Region of Waterloo Library discussion

One member mentioned she saw a Chapters employee wearing a button that 'Never judge a book by its movie!'

Can you think of a few books where that is true?

The Help. It's one of my favourite books which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. The movie was ok but just not the same and I definitely wouldn't say it's one of my favourite movies. The characters in the movie didn't match the ones I had pictured in my head!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy adaptation was reasonable, but didn't come anywhere close to the wit of the book. In all fairness, it really isn't a book that lends itself well to adaptation. Anything that complex tends to lose so much when being simplified for a film format. I found I spent a lot of time questioning what they kept and left out of the script.

The most recent adaptation of Jane Eyre was a huge disappointment for me.

You mean the one starting Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre? I agree! Just like The Help, I told my husband it was one of my favourite books and after watching it together he was like, "Seriously?" lol... Both times I had to say, "Trust me, it's a great book! The movie doesn't do it justice!!" Not really his type of book anyway.

Yes, that's the version I meant, Leanne.

Have you ever had the opposite happen where the movie was better than the book?

I am still in the fence about Bridge to Terribethia. I really liked the book, but I also liked the movie. Thought to me, it felt as though the two had almost nothing to do with each other, that they came from different sources.

I'm having a hard time thinking of a movie that I liked better than the book but I can think of a couple that I liked equally well: To Kill a Mockingbird and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I agree, Heather (and Christine in the other post), it often seems like the books and movies are totally separate entities and we probably judge their worth based on somewhat different criteria. If we can include TV shows here, then I'd have to add Little House on the Prairie as another series I enjoyed both reading and watching in my younger days! :)