Blogger: Rachel Kent
So many of the shows and movies we watch are based on books and sometimes we don’t even know it! I was able to go see Gone Girl last week and I just finished the last season of Call the Midwife on Netflix. That last episode made me cry! Both Gone Girl and Call the Midwife are based on books–Gone Girl is based on the novel Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and Call the Midwife is based on the memoir of Jennifer Worth.
Watching Gone Girl made me want to read the book. I’m not going to go into any detail at all about the film because that would spoil it, but the ending left me feeling unsettled. I am intrigued and I want to see how the author really wrote that ending in the book and if there’s a different sense of closure to the story. I usually try to read a book before seeing the movie, but there was no time this time around. I hadn’t heard of Gone Girl until my husband mentioned wanting to see it.
Watching Call the Midwife does not make me want to read the memoir it is based on. I love the show and the stories, but I think I like how the stories are dramatized in the TV series and I don’t read many memoirs. Janet disagrees with me and she is very interested in reading the memoir of Jennifer Worth. If Janet reads it and loves it, I might read the book, too.
What show or movie has made you want to read the book?
Do you usually read the book before seeing the movie or the other way around?
I’m with Janet. I’d love to read Call the Midwife. I love that show! And I’m also excited to see Unbroken this Christmas …one of the best books I’ve read this year!
Tricia, I don’t know much about Unbroken … I’m eager to look into that. Thank you for mentioning it.
Unbroken is the best book I’ve read in the last five years!
Wow, Michelle! Really good.
I’m with Michelle and Tricia! I LOVED Unbroken. I listened to the audio book this year, and I couldn’t believe how detailed and creative the author was in putting history to page. It’s an amazing story. I’m very curious about the movie and will definitely see it in theaters this Christmas.
Unbroken is such a powerful book, but I found the violence hard take, so I don’t plan to see the movie.
I just can’t do certain kinds of violence anymore. I can skim over it in a book, but I can’t do that during a movie.
I’m pretty sure I’m the only person who read Gone Girl who doesn’t want to see the movie!! The book just disturbed me. Excellent writing, not my kind of plot. 🙂
When I watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I was inspired to read the books. I’m so glad I did! I enjoyed them!
Have a wonderful weekend!
I detested Gone Girl and wouldn’t go near the movie. Loved Call the Midwife however– which has far more positive spiritual overtures than the series suggested.
Well, I saw “The Passion of the Christ” after reading The Book. I liked both. (And it’s the only Biblically-based movie I’ve ever thought was worth seeing.)
After reading “Band of Brothers”, I was very interested to see the miniseries, and was not disappointed. I don’t think the reverse path would have worked as well, though; the screen version drew the characters very well, better than Ambrose did in the book.
The adaptation of Evan Wright’s “Generation Kill” wasn’t quite as successful. I’m glad I saw the miniseries after reading the book. If I’d seen it first I’d have skipped the reading, because the producers came to it with a political and creative agenda, and that changed a lot of what Wright was trying to say.
“Lone Survivor” is both an excellent book and possibly the best film I have ever seen.
I won’t see a movie version of a beloved novel. I made that mistake with “A Town Like Alice”; the adaptation would have been worthy in itself but it it changed how I saw the characters and the setting, and I couldn’t go back to the book with the same ‘eye and heart’.
The production team is a really vital link my decision on whether I’ll see a film; “Lone Survivor” was spearheaded by Mark Wahlberg, and he has a track record of both good performances, and a good heart for his subject. Likewise the Hanks/Spielberg team in “Band of Brothers”.
I loved Lone Survivor, the book, for it’s peek into the mind of a SEAL. I read it years ago and went to see the movie when it came out last year. The language in the movie is extremely harsh, but the story was amazingly well told. It’s the first time I’ve ever left a theater and no one–not a soul–was talking. Everyone was just trying to take it in.
I haven’t read the Band of Brothers book, but I was curious about it after watching the miniseries, which is quite possibly my favorite TV show ever. It’s incredible. Good to know that the book might not be as good after watching the series.
The language in “Lone Survivor” is harsh, but it’s true to life.
Interestingly, one criticism aired by some of the real soldiers portrayed in “Band of brothers” was that they didn’t swear as much as was shown in the series. Things have changed, I guess.
