Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Book to Movie Adaptations


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the very awesome blog The Broke and the Bookish.

This week: What are your top ten favorite book to movie adaptations?

10. The Harry Potter dynasty
Just because it felt like sacrilege not to include this one.  

9. Sense and Sensibility
I remember in high school our English teacher had us choose one Jane Austen novel to read.  I picked Sense & Sensibility.   I could not get into the book at all, and my mom suggested I watch the movie to get a better sense of the story.  The intention was that I'd eventually go back and finish the book... I didn't. Or at least I don't remember if I did or didn't.  Still, I loved movie.  I still love the line at the end of the movie when Hugh Grant says to Emma Thompson, "My heart is and always will be... yours." So dreamy.

8. The Devil Wears Prada
There are very few movies out there that I prefer over the book.  This was one of them.  I liked that the movie had more of a positive vibe to it - and that the characters actually became less irritating as the movie went on.

7. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
I'm going to make a shameful admission here: I didn't actually read this book.  I saw the movie and fell in love with the scenes in Santorini, which is my favorite place on earth.

6. Speak 
This was a made-for-TV adaptation featuring Kristen Stewart before she was a huge star.  It is a fairly accurate and powerful portrayal of the book.

5. Julie & Julia
I abandoned the horribly crass and irritating book.  I loved the movie.  The movie adaptation is definitely a sugar-coated version of the book, and a much-needed sugar-coating in my opinion.

4. The Shawskank Redemption
 OK, so technically, this is a short story, but it's still one of my favorite "book" adaptations.  Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman?  Loved them together!

3. The Secret Life of Bees 
Characters make or break a book.  Actors make or break a movie.  This is one of those movies where every actor was cast perfectly in their role.

2. To Kill a Mockingbird
One of the best books, if not THE best book in the canon of American literature. It's amazing that a movie based on such a sacred American classic was able to do the story justice. Gregory Peck gave Atticus Finch the dignity and tenderness he deserved.

1. Memoirs of a Geisha
I have never seen such a visually stunning movie in all my life.  The story was spell-binding, the cinematography was hypnotizing, and the music heightened the emotion of the story.  Simply gorgeous.

2 comments:

  1. I forgot that Speak was a movie. I don't think I saw it, but that is one heck of a book! And I love Shawshank, too, even though I've never read it. Julie and Julia is another good one, though it's a shame to hear the book was bothersome. Great list!

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  2. I LOVE Shawshank Redemption. It's one of the few movies that I don;t mind watching over and over again...which is good, since it seems to be on tv a lot.

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