If I’ve already read the book, fine, I’ll unavoidably compare them. (LOTR: The Movies Were FAR BETTER.) If I haven’t read the book, I probably won’t delay seeing the movie in order to read it first. I might read it, I might not. The books are not always “better”. Neither are the movies. The book for The Natural was a fecking miserable downer; the movie was a VAST improvement. The movie called I, Robot shared little with the book, and both were good for entirely different reasons.
If I watch the movie first, I can enjoy both. If I read the book first, I am always going to compare the movie to the book. The only way I can fully enjoy the move is to pretend that the movie and book aren’t related.
If I hear about a good movie based on a book, I generally will try to read the book first, because I have a lot of trouble hearing dialogue in a theater. If I have no idea of the story, a lot of times I don’t get that from the bits and pieces of conversation I can make out, so stay a little fuzzy about what’s going on.
(Note to inventors: Develop glasses, like 3-d or such, that will show subtitles on movie screens. I’d pay an extra dollar to rent some of those when I go to a show.)
Also, I’m pretty far behind on current entertainment, so am still catching up, making both movies and books quite a bit cheaper after the fad wears down. It’s not like I’m part of discussion club, anyway.
I read too much, and thus TV adaptations and movies inevitably disappoint me. Going back to Shogun, a book that was so good I literally wore out 2 copies of it by loaning it out and insisting folks read it, how on earth could they cast pretty boy Richard Chamberlain instead of Charles Coburn?
I was excited that The Fat Vampire was picked up and is being made into a TV series. I appreciate the author forewarning us fans, our beloved vampire isn’t going to be fat. Then, it ISN’T The Fat Vampire.
My mind can cast better, set decorate better than anything Hollywood can do to a book I read.
I tend to avoid movies made from my favorite books because I don’t want my version of how the characters and settings look overridden by the movie version.
@Kyeh I remember reading the Stephen King novel Cujo many years ago and imagining the heroine as Dee Wallace as I read (she was a popular TV and movie actress at the time). Imagine my surprise when the film version came out and they cast Dee Wallace as the lead.
Not that either the book or the movie were all that great, but it seemed like a fun coincidence to me at the time.
@macromeh Well, that’s cool!
I read the Inspector Morse mysteries before the TV series was shown here, but they’d been shown in Britain already, and the paperbacks had John Thaw’s face on the covers. So no dissonance there.
Overall, I generally like the book better. But there are a few movies adapted from books which I think stand alongside their books as equally good. Those two are:
The Princess Bride
The Hunt for Red October
Both great movies and excellent books.
I voted “Don’t read the book at all”, but really it’s “only read the book if the movie made me want more”. One great example was Cloud Atlas, where I loved the movie so much that it made me want to read the book. It’s the only example I’ve experienced where both forms make me appreciate the other; reading the book made me appreciate the movie even more, and rewatching the movie again made me appreciate the book even more.
I like to read the book 1st Only problem with that for me is some writers give detailed descriptions of characters where you can picture them in your mind. Then the movie comes out and whoever is in charge of casting effs it up BAD One example that really annoys me is in the excellent series of novels by Lee Child. Who in the hell thought of that runt Tom Cruise to play the 6 foot 4 inch 240lb Jack Reacher WTF Somebody in casting should probably read at least one of the books
Back when I read all the time, I read it before the movie. I was taking the subway in the 70’s with all book series on, like Roots and Shogun I had to read fast in the subway to stay ahead of the series.
It depends on the movie. Some I read the book and some I don’t.
If I’ve already read the book, fine, I’ll unavoidably compare them. (LOTR: The Movies Were FAR BETTER.) If I haven’t read the book, I probably won’t delay seeing the movie in order to read it first. I might read it, I might not. The books are not always “better”. Neither are the movies. The book for The Natural was a fecking miserable downer; the movie was a VAST improvement. The movie called I, Robot shared little with the book, and both were good for entirely different reasons.
@werehatrack Shoeless Joe, the book, is also way worse than Field of Dreams. Maybe baseball stories just don’t translate. (I haven’t read Moneyball.)
I don’t want to spoil the ending.
If I watch the movie first, I can enjoy both. If I read the book first, I am always going to compare the movie to the book. The only way I can fully enjoy the move is to pretend that the movie and book aren’t related.
If I hear about a good movie based on a book, I generally will try to read the book first, because I have a lot of trouble hearing dialogue in a theater. If I have no idea of the story, a lot of times I don’t get that from the bits and pieces of conversation I can make out, so stay a little fuzzy about what’s going on.
(Note to inventors: Develop glasses, like 3-d or such, that will show subtitles on movie screens. I’d pay an extra dollar to rent some of those when I go to a show.)
Also, I’m pretty far behind on current entertainment, so am still catching up, making both movies and books quite a bit cheaper after the fad wears down. It’s not like I’m part of discussion club, anyway.
@phendrick Check with your local theater… Mine is a Regal, and…
https://www.regmovies.com/static/en/us/theatre/captioning-and-descriptive-video
@earlyre Thanks. If mine has that, they don’t bother to advertise the fact. I will check.
If I have any interest in seeing a movie based off a book it’s probably because I already read it.
I read too much, and thus TV adaptations and movies inevitably disappoint me. Going back to Shogun, a book that was so good I literally wore out 2 copies of it by loaning it out and insisting folks read it, how on earth could they cast pretty boy Richard Chamberlain instead of Charles Coburn?
I was excited that The Fat Vampire was picked up and is being made into a TV series. I appreciate the author forewarning us fans, our beloved vampire isn’t going to be fat. Then, it ISN’T The Fat Vampire.
My mind can cast better, set decorate better than anything Hollywood can do to a book I read.
I tend to avoid movies made from my favorite books because I don’t want my version of how the characters and settings look overridden by the movie version.
@Kyeh I remember reading the Stephen King novel Cujo many years ago and imagining the heroine as Dee Wallace as I read (she was a popular TV and movie actress at the time). Imagine my surprise when the film version came out and they cast Dee Wallace as the lead.
Not that either the book or the movie were all that great, but it seemed like a fun coincidence to me at the time.
@macromeh Well, that’s cool!
I read the Inspector Morse mysteries before the TV series was shown here, but they’d been shown in Britain already, and the paperbacks had John Thaw’s face on the covers. So no dissonance there.
Overall, I generally like the book better. But there are a few movies adapted from books which I think stand alongside their books as equally good. Those two are:
Both great movies and excellent books.
@gt0163c I would add a couple more:
I voted “Don’t read the book at all”, but really it’s “only read the book if the movie made me want more”. One great example was Cloud Atlas, where I loved the movie so much that it made me want to read the book. It’s the only example I’ve experienced where both forms make me appreciate the other; reading the book made me appreciate the movie even more, and rewatching the movie again made me appreciate the book even more.
Watch something on Nickelodeon
I like to read the book 1st Only problem with that for me is some writers give detailed descriptions of characters where you can picture them in your mind. Then the movie comes out and whoever is in charge of casting effs it up BAD One example that really annoys me is in the excellent series of novels by Lee Child. Who in the hell thought of that runt Tom Cruise to play the 6 foot 4 inch 240lb Jack Reacher WTF Somebody in casting should probably read at least one of the books
@mbgiggy I guess the Amazon series is casting a much better match. https://nypost.com/2022/02/07/jack-reacher-author-praises-tom-cruise-recasting-to-a-taller-actor-for-tv-series/
Back when I read all the time, I read it before the movie. I was taking the subway in the 70’s with all book series on, like Roots and Shogun I had to read fast in the subway to stay ahead of the series.