What Are Your Favorite Book To Movie Adaptations?
In 1994, when the Winona Ryder and Christian Bale version of Little Women came out, my mom told me that if I read the book, she’d take me to see the movie.
I read the book in a few days and loved every second of it (I went on to read Little Men and Jo’s Boys a bunch of times too, and I might actually like those ones even better than Little Women).
True to her word, my mom and I had a special date to go see the movie in the theater, and I’ve loved that movie ever since. It might be one of my favorite book-to-movie adaptations.
My mom loves those kinds of books and movies and I remember many afternoons of her ironing or folding laundry while watching the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice or Anne of Green Gables. I would estimate that I’ve seen both of those at least twenty times.
I inherited both my love of those kinds of movies and my inability to not iron everything I own from her.
Later, after I got married, Bart and I were visiting and she told us she’d heard about a new BBC mini-series called North & South. Two hours later, we were all completely glued to the screen and it became one of my very favorite book-to-movie adaptions (despite the fact I’ve never actually read the book . . . ).
One of my favorite memories from our year in Boston was when Bart and I watched Little Dorrit in our tiny apartment decorated for Christmas – we still quote lines from that one.
And I don’t just like the classics made into movies.
Favorite Book To Movie Adaptations
When I flew home from New York City a few summers ago, I watched both P.S. I Love You and Something Borrowed on the airplane. I’d read both of those books, but never seen the movie of Something Borrowed (I’d watched P.S I Love You when I was pregnant with Ella, which was a very dumb idea – that movie doesn’t mix well with pregnancy hormones).
When I saw the trailer for The Circle, I immediately downloaded the audiobook and started listening because I wanted to see the movie and I usually like to read or listen to the book beforehand (to be honest, I never finished the book OR watched the movie in this case).
Some book-to-movie adaptations, of course, are truly terrible. I think Ella Enchanted has got to be one of the worst ones ever. I loved that book so so much and then the movie was just a complete embarrassment. Shortly after we got married, I told Bart he should read the book and he did and loved it (luckily for him).
Then he wanted to watch the movie and even though I warned him it was a catastrophe, he was sure it couldn’t be THAT bad. After we watched it, he agreed that, actually, yes, it was pretty abysmal.
And sometimes I think the movie versions are BETTER than the book itself. I listened to Divergent years ago and . . . didn’t really get the hype, but then Bart and I watched the movie together in a tiny hotel lobby outside of Bath, England and I really enjoyed the movie a lot.
And it goes without saying that I was THRILLED when the book to movie adaption of my beloved To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before was announced.
I watched all the behind-the-scenes photos and interviews and crossed my fingers that it turned out as good as I hoped. And I was really delighted with the outcome!
Sometimes I think it helps to put a little distance between reading the book and watching the movie version so you’re not so hyper-critical of any differences.
In the case of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, I didn’t re-read it before the movie came out, but this past summer, I read the book again and then promptly rewatched the movie and it wasn’t as good when all the dialogue and every scene from the book was fresh in my mind.
Audible has a fun page of books that have been made into movies sorted by genre, and I’ve been loving looking through them (I’d forgotten all about The Book Thief until I saw it over there and I loved both the audio version and the movie version. Also The Help!).
I also love reading books with my girls and then watching the movie version for family movie night (we just watched A Little Princess over the summer and Mr. Popper’s Penguins a few weeks ago).
And I’m dying to know what your favorite book-to-movie adaptations are (or which ones made your inner reader die a little inside?). I could talk about this all day!
After watching North & South at least 3 times I decided it was time to read the book. Don’t read it. I was horribly disappointed. The movie is better. The BBC version of Pride and Prejudice is my all time favorite book to movie adaptation. I like Shannon Hale’s Austenland turned movie. That’s a fun one to watch. Even though some parts of the Harry Potter movies make me cringe (notably movie #5) I love watching them.
Well in that case, I won’t worry about reading it 🙂
An excellent adaption of one of Francine Proses novel, “Household Saints” to film, also titled Household Saints (1993) was recently reissued in it full cinematic glory. It is about 3 generations of Italian women post WW2 in NYC to the 70’s Beautiful and funny story, fantastical at times. Directed by Nancy Savoca, staring Lilly Taylor, Vincent D’Onofrio and Tracey Ullman. The adaption is AS GOOD as the book, a rarity. The imagery, music, and changing culture truly captures the era. The film really makes you re-think about your own attitudes toward faith and belief.
