40. Read a book that has been made into a movie

[Martha]

Books Made Into Movies

Some examples
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Hunger Games
Room
Gone Girl
The Princess Bride
Life of Pi
The Silver Linings Playbook
A Clockwork Orange

Discussion prompts
- What book did you/will you read for this task? What did you think?
- Have you seen the movie? Which was better?
- How do you feel when books you've read are made into films? Do you feel like you have to see it or completely avoid it?
- If you see the movie first, do you ever read the book after?

[Martha]

For this prompt I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I quite liked it, but I think I would have liked it more if I hadn't seen the film first.

I saw the film a couple of years ago when it came out, and though it was fantastic. A really powerful story with some cracking actors, and Emma Watson showing the world she could do more than play Hermione!

I often have real trouble reading a book if I've already seen the film. I find it distracting if there are any differences and the film's already in my head so I can't get into it. I have to have only seen the film once and have waited a long time. With Silver Linings Playbook, the film came out quite a while ago and I couldn't really remember it, so other than picturing the actors, I didn't have too much of an issue. The issue with Perks is that certain things are revealed towards the end (view spoiler)[( the sexual abuse that Charlie has experienced from his aunt) (hide spoiler)] so I already knew them when I started reading the book. With that twist removed, the book fell a little flat. I still enjoyed reading it, and regretted not having read it before I saw the film.

If I've read the book I do definitely get nervous about it being made into a film! I tend to look at the actors that have been cast and watch the trailer and go from there. If the film's already been out for a while, I'll check the rating on IMDB. If it's a favourite book, there's a good chance I won't see the film in case it ruins it - The Time Traveller's Wife is a good example. It's my favourite book of all time, and there were so many things wrong from just the trailer that I knew I couldn't go and see it!