Books Can Lead You To The Movies

It's always good to watch those movie trailers when you're sitting in the theater munching on your popcorn, waiting for the "real thing" to begin. It's especially good when a movie trailer for a new movie is based on a great book.
Of course, many of us remember watching all the different (how many?) versions of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Our library has the book and a video by James Whale. And I understand The Seeker from The Dark Is Rising Series by Susan Cooper is now
a movie.
Despite all the controversy, I really did like The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman when it came out in film. The big polar bear in the movie was my favorite.
So many of these movies take the book and twist it around, but many of them turn out close to the written word. One of my all time favorites, of course, is The Secret Live of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, not only the book but the movie. It was exceptionally close to what she had written.
The month of June saw not only the movie Cheri (can't seem to find that accent mark!) and The Stoning of Soraya M., which were books first, but also My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Some of these movies require a box of Kleenex, even more so than the book did. Picoult's was one of those.
And now that July is here, my first book-to-movie for the month has been Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. One I don't think I'll see, however, is Public Enemies (book by Bryan Burrough), even if Johnny Depp is in it. Just too much "shoot'em-ups" as my Daddy used to say.
July will also have a young adult novel by Larry Doyle in movie form, I Love You, Beth Cooper. The teen girls will especially like that one, but boys and girls alike will like Coraline, a fantasy/horror by Neil Gaiman, in animated film, that has been compared to Alice in Wonderland. I think I'll see that one, too. And adults won't want to miss Watchmen from the book written by Alan Moore & David Gibbons.
When August rolls around, you can look forward to Julie & Julia by Julie Powell in movie form, already much raved about due to the acting of Meryl Streep. Also on the screen will be Taking Woodstock from the book by Elliott Tiber, and the one I'm waiting for, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. That was a great
read.
The books listed in bold are at our library. The others mentioned can be obtained through our Inter-Library Loan system.
Read the books before you see the movies. Check them out at our library and enjoy finding all the subtle little changes in the movies when you go see them on the big screen.