Books on the Big Screen

Since I don't have one of those DVR thingies, I had to suffer through the Oscar telecast (well, actually I did a fair amount of channel surfing). Really, I just wanted to stare at Jennifer Aniston's face as Brangelina sat a few giant leaps and one good lunge away (I know, cheap shot). But anyways, as I was watching it occurred to me how many of the great cinematic films of our time are actually based on movies. This year, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire were both based on books by Bernard Schlick and Vikas Swarup, respectively. Another Best Picture nom, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, is based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It's a time honored tradition that great books will find their way to the big screen. My question is which medium usually turns out better? The book or the movie?

Oftentimes, if I've seen the movie, I'm wary of reading the book and vice versa. There is something that always ends up lost in translation. Like some of my most beloved characters ending up lost and forgotten on the director's cutting room floor, or maybe a scene that is rendered unrecognizable on the big screen. Even the seemingly indomitable Harry Potter falls flat in the movie theater. I actually found myself drifting off in the middle of the last 5 hour Potter film...or was that 6 hours? Then there's the converse situation, a book totally lacks the impact and focus of the movie. My first bad movie/book experience happened years ago when at around 12 years old I decided to read the book version of my favorite movie, Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. Total and utter disappointment. But really, how can you go from the delightful Julie Andrews singing merrily about spoonfuls of sugar and dancing on rooftops to the paperback version? That's a hard act to follow. So what, if any, movie have you seen that was equally as good on paper as it was on the big screen?

Famous Books on the Big Screen:

Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote

Ben-Hur - Lee Wallace

The Color Purple – Alice Walker (I have easily watched this movie a hundred times...the book...eh, not so much)

The Godfather - Mario Puzo

Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell

Girl with a Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier

Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

The Witches of Eastwick – John Updike

The Bonfire of the Vanities – Tom Wolfe

The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan (wait, I think I possibly loved both the book and the movie equally!)

Holes – Louis Sachar

The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Chronicles of Narnia – C.S. Lewis

Carrie – Stephen King (never read the book, but I just can't fathom it leaving me as enthralled as the prom scene with that bucket of pig blood...I get the heebie jeebies just thinking about it)

Interview with a Vampire – Anne Rice (hmmm...since Brad Pitt was in it, I'm going to say the movie was much better ;))

The Notebook – Nicholas Sparks (never read the book, but this is definitely a 5-Kleenex movie)

Twilight – Stephanie Meyer (please don't shoot me Twilight folk, I've only read the book)

Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot

Confessions of a Shopaholic – Sophie Kinsella

*Insert the name of any John Grisham novel you could possibly think of*

Just for kicks...