Before They Were Movies…
Friday, March 26th, 2010They were books.
Lately it seems like there are a lot of books being made into big budget movies, but I tend to lean toward the old adage that the book is always better. Check out some of these books-made-movies and tell us which you think is better: the book or the movie.
The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks
The Last Song is the latest of Spark’s books to be adapted for the big screen. The book follows seventeen year old Veronica “Ronnie” Miller as she visits her estranged father and finds her first love. The book is set in North Carolina, but was changed to Georgia for the film after states campaigned for months to host production. The movie, starring Miley Cyrus (a.k.a. Hannah Montana) and Greg Kinnear, is set to hit theatres at the end of this month.
Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series has sold more than 85 million copies, captivated teens and adults alike and has sparked Team Edward vs Team Jacob arguments the world over. The books enjoy must-have status among teenage girls, and the movie versions, starring every young Hollywood heart throb under the sun (Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner), are becoming their own phenomenon. New Moon was just released on DVD, and the third book in the saga, Eclipse, is set to hit theatres this June.
I have to admit, I’ve never actually read a Cormac McCarthy book, BUT, I did see the movie version of The Road, and I have to say, I really liked it. I can only assume then that the book is *amazing*. It’s on my rental shelf, and I’m really looking forward to giving it a listen. This post-apocalyptic tale follows a father and son as they walk alone through a burned America, searching for food, hiding from cannibals, and trying to make the best of nothing. The movie stars Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron.
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
The Lovely Bones was a surprise success when it was first published in 2002. Sebold had previously written a memoir, but she was a young author and this was her first novel, and the plot and narrative device was unconventional. It ended up selling more than a million copies and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for more than a year. The movie version, released last month, was directed by Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame), and stars Mark Wahlberg.
Dear John is the story of John, an angry rebel who drops out of school and enlists in the Army because he doesn’t know what else to do with his life. Then he meets Savannah. They fall in love and want to settle down, but 9/11 changes everything. The movie, starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried hit theatres earlier this year. Dear John follows a long list of Sparks novels that have been optioned into feature films, including The Notebook, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, and Nights in Rodanthe
The Blind Side, by Michael Lewis
The Blind Side tells the story of Michael Oher. One of thirteen children by a crack-addicted mother, Oher doesn’t know his real name, his father, or even his birthday. He is taken in by a well-off family who introduce him to love, and football, and change his life completely. Sandra Bullock stars in the film adaptation as Leigh Anne Tuohy, the woman who takes Oher in. She won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance.
And there’s more:
Push, by Sapphire, was made into the Oscar-winning film Precious.
Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief became a movie by the same name.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the extremely popular kids series, just hit the big screen.
