orange. The book is way better. I feel like the movie left out so much but then again a lot of it you wouldn't want to see.

[Meghan]

I read

I was intrigued immediately after reading the cover of this book when it originally came out. So when it became a movie I was even more excited. I re-read the book and then watched the movie and I have to say that they did a pretty good job with the movie. There are some details that were omitted like Cheryl having a sister. But I felt like it was true to the overall feelings I had of the book. I have to say the book wins the argument for me though, mostly because of the raw emotion (...horse scene) that just can't really be conveyed in the film as intensely.

[Rachael]

I chose The Martian by Andy Weir for this challenge. Whilst I enjoyed the film (Matt Damon - what's not to like?), I preferred the book. There was more of a sense of isolation in the novel and I really enjoyed the science - which I felt was glossed over a bit in the movie.

[Veronica]

I ended up doing this with two books: The Haunting of Hill House and Como agua para chocolate. In both cases the movies were less than the book, but to differing degrees. The Haunting was just ridiculous and not true to the spirit of the book, whereas Like Water for Chocolate was a direct translation to the screen, but I didn't think the themes came across as vibrantly and the acting wasn't strong enough. I would definitely recommend reading the book over watching the movie in both cases. Reviews on my blog: The Haunting of Hill House book and movie, and Como agua para chocolate book and movie (scroll down for English).

[Sedi]

Read and watched Gone Girl. Preferred the film!

[Bonnie G.]

Sedi wrote: "Read and watched Gone Girl. Preferred the film!"

I did this last year, so can't count it, but I totally agree. I was not much of a fan of the book actually, but found the movie quite entertaining..

[Sandra]

Read The Price of Salt and then watched Carol. They're both excellent but I liked the book better.

[Carolyn]

Just watched Carol and started reading The Price of Salt. Originally picked TPoS for book published the decade I was born but Carol came from the library. Lesbian books and movies from the 50s-60s usually required the lesbian to go straight or commit suicide...

[Krista]

I finished reading The Martian last week and just watched the movie this week. As usual, the book is so much better. There is so much more humor in the book. The movie left out so many things, so many events. And it changed other things, which left me shaking my head. Of course it was nice to see some of the visuals, and I did really like the way they ended the movie. It had more of a sense of closure than the book did. Both were good, but the book was so much better, and a very good good read.

[nukie19]

Just finished reading Like Water for Chocolate and will pick up the movie from the library soon to finish out the task. We read this in our book club this month and when I remembered that I could use it for this challenge, I was pretty excited about that.

[Rayne]

I read If I Stay last month. Now I just have to find time to watch the movie.

[Jessica]

As the movie is coming out this year, and the book has been sitting on my shelf for far too long unread, I will be reading Me Before You for this task.

[Jessica]

Steve wrote: "Rainey wrote: "I am going to read The Martian. Its been on my TBR pile for awhile."

I really enjoyed both and hope you do as well. Good choice"

Great choice! Both the book and the movie were fantastic.

[Carolyn]

The Martian, loved both the book and the movie, hope you enjoy!

[Lianne]

I'm going a little sideways on this one. I'm currently reading Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church from The Boston Globe. It's the basis of the movie Spotlight (Mark Ruffalo, sigh), but not that the movie is about the contents of the book, it's about the investigation that lead to the book.

I think it still counts.

[Maureen]

Katie wrote: "I read The Enchanted April for this one and absolutely adored the book. Picked up the DVD at my library and hoping it does the book justice!

EDIT: The movie is on Netflix too, if anyon..."

I need to watch that, I enjoyed the book.

[Maureen]

I wanted to do The Danish Girl, but I won't count a book for two challenges, and I needed it for transgender. Then I thought maybe The Hundred-Foot Journey, but in the end, one of my other groups was reading Cold Mountain which I had had in my stacks for close to 20 years I imagine, and I found the DVD at my library. Worked out very well. Very well written book, and the adaptation was not that far off.

[Liz]

Carolyn wrote: "The Martian, loved both the book and the movie, hope you enjoy!"

I loved both!!

[Liz]

Astrid wrote: "Holly wrote: "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist the film version has been on my to watch list for a while now, and the novel version is cheaper than usual. So I might as well try it."

..."

I loved the movie! I should read the book.

[Stina]

I just finished listening to Me Before You, so I am looking forward to the movie coming out in June. The previews I've seen make me think it will follow the book very closely.

[Edwina]

Read Precious by Sapphire then borrowed the movie from the library.

If I hadn't read the book first I wouldn't have understood a lot of the things that happened in the movie.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...

[Erin]

I read The Great Gatsby, but I haven't seen the movie yet.

[Theresa]

I'm using The Collector by John Fowles for the published in the decade I was born category ('60s). I'll be using it for this category as well.

[Maria U.]

I've read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes for this challenge. Now I'm waiting for the movie to be released! (June 17th.)

