Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
This week's TTT is popular books that lived up to the hype. I decided to go with 5 that did...and 5 that did NOT.
To put a different spin on it, I chose those that had movie adaptations. I wonder if that makes me somewhat biased, or if the movie just fed into the hype surrounding it. I tend to want to read the book BEFORE I see the movie. I think the book is almost always better than the movie. I don't want to ruin my perception of the story if I see the movie first. I like to be able to picture the characters in my own mind first. It doesn't always happen that way though as you'll soon see.
Here we go! :)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
I loved Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's so...peculiar but that's what makes it fun. I really enjoyed the movie too, though I know a lot of people didn't. The book is very hard to translate into visuals but I think it stayed true to the feeling of the book. And...Alan Rickman. Any movie is better with Alan Rickman.
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
I read Jurassic Park back when it came out. I've always loved learning about dinosaurs so to write about a place where they came to life, count me in! I actually loved the movie and have enjoyed all the movies that have followed. I'm glad the franchise continues and hey, Chris Pratt, so it's not all bad.
Harry Potter(series) by J.K. Rowling
Who doesn't love Harry Potter? I think it's one of the few series that I will pick up and read over and over again. Same for the movies. Anytime I'm flipping channels and they are on, that's where I stop. My husband says that he's Ron and I'm Hermoine. "It's Leviosa, not leviosa." Yeaaaaa, he might have a point.
Outlander (series) by Diana Gabaldon
Rare for me, but I actually watched the first season of Outlander and then decided to pick up the books. I've always enjoyed time travel romances and Outlander is no different. I hate reading a book after I've seen the film characters because you can't picture anything else. In the case of Outlander, I don't mind because I think they did great job casting.
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
Pet Sematary is just creepy. The book creeped me out. The movie creeped me out.
"First I play with Jud. Then mommy came, and I played with mommy. We play, daddy? We had an awful good time Now, I want to play with you."
*shudders*
And now the not worth it...
Twilight
Twilight
I tried with Twilight. I really did. My coworker loved them so I gave it a shot, but no, just no. Sparkly vampires and love at first sniff. haha... NO.
The Haunting of Hill House
I really wanted to love the book. I picked it up earlier this year. I did see The Haunting remake in 1999, which I actually enjoyed. The gothic house, the segregation of the location, unknown things trying to get in your bedroom. How can that not be creepy?
The book just left me feeling disappointed. That ending...what was going on there?
War World Z
I hated this book. Hated it. It's all over the place. It's written as a collection of reports from all over the globe across the span of the zombie outbreak. This is the very rare case in which I think the movie was better than the book. The movie actually seemed more cohesive. At least it didn't jump from person to person. I'm not a big fan of Brad Pit and the screenplay went waaay off the book, but at least it was enjoyable to watch.
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
I loved Practical Magic. Both the book and the movie. When I heard there was a prequel, I couldn't wait to get it. It was such a snooze fest for me! I DNF'd it about 1/3 of the way in.
via GIPHY
I picked up the first book and read a couple of pages just to see what the fuss was about. Holy Toledo, Batman. That little bit was sooooo painful to read. I just couldn't. Forget about even attempting to watch the movies. I really don't see why it's so popular.
50 Shades of Gray
I picked up the first book and read a couple of pages just to see what the fuss was about. Holy Toledo, Batman. That little bit was sooooo painful to read. I just couldn't. Forget about even attempting to watch the movies. I really don't see why it's so popular.