First a meme that is new to me - Alison of That's A Novel Idea has just launched a fun new Saturday meme: Show Me 5 Saturday.
Here is Alison's description of Show Me 5 Saturday:
This meme will give each blogger an opportunity to give a brief description of a book they have read or reviewed during the week.
It will work like this:
Each Saturday you will post the answer to these questions. The number indicates the number of answers you will provide.
1 Book you read and/or reviewed this week
2 Words that describe the book
3Settings where it took place or characters you met
4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it
5 Stars or less for your rating?
Here's my Show Me 5 Saturday:
1 Book Read: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
2 Words to describe it: epistolary, charming
3 Settings/Characters: London, Guernsey, Isola Pribby
4 Things I liked or disliked: I liked that it was a novel in letters (epistolary), I liked that I learned a lot about the German occupation of Guernsey during WWII and how Londoners lived/reacted to the bombings, I disliked the predictability of the ending and I disliked all the hype about this book that didn't really live up to it - in my opinion.
5 Stars or less: I give this book 3 stars (I liked it).
How about you? What are you reading? What are your Show Me 5 answers?
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The second meme is one I've done before: Monday Musings.
Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about movies …
How do you react to movies made of your favourite books (or even not-so-favourite books)? Do you look forward to seeing them, or avoid them? Do you like to have read the book before seeing the movie?
This is a very timely question since a book that I truly loved, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, has been made into a movie that was just released last Friday.
Sometimes when I've loved a book, the movie doesn't live up to my expectations or to the greatness that was the book. Most of the time, however, by the time the movie is released I finished the book so long ago that I won't remember if any details have been changed or left out (The Namesake, The Kite Runner, Memoirs of a Geisha). So, for the most part, I still enjoy the movie. If I've read the book more recently, I usually find fault with the movie, even if I enjoyed it (A Beautiful Mind, The Other Boleyn Girl). In general, I do like to see movies that have been made from books I've read.
If a movie is released based on a book that is still on my tbr pile, I will do my best to read the book first. For me the book is always better than the movie and if I see the movie first, I will probably not bother reading the book after the fact. However, I have no problem seeing movies made from books that I have no intention of ever reading . I sometimes enjoy light and fluffy movies, even though I don't enjoy light and fluffy books (The Devil Wears Prada, for instance). Or the movie intrigues me, but I have no desire to read the book (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas).
Now as for The Time Traveler's Wife, I fully expect that this movie will NOT do the book justice. The book was complex and deep and from what I've heard about the movie the story has been distilled down to just a Romance. Of course, I read The Time Traveler's Wife years ago and don't remember very many details. I just remember being blown away by Niffenegger's take on time travel and how she developed the story of Henry and Clara's relationship. I didn't come away feeling as though I had read a romance novel. Yet when I watch the trailers for the movie, the impression I've come away with is "sappy, improbable love story". Oh well. I'm dying to see it anyway. The fact that Eric Bana stars in it has something to do with that. But, I'd see it anyway. And I already know I'm going to be disappointed. Oh well. 2 hours of staring at Eric Bana will be time well spent, in any case.
How about you? How do you feel about books that have been turned into movies? Love them? Hate them?
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8 comments:
If I have read the book, the movie is always unfullfilling to me. If I see the movie, I will rarely go back and read the book... I am writing a book report on The Noticer right now... Loved it!
Also, I appreciated your "perspective" that I am so thrifty, that I didn't even realize I woudl qualify... My "perspective on a lot of things have changed over the past year... Thanks fot that encouraging word.
Movie's rarely measure up to books in my opinion. Imagine how long they would have to be to capture everything! I love the discussion though, because I like bookaholic find that when I've read the book, the movie is unsatisfying. But when I've seen the movie first, the book sometimes is a let down. I found this with 'The Notebook'. I saw the movie and loved it so much, but when I tried to read the book I wasn't getting the same vibe and I dropped it. Maybe it has more to do with our expectations than anything else.
Funny, I READ the notebook, then saw the movie, and I felt the movie did no justice for the book...
I generally get excited when a book I love (or heck, even a book I like) is turned into a movie. Part of that, I think is a sort of validation. Because someone liked it enough to make it into a movie (and spend a lot of money on it) and that is going to bring a lot more attention to both the book and the author.
I never expect the movie to be as good as the book and - really - how could it? You've got about two hours to sum everything up. Compromises are gonna be made. I expect that. I'm happy when the movie serves as a nice accessory to the book. I've described it before as a photo album from a wonderful vacation - with the book being the vacation and the photo album being a nice (although incomplete) visual reference that I can use to refresh my memory.
This attitude rarely leaves me disappointed.
Usually I get excited to see another person's interpretation. But certain books (Time Traveler) were so special that I can't stand to see them outside of the view from my mind's eye. I don't think I'll see that one.
Well, I saw The Time Traveler's Wife movie and I was confused. It was a little boring too.
But the book is currently coming from Amazon.com and I look forward to reading it.
I'm not reading anything right now! I know - shocking! But I plan to start something as soon as I get these kids in college.
Generally, I don't like the movie as well as the book. (I enjoyed reading all the Harry Potter books more than I did seeing the movies.) Although I think I liked the movie Julie & Julia a bit more than the book.
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