Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Books & Movies: 3 Reasons Why I Didn't Read the Book


I have a confession to make... When it comes to book-to-movie adaptations, I rarely ever read the book. There are obviously some exceptions to the rule (Harry Potter, for example), but I tend to separate the movie from the book and see them as two different entities. I know there are fantastic books out there that are now movies, it's just a personal preference.

So here are 3 reasons why I didn't read the book...

The book is nothing like the movie...

Or as I like to call it... The curious case of Circle of Friends. In 1995, a little known movie came out called Circle of Friends, based on the Maeve Binchy novel of the same name. I loved the movie. In fact, it's one of the few (if not the only) movies I saw twice in theaters. I went once with a friend and once by myself. I loved the movie so much, I went out and bought the book. So there I was... 14 year old Crystal reading a 600+ novel and I realize that it is nothing like the movie. Other than characters with the same name and the fact it's set in Dublin, the book and the movie couldn't be more different.

If the book is nothing like the movie, then to me both the movie and the book are two different entities. I'm so glad I did read Circle of Friends. It is still one of my all-time favorite books and my only exception to the rule (other than Harry Potter), but if it came out now, I probably would have been hesitant to read the book. Well, to be honest... I probably would have been hesitant to see the movie too. If only DVD was an option back in the day.

Also applies to Under the Tuscan Sun. Loved the movie, but the book and movie are so totally different.



The book is not a genre I read...

I quite enjoy YA movies like the Divergent series. I'm also starting to like The Hunger Games. Will I read the books? Nope, I don't like reading YA books. Same with horror. I flipping love a good horror flick, but I can't seem to get into Stephen King or Joe Hill books. I tend to immerse myself more with books (rather than movies)... If I read a horror book, I would probably never sleep again. I'd rather enjoy these movies as movies instead of making myself read a genre I know I don't like reading.

This could also be why I don't read any Nicholas Sparks books, but I do enjoy the movies...


The movie is better than the book...

Now this one is more to do with re-reading... When the Fifty Shades of Grey movies started coming out, I originally wanted to re-read the books before each movie. I ran out of time for the first movie, but with a year before that one and the second movie, I'd have plenty of time. Right? Well, after watching the first movie and realizing that I liked it better than the book, I nixed that plan and decided to skip re-reading them all together. Not because I didn't enjoy the books when I first read them, which I did and I'm grateful that they introduced me to the genre. It was because I had a feeling that the movies were going to be better than the books and, in my opinion, they were. Yes, I enjoyed FSoG. To each their own...

Now the opposite can happen where the book is better than the movie, but I don't think you need to read the book to figure that out.

All of this is a personal preference. In some cases I'm actually jealous of people that can read the book before seeing the movie. I can see why people love doing that. It just doesn't bother me. There are obviously some exceptions to the rules, but this is just me.

Do you have to read the book first? What about after the movie? What's your favorite book-to-movie adaptation? 

5 comments:

  1. It depends! I read YA and others but most of the books that get adapted to movies are genres I don't read like Gone Girl or Robert Ludlum books. Those I absolutelh enjoy, but am not interested in reading at all.. LOL

    With Ready Player One coming out, I am waiting to see the movie first before reading it. LOL this is a preference tho.

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    1. I really want to see Ready Player One. The book? Not so much. :D

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  2. I usually prefer to see the movie before I read the book... or at least see a trailer since I have such a hard time with characters who are nothing like I imagined them in the books. When I read a book first, I am often disappointed in the movie (usually the casting) and that makes me sad. But I also, in most cases, consider the book and the movie to be separate entities.

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    1. Good point. Being disappointed is probably another reason why I tend to keep them separate. I think I'm more likely to read the book after the movie rather than before.

      Thanks for visiting!

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  3. I do this sometimes for books in genres I'm not all that interested in reading. I figure if I wouldn't have read the book anyway, I don't have to feel bad about it.

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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