Some of my favorite books that have been made into movies. And why the books are almost always better.

Barnes and Noble posted an article on why the books are almost always better than the movies. Here are some of their points and I totally agree!

• The Movie Gets Lost In Translation
• Readers and fans say: “That’s Not How I Pictured It!”
• Limited Storytelling Time
• Script Writing May Not Do The Story Justice
• Books Allow The Reader to Put it Together
• The Book Stays With You

Here are some titles I have read and watched of books made into movies. This is by no means a full and complete list. I just wanted to share some of my favorites!

***Spoiler Alert:*** There are several spoilers ahead so beware! Or just read the book and see the movie so you can finish my blog 🙂

The Hunger Games:
“In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.” Summary of The Hunger Games book 1 from Amazon.com.

April’s thoughts: I loved this trilogy. The books were fabulous. The movies really capture the plot of the book accurately and effectively even though they leave a few things out and got rid of minor characters. This page turner was such an original story and Suzanne Collins did a fabulous job with this popular young adult series. I loved the second movie more than the first and can’t wait for Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2 which comes out November 21, 2014 and November 20, 2015 respectively. Here is the brand new trailer for your viewing pleasure:

The Twilight Saga:
“Bella Swan’s move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella’s life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear.” Summary of Twilight (The Twilight Saga book 1) from Amazon.com

April’s Thoughts: I saw the first movie before I read any of the books. That movie didn’t inspire me to read the book, rather the hype did. I almost didn’t give these books a chance. I’m so glad I did. I got sucked in reading book 1 and have read the whole series including the Short Second Life of Bree Tanner and The Twilight Saga: the Official illustrated Guide. (Yes, I agree that owning the guide makes me kind of a dork.)  I’m also team Edward 🙂
I loved the Twilight saga and sure bummed when I finished the series. But, since there were so many movies, I felt like I still could experience Twilight on the big screen after I finished reading the books. The first movie was terrible and I loved the rest. I was very shocked in Breaking Dawn Part 2 when Carlyle died, (which did NOT happen in the book) but was relieved, like so many other fans, that it was just Alice’s vision and he actually did not fall to his death. Stephanie Meyer had a great vision for the plot and I loved the way she wrote the books, even if they are aimed at young adults. I will also talk about another book of hers called The Host which was also made into a movie.

Divergent:
“One choice can transform you. Beatrice Prior’s society is divided into five factions—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). Beatrice must choose between staying with her Abnegation family and transferring factions. Her choice will shock her community and herself. But the newly christened Tris also has a secret, one she’s determined to keep hidden, because in this world, what makes you different makes you dangerous.” Summary of the book Divergent from Amazon.com

April’s Thoughts: I absolutely love these books. Divergent was featured in one of my Guide to Chick Lit posts.  I was told to read it a long time ago but never did. Then a few months before the movie came out I read book 1 and I was hooked. I really liked the way the main character Tris was so willing to sacrifice herself for the ones she loved and the greater good. Insurgent and Allegiant were great too, but I was very torn about the ending of the series. I didn’t want Tris to die, but I see how that was the only way the book could have turned out. After finishing the series, I did some research on the ending and Veronica Roth said that Tris needed to die to make the book right. She had almost died in the first two books and in the end she finally sacrificed herself. I have not read the Four Books. Can’t get myself to spend money on a book so short… I thought the Divergent movie was pretty good. It did not get the best reviews. But I will see the remaining movies when they come out because I’m a fan and love seeing books I like when they appear in movies.

Movie Insurgent premieres March 20, 2015. Movie Allegiant Part 1 premieres March 18, 2016 and Part 2 premieres March 27, 2017.

The Help:
“Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who’s always taken orders quietly, but lately she’s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She’s full of ambition, but without a husband, she’s considered a failure. Together, these seemingly different women join together to write a tell-all book about work as a black maid in the South, that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town…” Summary of the book from Amazon.com

April’s Thoughts: I believe I saw this movie before I read the book, but both versions are great. When I see movies before the books I almost always picture the characters from the movie in mind while reading. That’s why so many people prefer to read the book first so they can picture the characters from their imagination. I thought The Help movie was very accurate from the book. Loved both and learned a lot about the old South in the civil rights era and the way blacks were treated by the whites and vice versa. I loved the ending and the fact that they were writing a book within the book. It was a very comical book/movie.

The Fault in Our Stars:
“At 16, Hazel Grace Lancaster, a three-year stage IV–cancer survivor, is clinically depressed. To help her deal with this, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor, and the two fall in love. Both kids are preternaturally intelligent, and Hazel is fascinated with a novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Most particularly, she longs to know what happened to its characters after an ambiguous ending. To find out, the enterprising Augustus makes it possible for them to travel to Amsterdam, where Imperial’s author, an expatriate American, lives.” Summary of The Fault in Our Stars from Amazon.com.

