Getting Into Book Series When The Show/Movie Comes Out

[Strangelove]

It is Boromir.

Its funny that people will only pick up a book once a movie or tv show has been made of it. No wonder bookstores are going down the drain.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Or maybe we don't really know much about the series until it gets picked up and gets some buzz going, so we decide to check it out upon the hearty recommendation of many people on these boards and elsewhere. Bookstores are dying because their prices are usually terrible; also, e-books.

[Strangelove]

Books themselves have "buzz." They dont need films or tv shows to be successful.

 

Despite what people think, Harry Potter and Twilight were popular books before they were popular movies. A lot of people, especially in the US just dont put books on the same caliber as movies, music, tv, and videogames. Its some sad shit.

 

Also, books really arent that expensive, be it Borders, B&N, or Target and Walmart. Its just that Amazon can lower the prices on....pretty much everything....since they dont have a store so they dont pay rent, employees, bills, or anything of the sort. Specialty stores are on their way out because of Amazon. All bookstores will be gone, all videogame stores, cd stores, rental stores, electronic stores, music stores, etc. We'll only have grocery stores, restaurants, clothing stores, and Walmart. I hope people arent too attached to browsing or leaving their house.

Edited August 4, 2011 by Strangelove

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

I didn't say they did need a show to be successful. But sometimes I don't hear about a book series until it's got a TV show or movie deal; that's just the way it is. Books get some sort of buzz going themselves a lot of the time, sure. But a movie or show is going to push it into the mainstream, and if I haven't heard of the series before, and I've got solid recommendations, I'll check it out. There's nothing wrong with that. I didn't get all up in arms over my friends getting into Lord of the Rings once the movie came out, even though I read them before the film deal went down. I thought it was awesome that those great books would get even more exposure. I can pop this out into a new discussion since it seems we're off track.

[Strangelove]

Im just being a snob. Same thing happens to music, movies, games, or anything else that the mainstream manhandles to death and leaves dying in the street once something newer comes along.

[Hot Heart]

While we're on the topic, I'm the guy who, if he gets into books after the film comes out, has to find a copy without the tie-in cover because, you know, that's so tacky.

 

I think part of it is that photographic covers, like a lot of t-shirts, just seem lame.

[Mal]

I'm guilty with the Game of Thrones craze going on.

 

Do I at least get brownie points for not watching the TV series until I'm done with all the available books? How bout these books being the first fiction books I have read in years? I think the last was World War Z... the last series of book being Harry Potter (Exclude the last book) and maybe Artemis Fowl (First 3-4 books).

 

I think I broke somewhere along the line with reading books... and now it is being fixed with the Game of Thrones... with that being said, I think I should get back to A Clash of Swords. I haven't read it in the past few days. MUST NOT BREAK AGAIN.

[Strangelove]

Oh God, the tie-in covers are awful. Id rather pay a few bucks extra to get the original cover or even the old hardback version.

[Mr W Phallus]

Urgh thirded on the movie tie in covers. And it goes beyond just the cover, my dad picked up a copy of the movie tie-in edition of The Road, and once he read it I decided to give it a go myself... but the font was huge. It was gigantic. And there were gaping chasms of blank space between each line. I mean font size isn't something I usually put much thought into but the fact that it was a movie tie-in and I could just see the publishers though process laid out in front of me - 'the vast majority of people actually attracted by the words "now a major motion picture" are going to be such idiots, lets not scare them away with big words, let's not show them too many words at once they won't be able to handle it without a picture' - I couldn't handle reading it, I had to go and buy myself an older edition. The cover of that wasn't great to be honest, but at least it wasn't patronising me.

[deanb]

I watched Night Watch then picked up the book. The book is much much better. The film tickled the side of me that likes flashy visuals, but the book was just way more in-depth, mainly cos films tend to struggle with showing the thoughts going on in the persons head. And Anton has an awful lot of thoughts on the morality of "Light" and "Dark" sides of Others.

 

Still yet to pick up the other books, and I carry on starting n stopping watching Day Watch.

 

 

Most other films are the other way around, Harry Potter before the films, Discworld before the TV things, Watchmen. There's probably a lot of films/books I've watched n seen that have a film/book it came from that I've not read. I'm wanting to pick up V for Vendetta. I was going to ages ago then a mate said she'd lend me her copy, that never transpired.

 

Oh I did have the Jurassic Park 2 tie-in novel when I was a kid. I remember it being okay. But it heavily relied on you seeing the film.

