Drama Queen

The Difficult Life of Being a Book Lover in a Pop Culture World

We love books. Duh. But we also love TV shows. And movies. And the radio. Barb still reads the Chicago Tribune every morning. And does the crossword.

We’re pop culture junkies. We spend too much time on the IMDb app looking up actors from old SVU episodes. So when we find out there’s a movie or show coming out based on a book we love there’s mixed emotions. Because there’s so many. So many! Movies and now, bingeworthy TV shows or limited series, based on or inspired by books.

It's a double-edged sword: when it's announced that a book I've read, especially one that I've loved, is going to the screen, my immediate reaction is excitement. But in reality, most of the time I either end up feeling betrayed, whether it's by the movie's inability to capture some aspect of the book, a terrible casting, or selfishly, when people choose not to read the book and skip straight to the movie instead.

While the book is nearly always better (that's another post), sometimes the movie can hold its own (that has its own post too). What I’ve learned after ruining endings for myself and others or being disappointed by the movie’s failure to capture the essence of the book are two necessary strategies for maintaining one’s status as a loyal book lover but also a tried and true pop culture junkie/movie aficionado.

The first is to keep the book and the movie separate.

While you may have already read the book and know the gist of what’s about to happen, the screenplay is going to have differences. Even if the author of the book is a part of writing the screenplay, there’s just no way to include every single minute detail.

That being said, I will NEVER get over not having Harry Potter's eyes be green in the movie.

THERE ARE COLORED CONTACTS FOR A REASON, JOANNE.

Second, do not, I repeat, do not, read the book immediately prior to seeing the movie.

It will ruin it. You can watch the movie and then read the book, but not vice versa. If possible, read them far apart. Does anyone disagree?

Lastly, if you do not heed this advice and for some reason insist on reading the book before watching, try your hardest to not picture the actors they’ve cast.

It’s easier said than done, obviously, but man—some of the castings out there are just dumb. Just ask Barb what she thinks about Kenneth Branagh playing the Gentleman in Moscow? Or Tom Cruise as 6’5”, 250 lb Jack Reacher? There is an exception though, and that would be any of the renditions of Jack Ryan--as seen on the Cheap Thrills page.

Do you like to read the book before or after the movie? Sometimes I just won’t watch the movie at all if I really loved the book..but I still get unnecessarily and absurdly excited when I hear a book I love is being adapted.

But I think that has more to do with how much I loved the book.

Tell me what you think in the comments!