April’s Thoughts: I also read this right before the movie came out. I expected it to be very sad, but it wasn’t terribly sad. It was a story about teens living with cancer, but they really lived each day to the fullest when the two main characters that fell in love came together. Shaline Woodly has really become a wonderful actress. (She was also in Divergent and I first saw her in the TV Show Secret Life of the American Teenager). The book had parts and characters not included in the movie, but that is to be expected. Since the lead male role was an amputee, I was able to convince my husband (who does not like girlie movies) to see the movie with me. (He makes prosthetics.) The Fault in our Stars is funny but John Green used a vocabulary that even I as a writer had trouble keeping up with. I was lucky I read it on my Kindle app so that I could look up a word or two every several pages! I thought it was unrealistic that sixteen year olds would talk like that, but it certainly made the book/movie interesting. Very cool story.

The Host:
“Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, didn’t expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she’s never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.” Summary of The Host from Amazon.com.

April’s Thoughts: This is Stephanie Meyer’s lesser known masterpiece. I read this book after Twilight and loved it. It was quite weird because the story is set in the future when aliens take over the earth and use human bodies as hosts. I was so excited when I saw the movie was coming out. It was great and the end of the book/movie was fabulous. It’s one of those stories that you think is ending, but really there are like three more endings that could have been it but it keeps going. I highly recommend this book/movie!

My Sister’s Keeper:
“Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate — a life and a role that she has never challenged…until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister — and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

My Sister’s Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person.” Summary of My Sister’s Keeper from Amazon.com.

April’s Thoughts: This book by Jody Picoult is very popular and it’s another sad story about childhood cancer and how it impacts everyone in this family. It is a very thought-provoking story. The movie changed the ending! The other sister died! I rented the movie after enjoying the book and was so shocked! That’s a great example of how Hollywood and movies change important facts from books when making them into movies. I guess they thought the movie would do better with a different ending but I think fans would agree that this was not a good move!

Something Borrowed:
“Something Borrowed tells the story of Rachel, a young attorney living and working in Manhattan. Rachel has always been the consummate good girl—until her thirtieth birthday, when her best friend, Darcy, throws her a party. That night, after too many drinks, Rachel ends up in bed with Darcy’s fiancé. Although she wakes up determined to put the one-night fling behind her, Rachel is horrified to discover that she has genuine feelings for the one guy she should run from. As the September wedding date nears, Rachel knows she has to make a choice. In doing so, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren’t always neat, and sometimes you have to risk all to win true happiness.” Summary of Something Borrowed from Amazon.com

April’s Thoughts: I love that this favorite Chick Lit book of mine was made into a movie. I’m a big fan of Emily Giffin and although this book/movie makes it seem that cheating on your significant other is Ok, it tells a great story. I’ve talked about this book in my blog before. If you like it, read the sequel Something Blue that follows the same characters. Two of the characters in Something Borrowed show up in Giffin’s other novels, which I love. The movie is only so/so but I still enjoyed it since I’m such a fan of the book.

Honorable Mentions of Books Made into Movies:

The Da Vinci Code (Read it in one weekend. It’s a classic page turner. Dan Brown is very talented)
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: (Great young adult series that I read in high school. Several movies in this series have been made)
Where the Heart Is: (Read this a long time ago. Great story of the woman who had a baby in Wal-Mart and comes to love the town she was deserted in.)
A Walk to Remember: (The Nicholas Sparks classic played on screen by Mandy Moore. Wonderful and sad story)

Coming Soon:

Gone Girl
I read this amazing and mind blowing book and wrote about it in my post: April’s Guide to Chick Lit Part 2. The Movie comes out: October 3, 2014.

These three were the rare case that I liked the movie better!

• The Great Gatsby
• The Notebook
• The Devil Wears Prada

On my list to read:

• In her Shoes: Jennifer Weiner
• The Book Thief: Markus Zusak (still working on it. Pretty decent book so far, but hard to get into)
• Safe Haven: Nicholas Sparks

Some would argue Harry Potter, but I’m not a fan of the books or movies. I’ve seen the first two or three movies, but it’s not one of my favorite franchises for sure.

Of course I have to talk about Fifty Shades of Grey since the Trailer just came out. This book was a worldwide phenomenon and the movie comes out Valentine’s Day 2015. I’m sorry, but I did not enjoy the book. I know several women who agree with me on this. It was not well written, was very repetitive with phrases, words and the plot was very predictable. Usually, when I read a book in a series, I finish out the other books in the series, but not Fifty Shades of Grey. I stopped after book one and I’m not sorry I did. Some women love it, but it’s not for me. Who knows, the movie may be pretty good but I know that many women are disappointed on the casting decisions.

Click here, here, and here for internet lists of books made into movies.

What’s your favorite book that has been made into a movie? Share in the comments section!