Reading a good book can create a whole other world inside your head. Watching a movie can immerse you in a visual world where you can see and hear the events unfolding on the screen in front of you. Obviously, books have been around a whole lot longer than cinema; but ever since the advent of the latter, movies have been created using the plot and characters of literature. From classics like "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz" to numerous renditions like the Robin Hood and King Arthur legends to more modern adaptions like the "Harry Potter" series and numerous Marvel and DC comics makes and remakes.
Some book-to-movie adaptations leave something to be desired. Maybe your favorite character is nothing like you imagined in your head. Maybe the actor isn't right for or isn't into a playing the character that you've been reading and re-reading about for years. And even if the characters are presented exactly how you imagined it, the odds are the plot of the story has been changed in some way. Most of us just accept that this is the case – as long as the changes aren't TOO major. Changes are a necessity after all: how can we expect a 300+ page novel to be adapted into a visually appealing, engaging, well-paced movie of approximately 2.5 hours? Some things will inevitably have to be cute to make the story flow. Some things are a lot more interesting reading from the point of view of the main character rather than viewing the same event from an outside experience. As long as the characters remain (relatively) unaltered and all the major emotional and plot-related events are included, I personally would consider it a successful adaption.
Not everyone has the time to read all seven (relatively long) "Harry Potter" novels, but most people can spread out the time to watch the eight 2.5 hour movies. Or maybe you can't cover all of Marvel comics canon, but most of the world has watched the 19 MCU films over the last ten years. That being said, sometimes it is 100% necessary to read the book if you've seen and liked the movie. As I said, sometimes things are left out or characters are much more dynamic in writing. Similarly, sometimes if you read the book and love it you should most definitely see the movie! Sometimes they can be disappointing, but it is usually really amazing to see your favorite characters come to life on screen. Here is a list of 5 books to film adaptions that are must-reads if you've seen the movie:1. The "Harry Potter" series
Don't get me wrong, I love the movies. I've seen each of them several times. But to be completely honest, once you get past "The Prisoner of Azkaban" the books got progressively longer while the film times remained the same, if not shortened. While they still did an amazing job with this entire series adaptation, I would definitely recommend reading the books to get more insight into the Wizarding World and its inhabitants.
2. "Love, Simon" and "Simon vs. The Homo-Sapiens Agenda"
I read "Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda" over the summer and thought it was a really great quick-read. The film did a really good job adapting the characters and plot to screen and maintaining the tone and theme of the story; however, I would definitely recommend reading the book to hear the story completely from Simon's point of view.
3. The "Mortal Instruments" Series
Really, I would recommend reading all the "Shadowhunter Chronicles" books. Each series/trilogy is excellent. Unfortunately, if you had seen the movie you might have a negative impression of the story. There was a film released based on the first book – "The City of Bones" – several years ago, but the rest of the series was scrapped due to negative feedback. Since then, the entire original series has been adapted into a TV show on Freeform. They've done a really good job with the major plot points and characters, but have made changes to draw the books out into a longer TV season format and changing the plot so that even people that have read the books will be surprised at some of the twists and turns.
4. The "Percy Jackson" Series
Again, you may have a negative impression of this series if you've only seen the movies. Or you will after you read the books. Most people who are fans of the book series have a general consensus that the films didn't quite do the books or the characters justice. To be fair, they tried. I mean, the got the gist of it. Like the series in #3, the film series was scrapped after bad reviews. I personally saw the movies before I read the books on this one, and I really liked the movie. I thought it was a good story. But I'm impatient, so after seeing "The Lightning Thief" movie, I read the series to know what happened next. Once I'd read the book, however, I realized I liked the original story a lot better than the adaption.
5. "Ready Player One"
I saw the movie for this book first too. I saw the film on a flight home from Europe and liked what I heard, but due to a broken screen, I didn't get to actually see much of it. It was a visual film, so once I got home I rented the movie to watch for real. Needless to say, since it made the list, but I really liked it. I decided to read the book and loved it as well! But to give fair warning, the film adapted the spirit, basic plot, and characters from the book, but not much else. Several aspects of the plot were changed, I assume to make it more visually appealing and time-appropriate, but if you like either the book or movie I would suggest reading the other.
BONUS: The "Chaos Walking" series
I read these books this summer in anticipation of the film adaption coming out sometime next year, and I loved the books. My absolute favorite read of all the books I read this summer. I obviously can't make any claims for the movie yet since it's not out, but I have high hopes for this adaptation. Check out the books before the movie comes out!
