Let’s talk books (and movies)

Aside from loving movies, I also love to read. Most of the books I have read, are in fact books that have been made into movies or the other way around. Now, more than ever, movie get made into books. Take a look at some popular movies from last year: The Kissing Booth is a book, To all the boy’s I’ve loved before is a book, Mary Poppins Returns is based on a book. Today, I want to talk to you about books made into movie in general, my favorite movie made-books and some facts to share with you.

TIP

I want to start off with sharing an underrated book with you. It’s not a book-made-into-movie kind of book, but movies is the central theme in this book. If you ever have the chance to read it, please do! It’s called It only happens in the movies and is written by Holly Bourne. It’s about Audrey, who starts working at a cinema. She hates romantic movies because of all the clichés in them. But then she meets Harry, who also works at the cinema. Harry is a wannabe movie maker, and seems to have all the movie clichés from the romcoms.

GENERAL

Books made into movies have been there for a long time. You all know The Wizard of Oz, from 1939. But did you know that the first feature length movie made from a book was probably The Three Musketeers in 1903? Some of the most popular movies from the past decades come from a book. The Godfather was written in 1969 and the trilogy came out in 1972, 1974 and 1990. Gone with the Wind was published in 1936 and the movie came out in 1939. It’s one of the most read books but also the movie with the best revenue, making over 4 billion dollars (considering inflation).

What I seem to forget, most of the time, is that perhaps the most popular movie company currently, is also making movies based on books. I’m talking about Marvel. Comic books are also book, obvioulsy. Ever since Iron Man came out, Marvel has been growing and growing and even got a record in ticket pre-sales this week!

MY FAVOURITES

I obviously haven’t read all of the books made into movies, but I have read quite a few. I want to talk to you about some of my favorites and if the movies did justice to the books.

Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda

I loved the movie so much, I asked for this book past birthday. I got it (together with the sequel, Leah on the Off Beat) and I read it in two days. The movie really did justice to this book! I have written a blog post about the book and the movie before and you can read it here.

Recommend: Both

The Fault in our Stars

John Green is my favorite writer, so I really can’t forget these books! The movie came out in 2014 and was a huge hit. I read the book a year before, in Dutch, and I cried. While watching it in the cinema, I did not cry. I thought it was because I knew what the story was about and saw things coming, but I was wrong. I got the book in English later on in 2014 and I cried reading it. So I guess you can say that I love the book more! The movie did do justice to the book, but not enough.

Recommend: The book

Paper Towns

Papers Towns is an okay book, but the movie wasn’t great, to be honest. If you are interested in the story, I recommend reading the book and maybe later on, watch the movie. The story is more extensive in the book, the movie really didn’t do the book any justice. The book, however, is good read!

Recommend: The book

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I really liked this movie, and bought the book after seeing it twice. The book is simple to read, not too many pages. If you don’t like reading, this book is great. It is written in diary-style, which makes it so simple. However, don’t let twelve-year-olds read this book, the general theme isn’t for children. The movie really, really did justice to this book!

Recommend: Both

Me Before You

This movie. It was so sad. As was the book. Jojo Moyes did a good job on this one. The movie was a great hit, I saw in the cinema and cried my eyes out. Even after watching it three times, I still cried. I read the book after seeing the movie twice, and it was even better than the movie. The book had a few great things that would have added more to the movie, like a tattoo Will and Lou get. The movie was good, but the book was better.

Recommend: The book

FACTS

• Did you know that Mean Girls is based on a book? Not a story-book though, but a self-help book called Queen Bees and wannabes.
• Shrek is also based on a book! It’s a picture book from William Steig.
• Pitch Perfect, a book? Yes! Pitch Perfect is based on a book of the same name. However, it was a nonfiction. Writer Mickey Rapkin followed a group of collegiate a capella groups on their quest to success, which he turned into a book. The Bellas are loosely based on a group from the University of Oregon.
• Clueless is based on Emma by Jane Austen. However, it’s a modern retelling of the story, obviously.
• There are also some books based on movie, the other way around. You can read Home Alone, Rain Man, 13 going on 30, E.T. the Extra Terrestial and much more!

Got any recommodations for me to read? Let me know in the comments!