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RE: Has seeing a film ever made you read the book it was based on?

obama2010 — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:04:57 GMT

daveyd (1/30/2008)

Has seeing a film ever made you read the book it was based on?

I recently saw the Golden Compass and loved it, I've since bought the Northern Lights trilogy.

well ,my baby there are too many films,

RE: Has seeing a film ever made you read the book it was based on?

moon.stone.pearl — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:44:09 GMT

I am a person who only sometimes goes to the movies however, I've bought 5 books because of movies I've seen on both the big screen and the little screen.

The first was Never Ending Story. I took my eldest 2 kids to see the movie. I found the book, bought it & read it. It's dated 4th - 8th Jan 1987. I've read it more than once. Author is Michael Ende. The book includes the next part of the story, Part 2.

The 2nd movie was one I saw on late night TV. It starred Charles Laughton as the 'evil killer'. (He also played Quasimodo in the b&w movie 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame').
The TV movie 'The Night Of The Hunter' was in black & white which added to the book's darkness for the very reason one must use their imagination to add the colour of the printed words. Great book by Davis Grubb. The movie was directed by Charles Laughton.

The third movie was also a TV movie. It was called, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. It was filmed in black & white & is the story of the childhood of a girl & her family in the slums of Brooklyn between 1902 & 1919. The movie was deep & I still haven't been able to complete the book. I've had it for about 25 years. The printing in the novel is extremely small and close together. I've found it to be the stopper for me.!? A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is by Betty Smith. I had some difficulty buying it, but eventually I found a bookstore who imported it from the US for me.

The 4th movie was again via TV. The movie was Watership Down. I bought the book when I did my Year 12 as an adult. (In English, we read & compared 3 books on a theme & wrote an essay. I chose Pork by Cris Freddi - a dark novel set in England, about the lives, love, fights & death of animals in a forest; Ancient Solitary Reign by Martin Hocke - a story about a family of owls near London. The war, the invading monster Eagle Owl & the hero Barn Owl. The last book I chose was Watership Down). In this instance having seen the movie Watership Down, seemed to be a negative influence on my understanding of the book. In that part of the essay I failed. Next time I'll listen to my instinct on which book to include, instead of the teacher's suggestion!

I have a 5th book I've bought because of the movie. It is a 3 in 1, 1990 copy of Lord Of The Rings. I haven't read it as I haven't found enough time to give to its reading but I know I will. The movie (series) Lord Of The Rings was fabulous. I won a ticket to see the first part of the LOTR series & was hooked. Years before I'd bought the animated book, LOTR, Part 1. Apparently there never was a Part 2. I gave it away to someone at the adult school some years ago. I've since found & bought the prequel to LOTR, The Hobbit. It was suggested years ago I read The Hobbit before LOTR. I now have that opportunity.

RE: Has seeing a film ever made you read the book it was based on?

manda66 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:31:11 GMT

I always find that the book is better, characters in the movies never live up to those you create in your head while reading. Plus the story is often altered so much it has lost it's original meaning.

If you enjoyed the His Dark Materials trilogy there are also "prequel" books called Lyra's Oxford and Once Upon a Time in the North (Lee's story) - they are beautifully presented and contain illustrations and items (like a board game). Highly recommended.

RE: Has seeing a film ever made you read the book it was based on?

bonsaigal08 — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:10:49 GMT

I saw the film Running With Scissors, that movie compelled me to read the book.

The book put the movie into better perspective, however seeing the movie first, made me see the characters like the actors in the film rather than my own idea of what the characters look like.

I generally like reading the books first - get a mental image yourself of the characters, settings etc, then watch the movie.

RE: Has seeing a film ever made you read the book it was based on?

charmal — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:17:45 GMT

If I am interested enough I will read the book first and then compare it to the movie. The movie is never the same as the book in fact sometimes better.

Has seeing a film ever made you read the book it was based on?

daveyd — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 11:54:37 GMT

Has seeing a film ever made you read the book it was based on?

I recently saw the Golden Compass and loved it, I've since bought the Northern Lights trilogy.