“Top 10 Tuesday” ist ein wöchentliches Meme von The Broke and the Bookish
It’s freebie week at „Top 10 Tuesday“ this week so I got to pick a topic on my own – I’m always excited about freebie weeks because it gives me the opportunity to pick a topic where I can list books that I usually don’t get to mention but on the other hand I always find it a bit difficult to come up with an interesting topic 😀 Since I love watching movies just as much as reading books I wanted to do something movie-related this week, so it seemed only natural to talk about film adaptations. I always get excited when I hear about books I liked being turned into movies but it also works the other way round because almost just as often news about upcoming film adaptations make me want to read the books they are based on.
Therefore I would like to use this freebie week to show you my favorite movies that were based on books I’ve read which means I only listed movie/book combinations where I have both read the book and watched the movie already. Listing these movies doesn’t automatically mean that I think that they are good adaptations in terms of sticking closely to the book because often movies are based rather loosely on written stories – but who says that such films can’t be good movies anyway? Some of the movies listed below are even ones where I actually didn’t like the book as much as the movie so this is rather a movie recommendation post than a bookish one ;D
Jurassic Park (based on „Jurassic Park“ by Michael Crichton)
If you know me than this is probably the most unsurprising mention ever in a TTT post but OF COURSE I had to list my favorite movie EVER first. Seriously, this movie never gets old and I must’ve watched it at least 20 times in my life, I’ve watched it so often on DVD and always tune in when I see that it’s airing on TV – even when it’s in the middle of the night and I’m already dead tired. I know this movie by heart and love every single scene and when I even think about the glasses of water beginning to shake on the dashboard of the Jurassic Park car when the T-Rex approaches or the moment when Dr. Grant and Ellie Sattler see the brachiosaurs for the very first time it already gives me goosebumps. I can also strongly recommend reading the book because its just as good as the movie and I for me it’s already a modern classic.
The Green Mile (based on „The Green Mile“ by Stephen King)
I’ve read the book only last year for the very first time and years after watching the movie but I really like both the movie and the book – the movie probably a bit more because that annoying mouse doesn’t play such a big role as in the book 😀 Tom Hanks and Michael C. Duncan are the perfect cast in my opinion and it’s just such a captivating and moving story.
Casino Royale (based on „Casino Royale“ by Ian Fleming)
„Casino Royale“ is my second favorite Bond movie after „Skyfall“ and when I read the novel a few months later I was actually a bit surprised how closely the movie sticks to the book even though the novel is set in the 1950s and therefore ages before the movie takes place. This is also one of the examples where I find the movie even better than the book because it’s much more complex than the rather short novel.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (based on „Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban“ by Joanne K. Rowling)
Of course I had to list a Harry Potter movie for this topic and since the third book in this series is my favorite I also picked the „Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban“ movie. There are so many cool things in this story like dementors, hippogriffs, time travel, Sirius Black, Hogsmeade and it’s just great to see all these elements being turned into moving pictures that are just as magical as the book.
The Fellowship of the Ring (based on „The Lord of the Rings“ by J.R.R. Tolkien)
I have to admit that I didn’t like Tolkien’s novel very much and found it so tedious that it took me ages to finish it but I really do like the movies (in fact I watched the movies before reading the books and was pretty disappointed when the books turned out to be rather boring^^). I picked „The Fellowship of the Ring“ for my list because it’s my favorite part of the movie trilogy – I also like the epic battles in the sequels but find the first movie much more atmospheric because it has so many amazing settings such as Hobbiton, Bree, Rivendell, the Misty Mountains, Moria or Lothlórien and it’s always nice to (re)visit those places.
Les Misérables (based on „Les Misérables“ by Victor Hugo)
I’ve watched the movie with Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Russel Crowe without even knowing what the story was about and even though 95% of the movie consists of singing I really liked both the story AND the songs – at least some of them. Later I picked the audio book as a companion for my trip to Sweden because of the massive length (the audiobook is almost 58 hours long!) and even though some parts were rather boring I really enjoyed listening to it – i’m usually not really into reading classics but this one is definitely one of my favorites!
Shutter Island (based on „Shutter Island“ by Dennis Lehane)
One of the rare film adaptions where I actually managed to read the book BEFORE watching the movie and I can strongly recommend both the movie and the book. I would also recommend reading the book first because the story has a major plot twist in the end and I think it’s less exciting to read the book if you already know the conclusion. I definitely need to watch that movie again soon! 😀
Silver Linings (based on „The Silver Linings Playbook“ by Matthew Quick)
I’ve watched this movie in a cinema in Prague for the first time and didn’t have any high expectations because it’s not exactly the kind of movie I usually watch but I enjoyed it right from the start and it immediately became one of my favorite movies. Also the movie made me fall in love with Jennifer Lawrence xD I read the book afterwards and liked it as well but in my opinion the movie version is MUCH better because the chemistry between Bradley Cooper and JLaw is just perfect and it’s a great feelgood movie with such a positive message – and there’s even American football in it! \o/
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (based on „The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo“ by Stieg Larsson)
The Millennium series by Stieg Larsson is one of my favorite series ever and I love the movie versions just as well. Like the first book the first movie is my absolute favorite because I find the mystery about the disappearance of Harriet Vanger SO thrilling, even when I re-read the book and therefore already knew the ending. Of course the Swedish movie is the better one but I have to say that I also really enjoyed the US remake. But nothing beats Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander!
