Originally Posted by Tangerine

I thought the premise of the book had a ton of promise, but then for like 300 pages in the middle it was just two suburbanites playing house. Was the movie like that too? Not to mention that no matter how hard I tried I could not get over the idea of an adult man suddenly showing up, acting like he knows this little girl, and them talking about how they are going to have babies and be married later on.

I couldn't even watch the movie - I literally had to force myself. As for the book, it was one of those "inertia" reads - the beginning was interesting so I just kept going with it. In retrospect, I don't think I really enjoyed it. It got tedious after a while.

I find a lot of books hard to compare to the movies because they are such a different take on the story (Cuckoo's Nest and The Shining come to mind). Some movies that I like better than the books are One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rosemary's Baby, The Last Picture Show, and The Exorcist.
One thing that bugs me about books adapted to film is that sometimes censorship can cause important elements of the story to be lost. One instance that particularly bothers me is A Streetcar Named Desire. The homosexuality, nymphomania, and rape elements crucial to the play were completely lost (over only VERY slightly hinted at) in the film version.

I like reading books much more than watching movies. Bit still I love Bergman's films. As for comparing films and books, books are more interesting anyway. And sometimes film can even spoil the opinion about book!(watch "Dorian Gray" and you'll understand)

Often I'm so thrilled about a film that I then grab the book. (I must admit, I read a lot fewer books since there exists the internet. )

Beside some already mentioned good adaptations ("Room with a view", BBC-version of "Pride and prejudice", "Emma" with Gwyneth Paltrow and Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" from 1968), there is an excellent one in my opinion:
"Girl with a pearl earring" with Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth. I don't think that Tracy Chevalier's book is better than this movie.

The Help! I loved both I have to say, I first watched the movie then I decided to read the book and I have to say I didn't regret it at all!
The book is so good and so detailed! So I recommend the movie first and then the book... reserve the best for last

Originally Posted by xmrbrightside89

The Help! I loved both I have to say, I first watched the movie then I decided to read the book and I have to say I didn't regret it at all! The book is so good and so detailed! So I recommend the movie first and then the book... reserve the best for last

This was one of the rare times when I loved the movie and felt only so-so about the book.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy translated beautifully into film, IMO.

I am reading the help and didn't see the movie
I am enjoying the book
I doubt I will see the movie
I don't watch movies at home
I always tend to fall asleep or get distracted

I enjoyed these adaptations, even if I don't think they're quite as good as the books/plays:

A Tale of Two Cities (1958) (I heart Dirk Bogarde)
Far From the Madding Crowd (I heart Julie Christie, too!)
The BBC version of Pride & Prejudice every girl between 14-18 is forced to watch in high school, then promptly swoons over Colin Firth. Makes me almost forget the disastrous Girl With the Pearl Earring...
Zifferelli's Hamlet & Polanski's Macbeth
And the Band Played On... a gallant effort, stood well enough on it's own; you really can't cover the entire early HIV epidemic in just over 2 hours, though

Does Apocolypse Now count?

I read Atonement before watching the movie and i like the movie much more.

Also like LOTR movies more than the book. In fact i couldnt finish the books. There were just pages and pages of descriptions on trees and hills and hobbit songs.....

I liked the film adaptation of 'One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest'. I thought it rang true to the book.

The film of 'A Clockwork Orange' was, imo, a true representation of the book, until the end...
It completely ignored the last chapter and in doing so skewed the whole thing. It's an absolute travesty and does an injustice to the book and author.

I read the original Confessions of a Shopaholic, and they were far FUNNIER than the movie. The books have you thinking OMG I do that etc, but the film was just 2 dimensional :(

I loved the Emma Thompson version of Sense and Sensibility, and the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice ( who doesn't ).

^^ The Shopaholic books are way better than the movie was! That being said, I still liked the movie.