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]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[Blarg]

Read The Godfather after seeing the flick. Went fine. And Gone With the Wind. When I was a kid, they used to write book versions of the pilots of t.v. shows a lot, and I would read those. And of things like Dirty Harry. Those were usually decent. Generally though, it doesn't go too well.

One other one that was worth a read was Papillon.

[solids]

You ever talk about a movie with someone who read the book? They're always so condescending, "Ah, the book was much better than the movie." "Oh really? What I enjoyed about the movie? No reading. It only took two hours, and then I could take a nap."

[Triumph36]

you mean the book was excellent except for the ending, right?

i don't know how much you get out of american psycho - although for some reason i read it twice

[amplify]

American Psycho is the only book I have ever read where I actually had to skip sections because they were too revolting to read. I would read until I was the horrific sex murder mutilations coming, and then skip to the next chapter. Really loved the parts I could bring myself to read though.

[jmill2511]

The Great Gatsby/Gone With the Wind

Much better than the movies