[TheRevanchist]

Conversly, I hate to read a great book, find out a movie is being made/has been made. The results usually suck seriously hairy donkey balls. My best example is The Accidental Tourist. Geena Davis was a great pick to play the female lead. However, the book was so much more than the movie. I think most people feel that way (except for E.T., which was a shitty book).

 

I own more books written by Tyler than any other author. So, when they were making a few more of her books into movies, I ignored each and every one.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

I try to get into everything early just so I can say "Well I was into this before it was a TV show/movie!"

[Johnny]

I don't get the hate. When something gets a movie deal it gets more attention around people who watch movies, which are significantly more people than read books, so it's only logical that news about it will spread far wider. I read the Scott Pilgrim comics after seeing the trailer for the movie and I absolutely loved both versions - the comic expanded on characters better but the movie had such great style it kinda made up for it in ways.

[Thursday Next]

I'm doing the "read GoT before watching the series" thing. Partly because I am NOT paying for Sky. £30 on books makes way more sense the £300 on a Sky subscription when I rarely watch TV anyway.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

I like to read a book before I see a film purely because I don't like picturing the film in my head as I read. I just recorded the Watchmen, which finally inspired me to read the book which has been sitting on my shelf for over a year so I can watch the film.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

You've had Watchmen for that long and haven't read it!??! It's a short read AND it's absolutely fucking amazing. You crazy.

 

Also, watch the ultimate directors cut whatever the fuck version of Watchmen with the tales of the black freighter worked in. Besides the changes at the end (and the cuts that causes in events that lead up to it) it's pretty close to the comic.

[TheFlyingGerbil]

I finished reading it last night and yes, it was great. I'm guessing the version on TV wouldn't be the super-duper version and if I remember it didn't have that great reviews so unless I'm surprised by it I don't think I'll be splashing any cash on the blu ray.

[Hot Heart]

The film's never gonna match the book but the guy who plays Rorschach does a damn good job. The Comedian is pretty good too.

[Chewblaha]

A Clash of Swords.

 

[Chewblaha]

I fucking hate when people start sprouting up around me and act like they know and love something more than I do that I've been doing for years.

 

Like Warcraft: I hate people who play WoW and think they know all about Warcraft when they've never touched O&H through WCIII.

 

Though that's beside the point. GoT is one of those incredibly detailed books where you'll see a description of something tiny and then it appears to be something fucking huge two books later. I tell people to read the books if they're gonna be so into the television series because these details need to be read about. No Billy McNuttbutter HBO owner is going to remember this shit from season one. It'll be "HERRRP DERRP I WAS TOO BUSY LOOKIN' AT TITS" when in reality, most people are given something of a hint (even if it is minuscule) that something could be more than it seems. HBO has passed all that up.

 

I'll make one HUGE note as to what HBO didn't include in their series that is huge:

 

A singer at Winterfell that came in with Robert when he went to get Ned to become the Hand.

Edited August 24, 2011 by Chewblaha

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Reading the books now, I'm about halfway through the first one, and I really don't see how a TV series could do it any sort of justice. Martin is very, very descriptive while avoiding some of the over-the-top Tolkienesque verbosity traps so many writers fall into, and the backstories and historical references seem very difficult to explain in a television medium. We'll see though. Does the first season cover the first book? I'll probably watch it when I finish AGOT.

[TheRevanchist]

 

Though that's beside the point. GoT is one of those incredibly detailed books where you'll see a description of something tiny and then it appears to be something fucking huge two books later. I tell people to read the books if they're gonna be so into the television series because these details need to be read about. No Billy McNuttbutter HBO owner is going to remember this shit from season one. It'll be "HERRRP DERRP I WAS TOO BUSY LOOKIN' AT TITS" when in reality, most people are given something of a hint (even if it is minuscule) that something could be more than it seems. HBO has passed all that up.

 

 

I notice this happens more in great movies, too. If you watch As Good As It Gets, there are little things you will notice the second time watching it which are significant, but subtle. This made it more interesting the second time watching.

[Chewblaha]

Reading the books now, I'm about halfway through the first one, and I really don't see how a TV series could do it any sort of justice. Martin is very, very descriptive while avoiding some of the over-the-top Tolkienesque verbosity traps so many writers fall into, and the backstories and historical references seem very difficult to explain in a television medium. We'll see though. Does the first season cover the first book? I'll probably watch it when I finish AGOT.

 

It does an alright job. I was pretty happy up until episode five or six. After that some things just begin to change. One that really irks me is Shae. Tyrion doesn't keep Shae with her because she says shit like "You gottta notta have to do what your father says," but rather because he actually feels that Shae loves him despite being who and what he is.