Top Ten Tuesday – Page to Screen Freebie

I personally don’t mind watching films/tv shows before I read the books, although most of the time I do it by accident! Some of the books on my list were made into great films, others not so much.

1. The Hunger Games series

 

 

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These are first because I think the films stayed really true to the books, Suzanne Collins worked with the directors and writers closely and it shows. Her vision for the book has transferred wonderfully to the screen. I saw the first film of the series before I read the books but after I found out it was a book, I got hold of it as soon as I could! Catching Fire is my favourite book and film of the series, it tranfers so well to the screen.

2. Atonement

 

 

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I saw this film first as well and I fell in love with it. It’s a stunning film and when I read the book I could see why, the many descriptive passages were so detailed it really transports you to 1940s Britain and France. The endings are the main difference to the film/book, the same thing happens, we’re just told in very different ways. I think the film and book rank equally great.

3. Harry Potter

 

                          

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I read the Harry Potter books first long before I saw the films. The books are so important to me, I absolutely love them. The films are good, I really enjoy them, just not as much as the books, they’re quite a few differences, especially in the later films but it still works. Books definitely win here!

4. A Song of Ice and Fire vs Game of Thrones

 

 

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Again I started watching the show before I knew about the books, but I caught up pretty quickly. ASOIAF is one of my favourite books series’ ever, George R.R. Martin is a genius! I have a love/hate relationship with GoT. The first two seasons are incredibly close to the books, however the show writers make gradual changes over the course of the show, season five was a complete let down, they diverted so much from some characters stories, I almost gave up. GoT also shows the writers’ true misogynistic natures by having more sexual violence against women in it than any of the ASOIAF books. They cut out some key characters later on and changed some great characters (the Sand Snakes) into vengeful two-dimensional versions. Visually of course GoT is stunning and the actors are incredible but it still looses out to ASOIAF because the writers suck!

5. The Chronicles Of Narnia

 

 

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I really like the Narnia books, but I actually think I prefer the films! They’re so pretty and magical, I could watch them forever. They haven’t made the whole series into books though which is slightly disappointing, but all of the Pevensie’s adventures have been transferred onto screen.

6. Persuasion

 

 

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I love this book and I love period dramas so the TV adaptation I watched is right up my street. Sometimes I struggle to follow classics when I read them, Persuasion wasn’t like that but I still really enjoyed seeing it brought to life by actors.

7. A Series of Unfortunate Events

 

 

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I love these books, they’re so strange and quirky and clever, Lemony Snicket is brilliant! The series has been made into a film and a tv series. The film covered the first three books and just wasn’t good at all. It didn’t cature Snicket’s quirkiness, the whole film came off as odd and bleak. The tv series is much better, not as good as the books, but closer! There is a narrator in the show and the characters talk in the same way that Snicket wrote for them.

8. The Other Boleyn Girl

 

 

 

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This book is so good! It’s set in Tudor times and it’s about Anne Boleyn and her sister Mary who had an affair with Henry VIII before Anne married him. The film is good, but some bits from the book are missing and I’m pretty sure there’s more violence in it than the books which is why it’s so far down on the list.

9. Before I Go To Sleep

 

 

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This book is so gripping and scary. I could hardly put the book down when I read it and years later they made it into a film. Despite the brilliant cast it didn’t really have the same effect as the book, there was tension but it was more confusing. I had forgotten the ending as well so that wasn’t the reason I didn’t like it as much.

10. The Girl on the Train

 

 

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Amazing book, so cleverly written, all the layers of deceit and drunken confusion from the main character Rachel. The film was ok but again I didn’t feel as much tension or urgency to find out what was going on. Most of the time it felt like we were just watching Rachel have a breakdown. I did remember the dramatic end to the story though for this one so that might be why I wasn’t as invested.

So basically books rule! They’re always going to be better, probably because there’s more detail and we can let our imaginations run wild!