Books of movies

[Kristafon]

How many of you have read a book that was made into a movie before you saw the movie? I read k-pax, though it was really good. Apparently the book of Fight Club has a different ending, anyone read it?

 

[CrazyHarij]

First Blood is a very good book, definately as classic as the film. It's abit sad though:

Spoiler

Rambo dies in the end.

 

[nick_t]

I read Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and read 100-200 pgs of The Two Towers before any of the movies. I couldn't read more of these books because, in my opinion, they were very boring and just dragged on and on and on... too much writing for very little entertainment (half the time Tolkien is just decribing the scenery). The movies were wayyyy better. I also read I, Robot (the novel) but after the movie and I though the book was pretty good. I have also read many other books before I saw the movies but they're not very famous. Generally, I like the books more. I'm thinking of reading 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne next and The Da Vinci Code afterwards. Anyone recommends these books?

 

[SpuD]

I read Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and read 100-200 pgs of The Two Towers before any of the movies. I couldn't read more of these books because, in my opinion, they were very boring and just dragged on and on and on... too much writing for very little entertainment (half the time Tolkien is just decribing the scenery). The movies were wayyyy better. I also read I, Robot (the novel) but after the movie and I though the book was pretty good. I have also read many other books before I saw the movies but they're not very famous. Generally, I like the books more. I'm thinking of reading 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne next and The Da Vinci Code afterwards. Anyone recommends these books?

Grrrr...
I thought the books were entertaining, way more so than the movie.

 

[Sprafa]

1984.

Never watched the movie though. LOTR was great as a movie.

 

[SpuD]

1984 was boring

 

[DarkStar]

Yeah, I actually read Fight Club before the movie was released. You know what? I thought Fincher's movie was much, much better.

The book Fight Club has some really interesting concepts in it but I just cannot stand Palahniuk's writing style. He writes in this pseudo stream-of-conciousness wannabe poetic slock that I can't deal with. The movie focused on what was cool about the book, and left the other stuff out.

Lord on the Rings I read when I was very young, and I have to say that the books are far superior to the movies. Jackson's films are truly amazing achievements, some of my favorite films of all time actually, but they just cannot compare to the beauty of the original Tolkein. Chalk it up to nostalgia perhaps, but Tolkein's epic is my favorite book of all time.

Movie adaptations of good books where I thought the movie was awful? There's so many:

Dune.
Sphere.
Harry Potter.
Animal Farm.
The Great Gatsby.
Lord of the Flies.
War of the Worlds.

There are alot of good adaptations too:

Shawshank Redemption.
Godfather 1 + 2.
Forrest Gump.
All the President's Men.
Jurassic Park.
Patriot Games.
To Kill a Mocking Bird.

Any book adaptation by Kubrick is usually awesome. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kubrick took Clarke's short story and took it to a whole other plane of quality. The Shining was about 10x scarier than King's novel. Of course there's Dr. Strangelove (based on the book Red Alert), which is my favorite movie of all time.

But THE best book to film adaptation of all time? And.....drumroll please.....Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" which was adapted into the film "Apocalypse Now." Nuff' said.

 

[moppe]

I, Robot.

And HHGTTG to come.

 

[The Mullinator]

All three LotR books

The Hobbit (likely going to become a movie)

Redwall (a kids book of around 500 pages that became a tv show)

 

[Kristafon]

Is the moive Of Mice and Men any good? I read the book for english lit and thought it was very good. Isnt Grapes of Wrath better though? And longer?

 

[KagePrototype]

Is the moive Of Mice and Men any good? I read the book for english lit and thought it was very good. Isnt Grapes of Wrath better though? And longer?

I've only seen the modern version of the film, but it was pretty good for all intents and purposes.

 

[CptStern]

The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Bladerunner)
Get Shorty
Solaris (russian version)
American Splendor (Harvey Pekar)
2001 a Space Oddessy


...too many to list

here's a huge list of movies adapted from books

 

[Bad^Hat]

I saw I, Robot the novel in a book store with a picture of Will Smith on the cover. Retch =/