While many bookworms are vehemently against movie adaptations, I for one love them… if they do the book justice. Sometimes *hides from the wrath of the book-only people* I even like the movies better than the books they’re based on. So, of the books I’ve read, which version did I like better, the book, or the movie? Today, I’m revealing my choices!

A quick note: As I’ve stated on Authoring Arrowheads several times before, my opinions are not the gospel, and it’s okay if we have differing opinions on these books versus their movies. I aim to be kind in my delivery of my choices and ask that any comments left on this post are written from a place of kindness rather than an aim to trash any books or movies discussed here. 🙂

Book vs Movie: A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks

BOOK

A hill I will absolutely die on is that the movie version of A Walk to Remember pales in comparison to the original book–my favorite fiction book of all time. Not that the movie version is bad; I actually love the actors they chose for Landon and Jamie and thought they did the characters justice. However, the time period was changed to the 1990s for the movie when the book is set in the 1950s, which resulted in so many other aspects that I adored about the book being changed or completely thrown out that I was livid the first time I watched it. The Christian messages in the book were also toned down for the movie’s sake. I’ve been able to watch the movie since and have enjoyed it… but in my opinion, it doesn’t hold a candle to the book. I wish the film would have stayed true to the original, wholesome love story without trying to modernize it.

Book vs Movie: The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

BOTH

When it comes to film adaptations set in The Hunger Games universe, the movies do an impeccable job of staying true to the books. While some changes are apparent, especially in the first movie, the cast choices are *chef’s kiss*. The books are special to me in that they are where I first met Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch, and the others and fell in love with them, but the movies were able to bring them to life and help me visualize them and the world of Panem even more. So, I can’t pick a favorite between the two. I love them both!

Book vs Movie: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

BOTH

I promise not every one of these will end up being a tie… but like with the The Hunger Games movies, the film adaptation of The Help aligns so much with the book that it’s impossible for me to choose one over the other. While there are some details that the movie leaves out, from what I can remember, most of those details were minor and didn’t necessarily add or take away anything from the story as a whole. The cast did a phenomenal job portraying the characters from the book, from Aibileen to Skeeter to Minny to Hilly to Celia. The Help is one of my favorite books of all-time, and the movie is one of, if not my favorite, movies of all-time and now I want to reread/rewatch them both.

Book vs Movie: The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

MOVIE

The Best of Me holds a special place in my heart because it’s one of the books that got me back into reading in my late teens. That being said, after rereading the book and then rewatching its movie a couple years ago, I decided I like the movie a lot more because it changed some aspects I found iffy in the book for the better. To avoid spoilers, I won’t go into detail on what the biggest reason is, but I enjoyed Amanda’s character so much more in the movie after finding her to be wishy-washy in the book and found that the flashbacks to Amanda and Dawson’s teenage years gave the viewers more reasons to root for their love story than what the book portrayed.

Book vs Movie: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

MOVIE

Half of me thinks this will be a hot take, and the other half thinks a lot of readers will agree with me, but I ended up liking the film adaptation of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes much more than the book itself. I 100% believe this is because, unlike The Hunger Games trilogy and Sunrise on the Reaping, that The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was written in 3rd person, and it took me out of the story more than I’m used to with Collins’s books. I understand why the author didn’t want to write from Snow’s direct point-of-view, but I also feel that it would’ve added a deeper layer to the story if she had done so. Conversely, I think the film brought Coriolanus Snow’s younger years to life without portraying that distance I felt from him in the book.

Book vs Movie: Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

BOOK

When I read Love & Gelato for the first time a few years ago, I was thrilled to find a secular young adult romance that was on the cleaner side. I don’t remember much vulgar language–if there was any language at all–being in the book. Fast forward to when the film adaptation premiered on Netflix, and I ended up turning the movie off about fifteen minutes in because of the cuss words that were flying. Some may think I didn’t give the movie a fair chance, but in my opinion, if the movie is straying that far from the book within the first few minutes, I could tell it wasn’t going to hold the same charm for me as the book did. Don’t get me wrong; I can handle reading/listening to some language in books and movies, as obviously not all of the ones listed in this post are “clean”, but the way the movie adaptation of Love & Gelato opened rubbed me the wrong way and I felt it didn’t do the book justice.

Book vs Movie?: Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

MOVIE

This decision may be influenced because I did watch the movie before I read the book, but only partly. While I enjoyed the book, I found the movie version of Where’d You Go, Bernadette to be a lot funnier and more relatable. I think this is because the book is written mainly from the point-of-view of Bee, Bernadette’s daughter, while, if I remember correctly, the film focuses more on Bernadette’s POV. Like with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, my opinion boils down to the fact that I prefer immersive 1st person POV of the character(s) being followed rather than the story being told in third person.

Book vs Movie: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

MOVIE

In another instance where I watched the movie before deciding to pick up the book, I ended up liking the movie version of A Man Called Ove slightly more than the book. The main reason for this is because I found Parvaneh to be more invasive to Ove’s privacy in the book than the movie. While I understand she was trying to get him to break out his shell, as an introvert, I wasn’t a fan of how she pushed Ove’s boundaries at times in the novel and didn’t feel she was as abrasive in the movie. In addition, because the movie was PG-13, it didn’t include as much foul language as the book did. Other than that, the movie and book were very similar. Though I enjoyed them both, I ended up liking the movie better for those reasons.

Talk to Me, Arrowheads!

Unfortunately, that’s it for now concerning my book versus movie choices. When I was scrolling through my Goodreads, I found several more I wanted to discuss but chose not to because I either haven’t watched the movies or read the books in a while and didn’t think I could make proper choices based on that. Maybe that means another post like this will come again someday! 🙂

What book did you enjoy more than its movie, or vice versa? Let me know in the comments!

Aim high, stay strong, and always hit your mark.

-Allyson 😀