Books Part 3…Books that movies are based on.

I try to make it a rule to read the book before I see any movie that is based on a book. If I know beforehand that it is based on a book. Granted, this is probably most movies (that are based on a book) but most are not marketed that way, or the book wasn’t all that popular or something.

But, I was just thinking of the books that I have purposely read first, before I saw the movie…

Most, no, all of the time, the book is better. But the movies have varying degrees of goodness compared to the books.

Let’s discuss.

We’ll start light-hearted with Bridget Jones’s Diary, by Helen Fielding (Honestly I can’t think if that’s the correct title, but you know what I mean. The book made me laugh. It was interesting for the genre. The movie was fairly well done, close enough to the book I guess. But Renee Zellweger was not the Bridget I had imagined. (I read this book before there was a movie.)

Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy. There were so many great parts in the book that I wanted to be in the movie, but they weren’t. I understand that they have to take liberties for time, but they changed how Benny met Nan. It seemed important to me that their relationship be established as children, to understand how betrayed Benny felt at later events. (By the way, I’ve never read a Maeve Binchy book I didn’t like. They’re long, but worth the read, IMHO.)

The Cider House Rules by John Irving. Wow, was I disappointed by this movie. I read the book and thought it was great, then rented this critically-acclaimed movie. There was soooooooo much not included. Again, I know they can only do so much with the time they have…maybe it shouldn’t have been a movie. Really, the whole sub-story of the relationship between Homer and the female orphan Melony wasn’t even addressed at all. Was Melony even in the movie? I think it was an important part. But that’s just me.

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. I received this as a gift from my parents for Christmas one year, along with the movie. I’m not usually a huge biography book reader, (especially not one about an animal), but this book actually captured my interest. It was an interesting look into early horseracing. The movie was close enough to satisfy me. (Probably because I’m not a huge biography reader.)

The Green Mile by Stephen King. I really liked this book. I’m not sure why, but it kept my interest really well. The movie is about as good an adaptation as you can do with a book that size, and with the subject matter.

A Painted House by John Grisham. I also enjoyed this book. It was different than a lot of the books I had been reading at the time. And it’s not Grisham’s usual lawyer tale. The title comes from a mentally disabled boy’s decision to try to paint the people’s house where his family is working for the summer. At the time, people didn’t paint their houses, because it was considered a frivolous waste of money. There was a TV movie based on this I think, I only watched parts of it so I can’t say how well the movie adaptation was.

These last 2 I saw the movie first.

Someone Like You, based on the book Animal Husbandry by Laura Zigman. I actually own the movie, because Hugh Jackman is pretty cute in it. The book was better than the movie, but I couldn’t look at Hugh when I was reading. This may be a tie.

About Last Night…based on the play Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Yeah, the movie is waaaay better. Simply because I couldn’t get past the first page of the play.


So there you have it. Those are the ones I thought I'd bore you with today anyway. Anyone have a great book that they've read that happens to have a movie based on it as well??