Thursday, September 2, 2010

Booking Through Thursday: Film to Paper

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Even though it’s usually a mistake (grin) … do movies made out of books make you want to read the original?

Yes, all the time! Recently I picked up The World According to Garp, Revolutionary Road and a number of other novels after having seen the movies. One of my favorite reads, Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady, is one I read after seeing the movie and I loved it! The Wings of the Dove on the other hand, not so much! Another good one that I read after the movie was Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth.

I don't think it's a mistake! On the contrary I enjoy reading books that were the source for movies I liked; usually I like the books more but not always and sometimes it's just neat to experience the different interpretations of the story. Nothing wrong with that!


More Booking Through Thursday here.

11 comments:

Zibilee said...

I tend to lose my drive to read a book after I have already seen the movie for some strange reason. I know this shouldn't be the case, since the books are always better and the movie will always leave something out. I prefer to read the book first and then see the movie, but you make some good points!

jlshall said...

I usually find that I like the books more than the movies, too. But I'm afraid Revolutionary Road was one of those movies that I found so boring, I've sort of crossed the book off my TBR list! So I guess that was one instance where I definitely should have read the book first.

Anonymous said...

I read Revolutionary Road and thought it was really good. I haven't seen the movie yet though.

I think I prefer Henry James novels on screen...

Audra said...

I find if I see a movie before reading the book, I tend to like both (seeing the first Harry Potter movie convinced me to try the series, happily!). But if I've read the book first, I'm usually unhappy with the film. (Possession sticks out in my mind as a particularly egregious example.)

Anonymous said...

There is a famous Hollywood story about two goats at the MGM backlot. One is eating a script and one is eating a book.
Goat 1: This script is really good.
Goat 2: You should try the book.

I like to read the book before hand, if the book is an adaptation of the movie, I rarely bother to read it.

http://www.ManOfLaBook.com

Kathleen said...

I love watching the film and reading the book but I like to read the book first whenever I can.

Anonymous said...

i like to read the book first if i can. but it rarely spoils a read if i have seen it first.
the strangest experience i had of film to paper (yet) was with 'where the wild things are' (the film) and 'the wild things' (the novel) by dave eggers who wrote most of the screenplay and then wrote his novel which is not a novelization of the film. as a rule i usually avoid novelizations of a film, but that was actually an enjoyable experience.

...of late, i have been wishing there were more films from screenplays than from books translated into screenplays..especially children's movies.

~L

bermudaonion said...

I'm exactly the same way and here lately, I've discovered that I enjoy both the movie and the book more if I see the movie first.

Anonymous said...

I always try to read the book first. The only time where I didn't was with The Virgin Suicides, which turned out fine in the end because I loved both the book and the movie.

Tasha said...

The film version of The Painted Veil made me want to read the book. I liked both.

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed The Portrait of a Lady, both book and movie, also. I like all of Edith Wharton's works, and didn't feel the movie detracted from the book.