Books and the Movies that Follow.

As a huge Harry Potter fan, I’m impatiently awaiting the July 15th release of The Half-Blooded Prince (sadly, but not so sadly, I will be at Nationals. This will be the first opening night I’ve missed of any Harry Potter movie release and yes I was one of those that had my copy of the book the day it came out, too). Here in the next couple of weeks, I will dust my book off and settle in for a refresher. Sometime I wonder if this is the smartest thing to do. I go into the movie completely aware of what I want to see happen and I wait for it, anticipate it. All but one movie met my expectations. One even exceeded it. I was impressed with how they handle the 800 page Order of the Phoenix. Could I have handled another two hours? Heck, yeah I could have. But I’m probably the minority in that opinion. LOL.

Either way, I love both the Harry Potter books and movies. And have a sense of sadness knowing the last movie is on the horizon and my time with the Potter world will come to a close. It’s been a fun and enjoyable ride. I do ask one thing of the director, not much I can do about Half-Blooded since it has already been filmed, BUT for the Deathly Hallows all I want, all I ask, is they do the love story of Ron and Hermione justice. I spent seven books reading those two bicker like an old married couple and, for me, in the last two book, J.K. Rowling did a fantastic job of bringing those two together. And I want to see it. It is my biggest fear that love story will get pushed to the background by the directors of the movie, one of those expectations from the book that needs to be a must in the movie.

I don’t just have Harry Potter to look forward to in the coming weeks. New Moon will be released soon too. I’m very curious to see how they handle this movie. I loved Twilight the book, but was meh on the movie. I really thought they could have done so much more with it and the entire thing felt rushed. I know people don’t want to sit and watch at three-hour movie and the directors have to pick and choose what they focus on, but as a reader I’m let down on certain thing that are glossed over. For me, the Twilight book far surpassed the movie. I remember ranting over the final scene for days afterwards because I was so disappointed in how they portrayed it. So New Moon will be an interesting watch.

Another series that I am embarrassed to admit that I have only watched the series and never read the books is True Blood. Let me tell you though, I LOVE the series. It makes me want to read the books something awful, but I’ve heard a lot of reading fans are not thrilled with the series. So that has made me hesitate. I normally never do these things backwards. I’m usually the reader first then the watcher and know the movies will always lack in comparison to the books. But I am so enjoying the show, I’m debating on waiting to read so I don’t get angry and don’t want to watch the series anymore. Any opinions on this? Any True Blood readers that can shine a light and help guide my way?

So what about you? What is one of your books that came to Hollywood? And how did you feel about the director’s portrayal of the authors work?

Esme
www.esmereldabishop.com