Thursday, July 22, 2010

Question of the Week: Do you read the book before the movie?



This question comes from Eleni at La Femme Readers

Question:
When a book is made into a movie or TV show, do you read the book before watching it? Or it doesn't matter either way?
(Thanks to The Book Vixen for question idea!)


My Answer: This is definitely one of the tougher questions to answer for me so I will put it this way, if the book is paranormal, I have more than likely read it before the movie came out. 

I am the type of person who doesn't watch a lot of movies. When I do though I usually don't know if it's been a book in another life eg The Notebook, The Devil Wears Prada.

If I watch the movie and then I find out that there is a book before it, I might read it, but it's unlikely. Books are books and movies are movies in my mind. And when you take a series like True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse, well, you really don't even need to read the books because they are so different.

So I don't know if I even answered this question, but the majority of the time...no, I think.

I will say that if there is a movie I want to see and it's coming very soon eg Tomorrow When the War Began, I won't force myself to read the book first...man I have enough "urgent" books as it is.

10 comments:

lanna-lovely said...

I like to read the books of movies I've seen if they're based on one... but whether I read the book first or not, it varies. And whether the order I read/watch them in is a good thing or not varies too.

The movie Blood & Chocolate, I saw that before reading the book and I liked it... and then I read and loved the book. The two were completely different and if I had read the book first then it probably would've made me like the movie less.

Ella Enchanted - saw the movie first, then read the book. Liked them both but preferred the movie.

Speak - read the book first and then saw the movie, I loved them both even though I wouldn't have chosen that cast.

Twilight - read the books first then saw and hated the movie.

The Pact by Jodi Picoult - saw the movie and liked it then found out it was a book, read the book and loved it and it made me not like the movie so much.

Tuck Everlasting - saw the movie then read the book and I adore them both, they're different but I love them for their differences.

So yeah, it varies. Honestly, I think it's better to see the movies first because then there aren't so many expectations... plus, the book is way more likely to spoil the movie than the movie spoiling the book (I mean, books are longer with more in them, the movie cuts, changes and condenses things).

P.s. I really wanna see Tomorrow When the War Began too. <3

Unknown said...

For me, it's a no I guess.

If I'd read a book and loved it, then it was made into a movie, I'd want to watch it. Or if I'd seen the movie first and loved it, I'd be interested to read the book it was based on. But I'd be prepared either way that the book and movie could be very different.

Alessandra said...

I, too, don't watch so many movies. But I usually like to read the book before I watch the movie.

Creative Mind said...

If I see a movie based on a book and really liked it, I will try to read the book too.
If I know that a movie is based on a book, I prefer to read the book first. But sometimes it's really hard for me to accept the differences between the book and the movie...

Alyssa Kirk said...

If I haven't read the book, I won't before seeing the movie since I'm usually disappointed.


~Alyssa
Teens Read & Write

Ana C. Nunes said...

It depends! I usually like to read the book first, but I don't mind doing it in reverse.
There a lot more book adtpations than we know, and sometimes it happens that I see a movie and it was based on a book, and I wasn't aware of it. (Everything is illuminated was the last one).
But for example, with "The road", I did everything I could to read the book before seeing the movie. Same with "The reader" and all the Harry Potter books.
But with "True Blood" and "The Vampire Chronicles" I watched the tvshow and didn't even bother reading the books.

-k said...

Tomorrow When The War Began is one of those books that I just found out about when I found out about the movie and I really want to read and watch it.
For the most part, though, if I see a movie (and liked it) and then find out that it was based on a book, I want to read the book.
But if I read a book first and then they make a movie, sometimes it depends on the cast on whether or not I'll spend the money to see it. More than likely I will, though, because I like to compare the two.

titania86 said...

Usually I find that I have already read the book before it's been turned into a movie. I like the experience, but I do think it diminishes my liking of the film because I'm comparing it in my head as it goes along instead of just enjoying the movie for what it is. If I watch the film first and I liked it, I will read the book as a comparison.

Steph said...

Ok here is my take on the subject:
I watched Twilight before reading it...The movie made me want to read the book...the book was way better. I think that in that case I was glad to read the other 3 first. But I read the cirque du freak books first and then saw the movie and was disapointed by it. So to answer your question I think i prefer the books first then the movies.. I would like to know the real story before I see the directers version played out!

Laura Flanagan said...

Usually I prefer reading the book before watching the movie. Sometimes, it happens that I don't know that some movies I've seen, they have book. But then, I already don't read the books. Finally, I like books more than movies because these last ones always remove many details.

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