The book or the film?

This is a topic that comes up at BookChats often; should we read the book before seeing the film? can we see the film without having read the book? shall we see the film instead of reading the book? why bother with the film if the book was good? I am reliably informed that although an excellent film The Girl with the dragon tattoo is infinitely better in book format because there is so much more story in the book. I cannot comment on this as I have neither read the book nor seen the film and probably will not do so. But that does suggest that the book and the film can be seen not only as different media but also as different stories.

I have just been reading and watching the film previews of Eat, pray, love and think that this might be the case here. I enjoyed about half of the book: the whole of Italy, about a third of India and just some of Indonesia. If the film has picked out the best bits and given them some flow and cohesion, then I'll be pleased to watch.

The best example I can give of both a successful book and film is The Time traveler's wife. Yes, there are more episodes and descriptions in the book and more soul searching but the film was poignant and brought out the daughter's story very well.

I think books into films will continue to be an interesting topic for discussion - there is a brilliant, although not completely up to date, list at Based on the book. Happy reading and viewing!