One of my favorite bits from the comedian Jim Gaffigan is about books:
“You ever talk about a movie with
someone that 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.”
So so true. But alas, while watching the
movie requires no reading, I love having read a book and knowing that it is being made into a movie. Although I am sometimes disappointed (seriously, how could they take Peeta's leg injury totally out of the Hunger Games??), it’s exciting to see your
favorite characters on the big screen and discover what interpretations directors
have decided to make on setting, characters, and often, plot.
With that, here are three books I
have read recently that are being made into movies still this year:
1. Gone
Girl by Gillian Flynn
If
you haven’t heard the hype around Gone Girl, you may be living, as the saying goes,
under a rock. I read Gillian Flynn’s novel back in April, and was hooked on it
for the 48 hours it took me to finish it. I literally gasped out loud every
fifty pages, and at one point, I think I threw my book across the room. It’s a
thrilling book with lots of twists and while I’m usually a terrible reader in
the sense that I love reading the last page before I should, I did not see
the ending coming.
The
film adaptation of Gone Girl stars most notably Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne,
whose wife Amy is discovered missing. The best performance, in my opinion, is Tyler
Perry as Affleck’s lawyer, when people inevitably start to suspect that perhaps
Nick is responsible for his missing wife.
The
book and movie are both intense, and overall I was not disappointed (although admittedly I was disappointed by Amy's character and totally agree with this article about that same topic). See the
trailer here, and know that the movie, which came out a few weeks ago, probably only has
a little bit more time left in the theater.
2. Wild
by Cheryl Strayed
When
Cheryl Strayed loses her mom and divorces her husband in the early twenties,
she feels lost, confused, and meaningless. In order to “find herself” and
figure out the purpose of her life, or at least escape from the life she has
left behind, Strayed decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a national
trail stretching the West Coast from California to Washington.
I
read this book just a couple of weeks ago, unaware that it was also being made
into a movie produced by and starring one of my favorite people, Reese
Witherspoon. Wild comes out on December 5, so you have plenty of time to
read the book before it hits theaters! See the trailer here.
3. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
If you have read earlier blog posts, you
might remember that I started reading Unbroken
a few months ago, but wasn’t hooked. After hearing over and over how
awesome the story was, I bought the book on Amazon and went at it again.
Everyone else was right and I'm glad they pushed me to pick it up again, because it was totally worth it.
Unbroken follows the
truly unbelievable story of Louis Zamperini, a troubled teen turned Olympic
runner turned WWII airman turned POW. His story is literally one in a billion
and gives some serious perspective to the kind of problems you think may be
important in your life. Zamperini demonstrates real smarts, resilience, and
courage in order to overcome the many obstacles he faces during the war (which are innumerable).
The movie, starring a bunch of people
that my non-movie self has never heard of, comes out on Christmas and is
probably going to be awesome. See the trailer here!
Even
though I’m not always a huge movie person, I love when movie adaptation are
made from books I love. Be sure to check these books out- even if you have already
seen the movie! They should be pretty darn good.
