The book is always better...

Recently we went to see Enders Game with a group of friends, which was fantastic and exciting and thoroughly captivating.  Asa Butterfield, who portrays Ender, is just so watchable.  His face is just magic, which is good since there are a lot of close ups of it in the movie.  Neither Dave or I had ever read Enders Game, while the other 3 people had.  It was unanimously loved by all.  However, my brother, who loves this book series beyond all others, is very skeptical as to whether the movie can live up to the book.  My argument to that is always, "It never will.  The movie will never be better than the book."

(Seriously, look at that face!)



There are many times when I love the movies or show made from a book, and sometimes when they  just doesn't do it justice.  But most of the time, you just can't compare the two.  You have to take them as two separate entities, and enjoy them individually.  Not many of us actually understand the film making process and everything that goes into it, but you have to know that there is no way to fit everything from a 500-800 page book into a 2 hour or less movie.  Sometimes things have to be cut, things that may seem to be important details to us, but are insignificant in the grand scheme of things.  Now, I do find that a TV show adaptation can ring a little more true to the book, depending on creative producers, because they have more time to let the story unfold.  This is especially true for series. Dave let's this get to him sometimes, but I have learned to appreciate the movie for what it is, not a comparison to the book.  It'll never live up.  Here are some of my favorite adaptations, and a few of the details that we noticed.

Harry Potter:  Obviously, my number one, my favorite book series.  I could do a whole blog post comparing all these movies, and their different styles and directors, but I won't.  I loved the series as a whole, although some were better than others.  The one detail that I wish had been included was Hermione's S.P.E.W. campaign.  She has this passion for the welfare of the house elves from Chamber of Secrets on.  And while it's not the house elves that I really missed, SPEW is what leads to Ron and Hermione's first kiss, a moment in the book that always makes me cry, and just wasn't quite as special in the movie.

The Hunger Games:  I am so excited to go see Catching Fire in a few weeks with the same group of friends.  We actually saw The Hunger Games when AJ was 9 days old.  It was the middle of the day, and he just nursed and slept through it.  Dave and I were so excited about it that we couldn't wait any longer to see it, and I didn't want to leave AJ yet.  I thought it was fantastically done, and the casting was magnificent.  Literally, the only problem Dave had with it was that the wrong person gave Katniss her Mockingjay pin.  I can over look that, knowing that they had to cut out some parts.  It doesn't lend to the overall story arc, so I'm OK with it.  Even as I'm rereading Catching Fire in preparation, I can see that Madge, the Mayors daughter, isn't a very large part of the book, but there is some history to the mockingjay pin that is lost.  Those kinds of details are hard to catch in a movie anyway.

The Game of Thrones: While not a movie, this show being produced on HBO is so perfectly adapted from the books.  That's what happens when the author maintains creative authority over the show.  George R.R. Martin has written such a detailed and meticulously intricate world in Westeros, and the show is truly worthy of the book.  I'm sure that there are details that have been left out, but none that matter.  What actually matters, is that the show is true to the books, even when that is an unpopular choice amongst viewers.  The most popular character is killed off in the first season, and it was a shock to all that hadn't yet read it.  I did read the book after that season, and saw that Starks death in a necessity for the rest of the story to unravel as it's supposed to.  Martin isn't afraid to kill off characters, and I'm glad he's on board.

True Blood (aka The Sookie Stackhouse Novels): Unlike Martin, Charlaine Harris, the author of these southern vampire novels that are so delicious to devour, did not choose to be involved in the series on HBO that was adapted from the books.  In the first book, a character who came to be very popular on the show was supposed to die, and did not, because truthfully, they probably would have lost viewers.  While True Blood is still one of my favorite shows, it has veered so far from the book series, that it is hardly recognizable as the same.

And finally, the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon:  I cannot wait for my favorite series (besides Harry Potter) to FINALLY be brought to life on Starz next year! It is currently in production, I've seen casting, and thus far, it looks like it will make fans happy.

What are some of your favorite or least favorite book adaptations?