I don't read much anymore - but I haven't been disappointed. As in I categorically say, all books I have read are better than there movie counterparts (maybe exception Girl Interrupted - but thats totally different).

I'll give an example:

Anyone Read "Alive" - the aeroplane crash in the Andes, the book is meant to be a true account of those survivors and them looking for them. The film don't even make a B movie disaster film!

Any others?

I think that "Everything you ever wanted to know about sex* *but were too afraid to ask" is a much better movie than book, although the book is none the less rather entertaining.

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actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

I don't understand. Do you only read books that have already been adapted?

You're yet to read a book you don't like? You're, categorically, impressed with every book ever published?

The book is almost exclusively better, it is a better medium to express depth and emotion.
Catch-22 i like the movie as much as the book.

I think pretty much everything is better in written form.

Harry Potter is shorter in movie form, and thus far less tiresome.

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Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess is one of my favourite books and the film has nothing on it.

i like a lot of good films come from pulp novels. i can't stand elmore leonard for example, but there must be a dozen films made of his books. not sure any of them are great, but i'd rather watch jackie brown, out of sight, get shorty or 3.10 to yuma than read that shit. same with james ellroy

same for people like chandler and hammett, though i don't mind reading them so much

I think that the quality of a any work of art is highly dependent on its originality, and since adaptations don't devise their own plots and ideas, they lose a lot of points in that regard. But some adaptations stand exceptionally well on their own, and their quality can be measured by other cinematic features.

“Originality is simply a pair of fresh eyes.”

I would be of the opposite opinion. I think ACO is a much better film than it is a book. Despite this, the book is still one of my favourites (which says a lot about how much I love the film ).

what about philip k dick, his books rambley weirdness yet for some reason most of them have been adapted into absolutely brilliant films.

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I was going to say, short stories and the like adapt better and it's well established that it's difficult to cull your average novel into two hours of screen time.

I think there's a bit of snobbery involved when this argument comes up, really they're two different mediums and you'll always lose something in translation. At least film adaptations of books normally turn out better than the dross 'novelisations' of films.

This is an interesting one, where the film is a visual counter to the book rather than going for a simplified rendering. It's unusual and very brave to have an adaptation that's almost impossible for someone who hasn't read the book to follow.

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Catch-22 is visually an immense film, brilliant cinematography.

I'm not sure it is impossible to follow, in fact i can't remember if i saw the movie before i read the book or not, but i have a feeling i did. It captures the humour of the book very well i believe.

It took me forever to get around to watching the film because I was really unhappy about the fact that they cut the last chapter from the script. It's what makes the book. But I finally got around to seeing it, and it honestly wasn't that bad at all. I liked the movie, but I think it would have been a lot better, if they had included the last chapter.

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