Booking Through Thursday: Celluloid... and the Great ____ Novel

Today's Question:

1. In your opinion, what is the best translation of a book to a movie?
2. The worst?
3. Had you read the book before seeing the movie, and did that make a difference? (Personally, all other things being equal, I usually prefer whichever I was introduced to first.)

And, by all means, expand this to as long a list as you like. I’m notoriously awful myself at narrowing down to one favorite ANYTHING. So, feel free to list as many “good” or “bad” movie-from-books as you like. (Heaven knows that’s what I’ll be doing….)

1. I think one of the best books to movies is the Colin Firth movie of Pride and Prejudice. They pretty much follow that book exactly, dialogue and everything. I also really liked the Holes movie. And the Lord of the Rings movies have been pretty good too!

2. The recent movie Eragon did a pretty lousy job. I needed more character development and they skimmed over some pretty important stuff.

3. I always try to read the book first. I'd rather know what's happening in a movie, than have the book spoiled. But I'm sure having read the books first does make a difference in how you judge the movie.

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Last week's question that I forgot to do:

What with yesterday being the Fourth of July and all, I’m feeling a little patriotic, and so have a simple question:What, in your opinion, is the (mythical) Great American Novel? At least to date. A “classic,” or a current one–either would be fine. Mark Twain? J.D. Salinger? F. Scott Fitzgerald? Stephen King? Laura Ingalls Wilder?

It doesn’t have to be your favorite book, mind you. “Citizen Kane” may be the “best” film, and I concede its merits, but it’s not my favorite. You don’t have to love something to know that it’s good.

This is a very very hard question! But the first book that came to my head was Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck.