Book to Movie Adaptations

Everyone who enjoys reading books has at some point been excited about a book they have read being adapted for film but do we end up being disappointed?

I always read the book before I watch the film because if you read the book first you get to imagine for yourself the world the author has created and imagine the character's appearances for yourself because everyone will imagine things in a different way than you do. Then when you watch the film you will get to see how somebody else has imagined the world because that is what an adaptation is: somebody's interpretation of a book.

There have been some great adaptations that have been very successful and widely enjoyed.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner is an example of a great adaptation, one that I really enjoyed. James Dashner created a great idea and story line, one that I was really interested in but I found his writing style was quite hard to understand at times which made it difficult for me to fully enjoy the story at times. When the film came out I really enjoyed it and I felt that although there was differences to the book a really good job had been done adapting it for the big screen.

Harry Potter by J.K Rowling is a great example of a successful book to movie adaptation. I do prefer the books (no surprise!) but I really like how they brought the story to life. It satisfied fans of the books and it also brought new fans, encouraging reading.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness which only came to cinemas at the start of this month is another one of my favourite adaptations so if you haven't seen it yet make sure you do, but read the book first! This was just a great adaptation because not a lot changed but I think this was down to the fact that Patrick Ness wrote the screenplay which not a lot of authors do but they should if they have the option.

Of course there are millions more adaptations that I could list here but if I did then this post would go on forever! Although,  I will tell you what book I would love to be adapted for film which is Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices series. This would be great because there is the Shadowhunters TV show which is doing well.

The only problem I used to have with film adaptations is the fact that some events that happened in the book version either happened differently in the film or didn't happen at all. This is partly down to the tight time frames that films have to fit an entire book into but also due to what I wrote earlier about interpretations. How I fixed this problem because for me it was a big one, was that I viewed both the book and the film as different things entirely.

So to answer the question at the start of this post, I think an adaptation can only disappoint you if you let it disappoint you. I mean there will obviously be times when an adaptation doesn't turn out to make a good movie but mostly your love for how you see the book in your head is contributing to any negative thoughts you may have about the film. 

What's your most anticipated adaptation coming out this year?