The Book Was Better discussion

So I LOVE the Bourne movies and decided that I need to read the original books asap. I heard they are very different than the movies.

Also there's the original trilogy written by Ludlum and then there are like 10 Bourne books after written by a different author.

Anyone read any of these yet?!

I'll update my thoughts as soon as I start reading them :)

I read the first book a few years ago and was shocked at how hard they are!! It was before the movies were out, so I did not know a lot about Bourne then at all. Anyways, the books are just like "here's a whole paragraph in French...deal with it...we will not be translating for you! Oh, and here's some other language, but Bourne does not know what it is...so we are not going to tell you! haha" I was soooo thankful I took French in HS/college, but even still only kind of knew what was going on.

In all, the books are way more in depth, and have this whole other story going on that is taken out of the book, likely because it was just too much confusion and all that to show in a short movie(as in not 5 hours long).

Only the firs three of the series are by Ludlum, like you said. After that he died(not sure how), but one of his friend people or whatever continued to write the Bourne series, and tried to convince people that Ludlum was alive. I think was basically his way of getting money off of the recognizable name, although the books were clearly well written enough to help too. I want to re-read the first book and then finally give the other two a go, but I don't know if I want to read the rest of the series. I just kind of want to stick with that Ludlum did and his real series, not someone who kind of added on and such....

Oh gosh...well thanks for the warning about the language issue. haha...

Yeah I totally agree I want to read the original Ludlum trilogy. I don't think I will read the other ones for now...too many other books on my reading list haha.

I just love the movies so much I want to give them a try :)

I loved the original movie trilogy. I read the first book and it was good too.

Bourne Legacy... well, I watched because I absolutely love Jeremy Renner (and lose my sanity whenever I meet him lmao) and they shot in my home country, the Philippines. It was good too, I enjoyed it.

The book, however, LITERALLY puts me to sleep. I kid you not. I read a couple of pages and then my eyes go heavy.

Cate (The Professional Fangirl) wrote: "I loved the original movie trilogy. I read the first book and it was good too.

Bourne Legacy... well, I watched because I absolutely love Jeremy Renner (and lose my sanity whenever I meet him lma..."

haha I love Jeremy Renner and wouldn't have my sanity either :)

Cate (The Professional Fangirl) wrote: "I loved the original movie trilogy. I read the first book and it was good too.

Bourne Legacy... well, I watched because I absolutely love Jeremy Renner (and lose my sanity whenever I meet him lma..."

It was hard for me to read them since there was so much going on and everything, but I was really interested in everything that was going on and not sure where it would go so I stuck with it and really liked it. Now that I have seen the movies(and LOVED them.....I mean come on....MATT DAMON!!), it will be interesting when I get around to reading them to see if I get into them more or if they are harder to read cuz I keep seeing the movie.

The first movie changed the book a lot, even the beginning and how he lost his memory and all that, so I am really intrigued to see how the other two movies are also different....

The new author's writing style drags so much. I tried reading some of his other non-Bourne stuff and same thing... puts me to sleep.

I'm more into mystery/thrillers than espionage type of books. I'd rather watch.

Matt Damon and Jeremy Renner are waaaay okay in my book lol.

The book was undistinguished; boilerplate. In no way was it any more remarkable than any one of the previous *twenty* novels Ludlum had written. So its bewildering to me how this franchise came about. Were people-at-large generally unaware of Robert Ludlum, perhaps? 'All of a sudden'...they finally noticed him? Could only be something like that.

The movies are 'shaky-cam' style; 'nuf said.

Shaky cam is good when used well. It was not used well in the first Hunger Games movie. It was used "too much" in Bourne.

Went with my mum to the cinemas to see it and she complained of motion sickness :) but she also doesn't like the 3D effect, I however love it if there is a lot of "hight" scenes!

I never noticed the shaky cam, so I guess it was not enough to bother me. Enough action and Matt Damon for me to be noticing anything else! ;)

I noticed the shaky cam but it didn't bother me. I like the movies because its more realistic than the typical Hollywood espionage genre. Bourne is creative and uses the resources available to him at the moment (a pen, a toaster + newspaper, etc) instead of fancy crazy gadgets and gimmicks. I guess the shaky cam adds to that sense of realism for me.

I agree! I don't like any of the James Bond movies, but this has a lot of those elements of suspense and problem solving and all that, but is done in a whole new way. Also, I am truly fascinated with memory loss! I don't know why...but I really love learning about it and reading books where people are dealing with it! So, coming from reading the book where in the first movie he only remembers one thing on his own (I won't ruin what since most of you have not seen it) I was excited to see how the movie did it! Sure, thy made him remember things... but the movie did a good job with it all the same. Watching him realize he knew languages and how to fight was just as fun as it was in the book for sure! Although, in the movie I got subtitles....so that might have been even better! haha

Yeah I took a course about the CIA and secrecy in college by Ted Gup who was a journalist for the Washington Post and he researched and wrote a book about the CIA that is now mandatory reading for new recruitsThe Book of Honor: Covert Lives and Classified Deaths at the CIA. The class (and book) was awesome! I mean I’m no expert on the subject but I still appreciate knowing the more realistic side to espionage than the Hollywood crap we see (like the James Bond movies.) And while watching special features on Bourne Identity an ex-operative talked about a few scenes and how he liked the realistic approach they took in the movie and how he could relate in a few scenes. I’m so excited for the books!

Guh, I always say no to 3D... except for "Hugo". Even if it is shot in 3D, I prefer the non-glasses approach.

I actually did like the one with Renner too, fangirling aside.

I wear glasses anyhow so don't mind them, I love 3D. I love heights! :) but if there isn't going to be scenes like that I don't go for the 3D, always comes back to money for me. (I see a lot of movies in my friends opinions ;)

I watch a LOT of movies too. But I only go to the theaters if I don't pay for them lmao! XD

I watched The Avengers and The Hobbit in 2D and IMAX 3D... I enjoyed the 2D more.

Haha funny u should say that as going to movies this afternoon as got free tickets :D taking my mum to see Monuments men. I did have a blonde moment at the cinemas with a 3D experience. I was almost at the end of Despicable me 2 before I gave up on my glasses working for the 3D effect. When we were leaving after the movie the cinema staff were handing out free tickets as they admitted the 3D wasn't working and we had paid for it. Funny thing was the tickets wouldn't let u see a 3D movie just a normal one haha oh well

I think the only movie I have seen in 3D still was Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader... Also maybe The Hobbit. I don't care for 3D much though. For me it is annoying to watch it in glasses, and kind of weird. I have also heard reports that the glasses can make you get motion sick sometimes...so that makes me like the idea of them even less since I get motion sick really easily!!

That's lame that it took them the whole movie until they did something about the 3D not working... and 3D costs a LOT more usually, so to give you tickets to a non-3D movie is kind of lame.... glad they at least gave you something though I guess!

I saw the 2nd Hobbit movie, The Avengers, and one random B-movie in 3D. I still preferred the 2D version.

I heard Hugo in 3D was awesome. I didn't get to see it in 3D because of my severe dislike for the medium. Now, I kinda wish I did.