[Maureen]

Maria wrote: "I've read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes for this challenge. Now I'm waiting for the movie to be released! (June 17th.)"

I haven't read the book yet and now I am being assaulted by trailers on tv, I have to run away.

[Bonnie G.]

Maria wrote: "I've read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes for this challenge. Now I'm waiting for the movie to be released! (June 17th.)"

I loved that book! Can't wait for the movie. It can't be nearly as good.

[Kiwie]

I was reading through the challenges and realized I've already done this. I read A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail and then watched the movie. The book was okay, some parts great, some parts not so much, the movie I really disliked. It changed things I liked from the book and the fact that they aged Bryson to Robert Redford made me want to punch something. The things that were absurd and/or funny in the book were just ridiculous in the movie.

[Katy]

I read and watched Howl's Moving Castle for this challenge. Really enjoyed the book, didn't care for the movie at all. I'd never watched any of The Studio Ghibli movies before and just couldn't connect to the characters at all the way I did when reading. Might be because I am just not into that style of animation or maybe I just had such a clear impression of each character in my mind's eye that I couldn't let go of that. Regardless, a fun book and I will probably read further in the series.

[Djuna]

Sana wrote: "I read The Man in the High Castle and I watched season 1 of the show on Amazon. I honestly didn't like the book. Did anyone else read it?" Thinking about choosing this one.

[Stina]

I started reading Man in the High Castle for a book club but didn't finish it. I found it interesting enough that I will probably go back to it and try again, but most of the others in the club gave it lukewarm reviews.

[Sapiophial]

I read Ready Player One and can't wait to see the movie based on it

[Colleen]

I read it. The backstory is that he actually used the I Ching to write it, which might explain it. He blamed the ending on that. I don't know how true that is, but it can explain why it was bad. And he was probably on a lot of drugs too. In any case, find a different one!

[Melanie]

Sana wrote: "I read The Man in the High Castle and I watched season 1 of the show on Amazon. I honestly didn't like the book. Did anyone else read it?"

I did, and I wasn't expecting the book to be so dissimilar to the series. Once I altered my expectations, it was fine. Part of my problem was I watched the TV series first. I would likely have appreciated it more the other way around. The characters (personalities and motives) stayed the same, but the plots were very varied.

[Shatterlings]

I did The Fault in our Stars for this, didn't particularly like either but the characters are less annoying in the film as they took out the more pompous dialogue. That scene in Anne Franks house made me cringe though.

[Nadine in NY]

I was torn between using Fight Club or The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I know, could I find two books more dissimilar?! I ended up using Perks, and I really did not like the book. This is definitely a book for a young adult audience only, with no crossover appeal for adults. Happily, the movie was better, because it left out a lot of the parts that annoyed me in the book (primarily the crappy writing from someone who is supposedly a writing genius, and the crying).

[Teresa]

I read The Canterville Ghost short story by Oscar Wilde, then watched the film with Patrick Stewart and Nev Campbell. I enjoyed the book more. The father in the book was arrogant; in the movie he was borderline emotionally neglectful and verbally abusive to his daughter. The movie aged the daughter and added a love interest for her, which filled out the plot, but took away from her innocence.

[Nadine in NY]

I just finished reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? for my "book published in the decade you were born, but the movie Blade Runner was based on this book, of course, so it would also work for this task ... and it was FANTASTIC!! I saw the movie years ago, and it was fantastic too, so I really can't say which one was better. The book, I think, just because it was more complex and dealt with a lot of themes. This would be a great book club book.

[Tina]

The book was better

[Katie]

For this one I read Life of Pi (I know, I know, late to the party on this one). A friend finally pushed me to read it and I loved the writing and the interesting take on theology.

[Doc.]

I read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and I'm looking forward to the movie. :P

[Bonnie G.]

I chose Persuasion, a book I love and have read multiple times. I watched the 1995 movie with Amada Root and Ciaran Hinds. As a general rule if I don't much like a book, I often love the movie version (see eg. Gone Girl), but when I love a book, it always wins in the side-by-side comparison. So yes, I liked the book better, but the film was excellent. The two lead performances were superb. Root's Anne Elliot was so much like the Anne I had in my head! Hinds Wentworth was pretty close as well. The movie did not go all fast paced cinema, it is as slow and methodical as Anne herself. And the climax? “You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.” Perfect execution of a humble lass receiving the best love letter ever! I recommend the book and the film wholeheartedly.

[Edith]

Astrid wrote: "I have a few options: Dark Places, Winter's Bone, Me Before You and The Circle (which I never finished). I would include Girl on the Tra..."

I enjoyed both the book and movie versions of "Dark Places." Charlize Theron gives a great performance.

[Snowynight]

I read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and then the 2005 movie, and I'm really disappointed by the film. Arthur is made into much more a typical Nice Guy tm who can't take no as an answer and the plot is being forced into your stereotypical Hollywood Nice Guy saves the day and gets the girl for no reasons plot. An hour totally wasted