My bio listed a few of the books that were made into movie adaptations that I found to be very close to what I had seen as a movie in my head while reading. Or the movie was good enough that it didn’t matter if it wasn’t quite what I’d imagined:
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman
- The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
- Carrie by Stephen King (There are others of his, though I’ve not liked all of his book to movie adaptations. But good for him for his success, he’s a wonderful writer and one of my favorites. More about him later…)
Here are a few movies that I felt didn’t do the books justice at all. If you haven’t read the books, you should:
- The biggest recent disappointment was Life of Pi by Yann Martel. The actors were wonderful and the movie was exciting, of course, especially when seen in 3D, but for me it was a letdown. The book is excellent and I think Yann Martel deserves every cent and more of the royalties he might have made from the movie, but the movie missed all the good stuff in the book that came even before the shipwreck ever happened.
- Another one: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. If you only saw the movie and haven’t read it already you really should go back and do it. Forget the movie, read the book.
- A not quite as recent disappointment was Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Again, the actors did a wonderful job (and Stanley Tucci is always great, even as a bad guy) but the book is better in my mind movie.
- An older disappointment was What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson. I’ve always liked Robin Williams, who starred in the movie, and all the actors did well, but the movie didn’t bring the story to life the way the movie in my mind did. The book is so well written, it may not be possible for an adaptation to do it justice.
- A much older disappointment was a book I read when I was young-Bless the Beasts and Children by Glendon Swarthout. The movie was made in 1971, but the book is another one that I don’t think an adaptation can do justice, no matter how good the acting.
And book to movie adaptations where I didn’t like the books but liked the movies, such as:
- Harry Potter series, by JK Rowling. I didn’t like any of the books, but the movies were so wonderfully made I loved them. It may have been that the books were written for a younger audience and I was a little older when I first tried to read them.
There are longer lists I might post some other time, but for now these are the ones off the top of my head.
I also said in my bio that I see movies in my head both when I read and when I write. It’s wonderful, but it would be interesting to know if that’s what others see when reading and/or writing.
In conversations with others I’ve also asked whether they hear or see their daily thoughts. My thoughts are my voice speaking, unless I’m recalling a memory or imagining a scenario. When I read or write fiction, I see movies. One person I asked had to think about it a minute; they had never considered how their thoughts were delivered. Then they said they saw mostly images or scenes along with hearing their voice, and I wondered how many people were like that.
Someone working somewhere in the sciences can tell me, I’m sure, but it’ not something you hear about a lot. Or think about, probably. 🙂