Zodiac (based on „Zodiac“ by Robert Graysmith)
I’m a big fan of director David Fincher and when I heard about him making a thriller about the unsolved Zodiac murders I knew that this just had to become one of my favorites. Watching this movie made me so obsessed with this serial killer case that I read both non-fiction books by Robert Graysmith afterwards and even though all the facts could be a bit tedious sometimes it was super interesting to follow the journalist’s investigation and his efforts to finally solve the case.
I really must seek out the Silver Linings movie then!
http://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2016/01/ten-childrens-books-that-celebrate.html
YES! I’m really not that much into drama/romance movies but I absolutely loved that one!
Ach ich finde es klasse, dass es „The Green Mile“ auf deine Liste geschafft hat. Bisher hab ich zwar nur den Film gesehen, aber der nimmt mich echt jedes Mal wieder heftig mit. Das Buch will ich schon seit Ewigkeiten lesen und daher ist es klasse, dass du mich mal wieder daran erinnert hast.
Alles Liebe, Nelly
Ich hab das Buch auch erst Jahre nach dem Film gelesen bzw. das Hörbuch gehört und ich fand es wirklich fast genauso gut wie den Film. Ist für Stephen-King-Verhältnisse auch nicht ganz so ein dicker Wälzer 😀
Wow, you have a lot of good ones on here! Especially Noomi Rapace as Salander, I loved the Swedish versions of the movies. I should re-watch, they were so engrossing, more so than the US version, though I still enjoy it. I totally failed at reading Les Mis, I think I got like 20% in and just could not finish. I was not as resilient to the low points. And Lord of the Rings is one where I think I should probably read the books since I have marathoned the movies soooo many times. And HP too, though I have read those. 🙂 Such a good topic!
I LOVE Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth even though Rooney Mara fits the descriptions in the book better in my opinion because Larsson often wrote that Lisbeth still looked like a girl and Noomi definitely doesn’t 😀 But apart from the age there just couldn’t be a better Lisbeth than Noomi. I was really surprised that I also liked the US version a lot but maybe the story is just so good that it’s hard to ruin it 😀
I can totally see why you DNFed Les Misérables because it’s really loooong and there are a lot of parts where nothing happens and where there are endless descriptions of locations or the society and the like and those were often quite boring. But I listened to the audiobook during my trip to Sweden and there were quite a few long train rides for me so it was probably the perfect situation to listen to it because I just couldn’t escape since I had nothing else on my iPod xD
I’m really not sure if you have to read LotR, I didn’t find it even close to being as exciting as the movies 😀
YAY! Great choice of topic this week. I always love freebie week as people always do such amazing topics! So many great movies on this list that I have absolutely loved – The Green Mile (that movie makes me cry every single time!!! >.<), Jurassic Park, LotR, Harry Potter, Silver Linings Playbook and the Millenium trilogy.
Here's my TTT post if you want to check it out. I picked non-book romances I would love to see get book adaptations.
Thank you! 🙂
I really love freebie weeks, too, because they give you the opportunity to talk about books that maybe don’t get a lot of attention or even non-bookish things like movies.
And yes, The Green Mile is indeed very emotional and I find it even sadder now that Michael C. Duncan has passed away 🙁
You’re making me want to watch „Jurassic Park“ again! (Of course I don’t remember it at all, haha.) I have the book on my Kindle, I just haven’t gotten to it yet.
„Prisoner of Azkaban“ was my favorite when it came out, and I still think it’s the best of the movies!
I’m glad LotR made it to your list. I would have been very disappointed otherwise. 😉
I’m actually shocked that you’ve seen AND read Les Mis. XD (And holy crap, I thought a 32-hour audiobook was bad, hahaha.) I haven’t see or read it. I honestly don’t even know what it’s about, just that so many people are obsessed with it and there are a lot of slow songs, haha.
I didn’t even realize „Shutter Island“ was a book, haha. Do I really need to read it first? 😛
I have no interest in reading „Silver Linings Playbook“ (I didn’t like the other book I read by that author), but the movie was really good. I especially liked that it took place in Philadelphia, because I watched it while I was living there. The football part was completely accurate. ;D
I still need to see the American version of „The Girl…“ one of these days.
Isn’t the Zodiac killer the one you said looked like my grandpa? XD Are you adding this one to the list?
HOW CAN YOU NOT REMEMBER JURASSIC PARK??? It’s the best movie EVER! 😀 Definitely add that to your list, and the sequels as well! 😉
I also have the audiobook of Jurassic Park, maybe you want to try this one?
I LOVE the LotR movies (especially the first one), but I don’t ever want to read the books again, they were so boring XD
LES MISÉRABLES is definitely holding the record for longest audiobook I’ve ever listened to and I don’t think I would’ve ever picked it up if it weren’t for my Sweden trip with all the long train rides^^ I think you should definitely try the movie before the book but I don’t know if you like musicals? 😀
Same goes for SHUTTER ISLAND, if you already know the ending then I’m afraid reading the book might be less fun…
Oh yes, ZODIAC definitely makes it onto the list, I think you should really do some study on your ancestry 😛
(In case you’re wondering about this late reply, I’m just trying to catch up with answering comments ;D)