There are an endless amount of book-to-movie/TV adaptations out there. So many that it would be impossible (at least for me) to read every single book that inspired a movie or TV show. Sometimes, I just want to watch something without the added brain space of comparing and contrasting it to a book!
I’ve been thinking a lot about how some of my favorite movies to rewatch are based on books that I am not very interested in actually reading any time soon because of this. YES. I’m telling you, person reading this book blog, movies I prefer over even attempting to read their book counterparts. Without further ado, here are four of these very movies.
1. The Time Traveler’s Wife
Rachel McAdams time travel movies are a genre at this point and I like them all (with the exception of Midnight in Paris). *Check out About Time which is a flawless masterpiece*
Basically there’s this guy who is a time traveler who can’t control where or when he travels to and ends up traveling across the entire timeline (including the childhood, which is kind of weird, yes) of this woman who he obviously falls in love with and who falls in love with him. It’s a real tearjerker and I watch it when I need to feel something. If it weren’t for Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, both of whom I am in love with, would I like this movie as much as I do? Probably not, but it will always be a beloved movie of mine because of them.
The main reason I’m never reading the book is because of the Goodreads reviews. The second I saw that the writer included some awful stereotypes for the non-white characters such as a black family cook, I decided it wasn’t for me. I’ll keep it to the movie that doesn’t include this, thank you.
2. Whip It
This movie, starring Elliot Page as a teenager from a small town in Texas who trades a pageant dress for roller skates to join a roller derby team is everything I could want from a coming-of-age movie. I love that it doesn’t follow the typical coming-of-age conventions by shaking up the romantic storyline that must always be included in movies about teenagers.
I had no idea this movie was originally a book until a few months ago. There isn’t any big reason why I don’t plan on reading the book it was based on, Derby Girl. I am just not interested since the movie is so wonderful. The screenplay was also written by the author of the book, so it’s as the author intended her story to play out on screen.
3. The Stepford Wives
The Stepford Wives book and movie are satirical thrillers about a woman who moves to an idyllic neighborhood where all the wives are suspiciously perfect and enthusiastically dote on their husbands every need or whim at all times. Perhaps they are something other than human…
The 2004 movie is a lot of fun and features a bunch of great actors. Christopher Walken is in it. Need I say more? There’s also a 1975 version I have yet to watch that some would probably fight me on about having not watched yet since it’s supposed to be the superior adaptation. I’ll get to it!
I don’t have any desire to read the book because I simply don’t have enough interest to add it to my never-ending TBR. I’ll probably watch the first version of the movie before I even think about reading the book.
4. Dexter
Here we take a bit of a gruesome turn. Dexter is such a great television show based on a book series that I will probably never read. Both focus on a serial killer who only kills other killers and various other bad people (but, what is bad? *eyebrow raise*).
There’s lots of drama, quite a bit of gore, and an existential mood permeating the whole thing! So if that’s not your cup of tea, steer way clear of this show. I watched it as it was airing every week with my mom as a teenager (which explains a lot) and it still holds a great deal of nostalgia for me despite it’s disturbing premise.
I considered reading this series for about a day, but the show is just too good and reviews from people who love the show are varied. For now, I’ll keep to re-watching the show, especially since there is a reboot coming next year and I’m too lazy to start a whole new book series.
Those are just some of the book-to-movie/TV adaptations I have ~thoughts~ about. Do you have any adaptations you have watched that you like and don’t plan on reading? Or movies that you prefer over the book?
This might make me a bad book lover but sometimes stories are better as movies 🤭
😄 Agreed, sometimes the book just doesn’t cut it!
I totally agree with you on The Time Traveler’s Wife! I loved the movie but I have no desire reading the book, because the main reason I loved it were the actors. 😅 Rachel McAdams is such an amazing actor. And About Time is so good!
Bookworm or not bookworm, I feel like there are a lot of stories that are so much better as movies /tv shows. One of my favourite movie is Big Fish and it has a book, but I’m not sure if I should read it… It’s perfect as it is.
Yes, not many people I know like or have watched The Time Traveler’s Wife. It’s SO good though!
Big Fish is one of my favorite movies ever, too! I don’t even know how many times I’ve watched it at this point. I’ve wavered for years on whether or not I should read it, especially since the reviews aren’t so great. For now it’s a no for me.
I love this post! And I so agree, more times than I think us bookworms like to admit, the movie can be better than the book it’s based on. 🙈 I tend to wind up reading/watching them both because I’m morbidly curious, but I also totally get not wanting to lmao. Off the top of my head, Crazy Rich Asians is definitely one of those cases where I liked the movie way more than the novel. 😅
I get that! I loved the Crazy Rich Asians Movie but heard so many mixed things about the book and decided not to read it. I’m just way too lazy, really 😅
Aaah love this post! I think I will never read the Locke & Key books nor the I am not okay with this books! But that’s just because they’re graphic novels and I’m not really into that. For some reason I just NEED to read what I watch and watch what I read. I don’t know, it’s an obsession! (Also, may I just say that your blog looks so cute? I love it!)
Thanks! I have been meaning to watch those series, but agreed. I don’t think I’ll ever read them either once I do. I get that! Thanks so much!
Love this post!! There’s a lot of shame around reading the books a movie or series is based off first but sometimes you simply don’t want to read the book and just enjoy the story in whichever form you find the most appealing. For me that would be outlander I have no intention of ever reading the books 😪 I’m more than content with the series tbh
Yes! We only have so much time. Agreed on Outlander…I tried starting the series before watching the show and ended up DNF’ing it because of how many questionable things happened in the book. I’ll keep to the show.