Reading Books after You've Seen the Movie

[Tron]

I believe this thread has been done before, but not very recently, so I figure it's worth another shot.

Anyone read any good books lately that are better than their movie counterparts, or at least a good compliment to them?

I just started reading American Psycho, but I'm only ~40 pages deep and I'm not sure how I like it... The main reason I am reading it is because I heard that the movie was excellent in all regards except for the ending. Things seem well-paced and -written so far, except I'm beginning to find the delineations of every piece of clothing every character is wearing to become a bit tiresome.

Another thing is that I can't help but imagine the entire thing is being narrated by Christian Bale. This isn't really a problem, but I recently came to the realization that I do this whenever I know the author/character, and it turns out to be a BIG problem when I'm reading speeches by the Kennedys.

Word.

[4_2_it]

Dune is one that fills in a lot of back story that could not be covered in the movie.

[bisonbison]

Orson Scott Card did a novelization of The Abyss which was a lot better than the movie.

I should also point out that Orson Scott Card is a giant weirdo.

[Slow Play Ray]

The Beach

Relic

The Count of Monte Cristo

Stung (movie = Owning Mahowny)

[gumpzilla]

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Orson Scott Card did a novelization of The Abyss which was a lot better than the movie.

I should also point out that Orson Scott Card is a giant weirdo.

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Yeah, I remember reading an interview with him on Salon that was absolutely hilarious. The interviewer was somebody who kept droning on about how Speaker for the Dead and its message of tolerance was her favorite book ever. Then she interviews Card and finds out he's a crazy gay-hating Mormon or something along those lines and her head explodes. I'll see if I can find a link. (EDIT: Hooray Google!) (EDIT AGAIN: Actually, it looks like it was Ender's Game, not its sequel.)

Card is one of those people like Piers Anthony that I simultaneously don't really respect but sure read a lot of back in the day.

[threeonefour]

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Orson Scott Card did a novelization of The Abyss which was a lot better than the movie.

I should also point out that Orson Scott Card is a giant weirdo.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I remember reading an interview with him on Salon that was absolutely hilarious. The interviewer was somebody who kept droning on about how Speaker for the Dead and its message of tolerance was her favorite book ever. Then she interviews Card and finds out he's a crazy gay-hating Mormon or something along those lines and her head explodes. I'll see if I can find a link. (EDIT: Hooray Google!) (EDIT AGAIN: Actually, it looks like it was Ender's Game, not its sequel.)

Card is one of those people like Piers Anthony that I simultaneously don't really respect but sure read a lot of back in the day.

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i never realized this about card. kinda sad, though it doesn't change the enjoyment i got from ender's game (it was good but i am not a crazed fanboy or anything).

i must say the interviewer is a pretty horrible journalist and i am surprised the article got published as written. i mean you get information from a guy under a positive pretext, then the interviewee turns out to be not at all what you expected, sure i could see being pretty shocked and commenting on it. but its entirely different to basically attack the guy after the fact, from card's perspective its a total bait and switch. furthermore, its not like he is given a chance for rebuttal or clarification in the article, in fact you read the conclusion of the interview a couple of sentences in, so readers are prejudiced before they even get to the content. he is literally compared to a Klansman before he is even quoted!

this kind of journalism shouldn't hack it at the high school paper level.

[Case Closed]

I read Fight Club after the movie. I thought it was worth it. I really enjoyed the book and it was a bit of a different way to get the story across.

I am thinking of reading all of the Harry Potter books but I already know the ending of everything.

[Dids]

The book "The Princess Bride" is really awesome relative to the movie, which I adore. Lots of awsome tangents and more depth. Really fun read.

[Dudd]

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Orson Scott Card did a novelization of The Abyss which was a lot better than the movie.

I should also point out that Orson Scott Card is a giant weirdo.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I remember reading an interview with him on Salon that was absolutely hilarious. The interviewer was somebody who kept droning on about how Speaker for the Dead and its message of tolerance was her favorite book ever. Then she interviews Card and finds out he's a crazy gay-hating Mormon or something along those lines and her head explodes. I'll see if I can find a link. (EDIT: Hooray Google!) (EDIT AGAIN: Actually, it looks like it was Ender's Game, not its sequel.)

Card is one of those people like Piers Anthony that I simultaneously don't really respect but sure read a lot of back in the day.

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i never realized this about card. kinda sad, though it doesn't change the enjoyment i got from ender's game (it was good but i am not a crazed fanboy or anything).

i must say the interviewer is a pretty horrible journalist and i am surprised the article got published as written. i mean you get information from a guy under a positive pretext, then the interviewee turns out to be not at all what you expected, sure i could see being pretty shocked and commenting on it. but its entirely different to basically attack the guy after the fact, from card's perspective its a total bait and switch. furthermore, its not like he is given a chance for rebuttal or clarification in the article, in fact you read the conclusion of the interview a couple of sentences in, so readers are prejudiced before they even get to the content. he is literally compared to a Klansman before he is even quoted!

this kind of journalism shouldn't hack it at the high school paper level.

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The "journalist" is an idiot. It pains me that there are people like her that think so highly of themselves while being such insufferable fools.

To get back on topic, one series that I read after the movies was the Jason Bourne series, and besides the name, they have nothing in common, and I prefer the movies. Maybe as a Cold War, post-Vietnam type of series they were relevant and made sense, but nowadays, a CIA trained fake assassin tasked with bringing down real communist assassin doesn't seem as plausible as the CIA being forced to track down a rogue agent.

[bobman0330]

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To get back on topic, one series that I read after the movies was the Jason Bourne series, and besides the name, they have nothing in common, and I prefer the movies. Maybe as a Cold War, post-Vietnam type of series they were relevant and made sense, but nowadays, a CIA trained fake assassin tasked with bringing down real communist assassin doesn't seem as plausible as the CIA being forced to track down a rogue agent.

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The Bourne books are so much worse than the movies. I ran into a guy on the subway, and we were both reading The Bourne Supremacy. We talked about it, and I remarked on how different the book and the movie were. He said, "Yeah, it's a shame they have to dumb down complex plots like this for the movies." I was too polite to say, "WTF, are you retarded, this book blows?" so I just stared at him speechlessly.