I do think reading “Band of Brothers” after seeing the series might be a disappointment. One factor, aside from the character development, is that parts of the story were fictionalized by synthesizing experiences of a larger number of participants to make the individual episodes coherent with an ensemble cast of manageable size.. I didn’t feel that the spirit of the real story was lost, but going back to the book I was often left feeling a bit flat, as the story arcs didn’t jibe neatly.
I usually see the movie first.
Watching the Harry Potter series had me wanting to read the series. During the movies, there were times when I thought … I wonder how that was described in the book. I’m in that process of learning all I can! 🙂
Regarding Narnia, we listened to the audio versions on long car trips … which got us excited to see the movies back when they were coming out.
I saw Divergent before I read it. Naturally, I had to read the rest of the trilogy! 🙂
I want to read the book the TV series Homeland is based on simply because, when I saw the book mentioned in the show’s credits, its title opened up an entire layer of what Homeland is about. The book’s title: Prisoners of War. Suddenly I realized that everyone in the program is a prisoner of war in one way or another.
I appreciated the writing in Gone Girl so much that I’m not sure I want to see the movie. How can it possibly match the exquisite manipulations depicted in the book? But I’m told the movie is very faithful to the book. So maybe…
I want to see that movie. There were some funny situations in that book. Now, I have to see the movie. 🙂
I don’t have television and the nearest movie theater is over 70 miles away. I don’t have a lot of choice whether I read the book first. 😉
However, back when I did go to movies, I still preferred to read a book first when possible. The only exceptions would be book adaptations of movies. I made the mistake of reading the Stars Wars adaptation first, and it sort of ruined the movie for me (the characters in the book had much more depth, and certain scenes in the book weren’t in the movie).
Fun post today, Rachel!
I wanted to read Mary Poppins again after watching Saving Mr. Banks.
Really enjoyed the North & South BBC mini-series. Now Elizabeth Gaskell’s book is on my Goodreads shelf.
I read the Monuments Men before seeing the movie. I knew the movie was dramatized. What really surprised me was seeing all the actors smoking. Smoking was common and even encouraged with cigarettes included in K rations, but to actually see everyone smoking made an impression.
I usually always read the book before seeing the movie/television show just because I find the detail and writing to be more satisfying to my ever wondering curiosity. Plus, as an author, I know that sometimes those little intricate details can be so significant and eye opening to the underlying themes and messages the book is portraying. Unfortunately, the cinematic industry doesn’t have time to allude to all of those “easter eggs” within their various various time constraints.
That being said, I did end up seeing the two Hunger Games movies before reading the three books and I definitely enjoyed the suspense and plot twists more than I would have had I known what was going to happen. After reading them though, I was once again able to pick up on so much more hidden detail, and I think I would sacrifice the suspense for the eye opening details any day.
Authors spend too much weaving a tapestry of colorful detail for it to be missed. The suspense is present in both book and movie…so I can enjoy both. But knowing the secrets first snd finding them in the movie that doesn’t have time to explain it (like the Atrox in Hunger Games) is always more fun.
I read Gone Girl. I thought it would make a great movie! I’m glad I’ll be able to see it on screen. Sometimes great movies will make me pick up a book. I watched Bliss and had to get that book.:)
I don’t think I’ve ever read the book after watching the movie, but I have read some books before watching their respective movies. In almost all cases I think the books are better.
I actually read “Gone Girl” because I read that it was going to be made into a film and I wanted to read it before seeing it. The movie “Bridget Jones’s Diary” made me read the book. I always read Stephen King books first because for the most part, they drop the ball on the books with several exceptions.
I prefer to watch the movie first and then read the book. The medium of film requires bigger broader strokes to tell the story while books can go into minute detail of character and humor. I find that I enjoy the film more if I do not have those minute details from the books crowding my mind as I try to enjoy the film. A good example is “How to Train Your Dragon” a wonderful movie. I loved it. Then I read the books and I loved them even more. The movie is very different but I enjoyed both very much and don’t think I would have liked the movie if I’d expected it to be like the books.
The Ten Commandments prompted me to read the book that inspired it.