The Book was Better

Book Buzz is a blog produced in collaboration with neighborhood librarians from Houston Public Library, Harris County Public Library and the Bellaire Library.

A recent trip to a movie theater with the grandchildren brought back fond memories of silver screen visits growing up. As we sat through the unending previews, I would hear an occasional “Oh, I want to see that one” from one of our charges and I took the opportunity to remind them that most of the movies they will see were based on a book. They were not impressed.

Setting aside the mega hit books and movies such as J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, the stories of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and J R R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, there are movies offered each year whose genesis came from a published book.

There are classic books made into classic films (Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird), bestsellers that find their way as a feature film (Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls) and even adaptations from plays (Shakespeare, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller).

While movies are visually and audibly impressive, the printed book offers more character depth and description, allowing you to read at your own pace and enjoyment. Also, a poor choice of casting and bad acting cannot ruin a story in book format (in my opinion, Tom Cruise is not Reacher).

As you fill these last hot summer days, cool venues wait to entertain you - the cool, dark movie theater or any of the thousands of locations that you can open a book and lose yourself in another world. Consider heading to your local library and checking out the book and the movie for comparison and answering the question: which is better – the book or the movie?