Everyone says that you should read the book before you see the movie. The book waaay better than the movie, the movie is waaaay different from the book, the filmmakers destroyed your favorite character from the book, bladiblah, etc. I will concede that this is generally true. For example, reading the Harry Potter series before seeing the HP movies allowed me to fill in the missing details, sub-plots, and general depth of the story.
Sometimes the release of a movie prompts me to read the book first (for example, I recently read The Perks of Being a Wallflower to prepare for the movie). Reading the book makes us excited about a movie release—think Hunger Games—and then we pray that the filmmakers do the story justice.
What happens when we approach this book/movie relationship the other way? What if we so love the story we see in the movie that we MUST read the book that inspired it? This is how my relationship with the Lord of the Rings began.
I recently watched Scott Pilgrim Versus the World, which was so well done that I am currently in the middle of reading the graphic novel series that inspired it. Now, I must admit that there are plenty of great book-based movies that have inspired me to put these books on my Goodreads “to read” shelf…
Below are several movies/tv shows that have me begging for the print version! I know I can’t be the only one like this… Share you own experiences with book vs. movie!
If you like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World [movie]
…try Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley
If you like True Blood [HBO series]
…try Dead until Dark by Charlaine Harris
If you like V for Vendetta [movie]
…try V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
If you like Coraline [movie]
…try Coraline by Neil Gaiman
If you like Vampire Diaries [tv show]
…try The Awakening, first book of the Vampire Diaries series by L.J. Smith
Filed under: Books and Reading, Teen Interest Tagged: | books, carnegie library of pittsburgh, movies
