News

Books to Movies

An interesting article in the online Boston Globe explores how books are turned into movies — or in most cases, how they are not turned into movies. I think we tend to judge by exceptions rather than the rule. We think about the very few books that are turned into decent movie versions, and forget that a) most books never get turned into movies at all, and b) of the ones that are turned into movies, the vast majority are dreadful adaptations. (Eragon, anyone?) Still, hope springs eternal. We think of books as stepping stones to the ultimate form of the story — the movie — despite the fact that I have never walked out of the cinema and said, “Wow, the movie was so much better than the book!” I love movies, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something to be said for appreciating a book as a book and not a potential screenplay.

Rick Riordan