One of my favorite films and authors of all time.
Don’t dismiss it too quickly! Personally I love the book just as much as the movie and I’ve consumed both multiple times! I like that Margaret is a little gentler in the book. I loved North and South the movie but I never felt like I could be friends with Margaret – she would probably think I was dumb. In the book I feel like I could be good friends with her. Also, as a Christian who usually dislikes inspirational fiction as too saccharine, I thought the Christian element was very well done.
I had no idea To All the Boys I Loved Before was becoming a movie! I loved that book too. You just made my day!
I LOVE the Charlotte’s Web movie with Dakota Fanning and also the (newish) animated Boxcar Children movie on Netflix…so cute & sweet!
We just watched that Charlotte’s Web version and it was SO darling. I’ll have to check out the Boxcar Children one – my girls love that series (so did I as a kid) and we haven’t watched it.
I agree that Ella Enchanted is one of the worst adaptations ever!! It was one of my favorite books growing up, and I was just devastated when the movie came out. And then I had friends who had only seen the movie and never read the book which was about the worst thing I could think of! I always implored them to read the book and try to forget everything about the movie! 🙂 I have fingers crossed about the All the Boys series too!! <3
Please let it be good!
I second Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson. I could watch that over and over. And if you haven’t seen her Oscar acceptance speech for the screenplay, it’s worth finding on YouTube. Even that is creative genius.
I haven’t seen it! But now I must watch it.
I completely agree with this post. The only oversight I see is Austenland. That movie was 10X better than the book. And I have never said that about any movie ever 🙂
I haven’t read that book or seen the movie 🙈
I’m glad you mentioned North and South–contrary to a previous commenter, I think the book is excellent as well. Listened to it last year (after having seen the movie multiple times)–confirmed how great the BBC adaptation is because it was playing out in my mind as I listened to the book. I really liked the new BBC Little Women that came out last year (I do not understand why another version is being released this year?!).
Have you seen “the pink” Pride and Prejudice? A modern, sort of Mormon-ish one?! Cheesy, but hilarious and fun!
I do agree that The Scarlet Pimpernel makes a better movie than book (but I also haven’t read the sequel that the movie draws from, so maybe that’s not fair).
I know this is an old post but I’m new to everyday reading….. most books are much better than the movie. I saw Stardust first and then couldn’t wait to read the book because I enjoyed it. Did not like it at all.
I completely agree about Ella Enchanted. It’s my favorite book ever, and the movie was just such a huge disappointment. They made it way too modern and about activist platforms rather than keeping the magic of the book.
Stardust is a movie that is WAY better than the book. In fairness, I saw the movie first, but I’ve read the book twice to try to change my opinion on it and I still hate the book – the characters don’t seem to have chemistry like they do in the movie, and the ending was super anti-climactic compared to the movie.
With Divergent, I did really like the movies, especially Theo James. Big disappointment that they never finished the movie franchise, but I hated how the series ended anyway!
I love movies/shows that I watch that then make me realize it’s based on a book and make me want to read the book! To All the Boys is a great example of that.
I, too, loved North and South, both book and movie! And the old version of Rebecca was pretty amazing.
The book-to-movie adaptation that may be the most disappointing EVER was Unbroken. They ended the movie before the best part of the story (in my opinion). My husband didn’t read the book but loved the movie. Invariably, when that movie comes up in conversation with others, he’ll rave about it and I’ll pan it. Every time! 🙂
I love the book and the movie The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society!
You missed out on the worst book-to-movie adaptation of all – Eragon!!
I really liked the book A Man Called Ove, and enjoyed the movie as well, even with its slight differences.
I loved the Twilight books…until the movies came out. Ruined them forever, I couldn’t even read the fourth book the movies were so bad.
I loved Killers of the Flower Moon. The movie was great…….if you have read the book. The movie did not fill in all the holes. And the fact that they failed to mention it is the official start of the FBI, was a terrible fact to not include. The acting was amazing but my husband did not like the movie!
Most of the time I’m pretty good at divorcing myself from the book enough to enjoy the movie – I get that it’s an ADAPTATION and not everything can translate into another medium. There have only been a few that I HATED. I remember watching the miniseries The Dovekeepers (Alice Hoffman) and just feeling like I needed to hunt down the people responsible and resort to physical violence. I feel the same way about the new Anne of Green Gables monstrosity Netflix put out. Two movies I like better than the books are Austenland and Inkheart.