Sometimes The Movie Is Better

I Like Books, But I Love Movies

Thrillers are excellent source material for movies and the films are often better than the original. San Mateo County Library owns all of these in book format and DVD, so you can do your own research:

Silence of the Lambs

Schlocky book, great movie.

L.A. Confidential

An overlong noir novel made into a tight, stylish thriller.

The Godfather

Quite readable, but the book gathers dust while the first two films are checked out frequently and are generally considered classics.

Coming Soon. . .

Now we'll get to see what Martin Scorsese does with Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. The book is a creepy thriller with an unreliable narrator set in a prison for the criminally insane. There's still plenty of time to experience the book, which I recommend, but I suspect Scorsese will expand greatly on his source material. I read Shutter Island and promptly forgot about it, but the movie trailer scares me and the images will remain with me far longer than Lehane's words.

What Do You Think?

So what are your favorite book-to-film adaptations? Or do you think the book is always better?

Photo Credit: Okko Pyykkö

Author Bio:

Cynthia R grew up on the Peninsula next to the airport, which created a lifelong desire to travel. She likes any technology that improves her movie-watching experience, but thinks viewing a film on an iPhone is kind of pointless. She also likes going to middle schools for class visits because she's still taller than most of the students.