A new way to tell an old story

Last night I saw a commercial for the movie version of The Time Travelers Wife written by Audrey Niffenegger. I received this book as a Christmas present a few years ago from my parents and quickly read through it. Out of the hundreds of books I have read just over the past ten years or so, this is by far one of the best. Since the movie doesn't hit theaters until August, I may dig this book out (hopefully I haven't packed it away yet) and reread it.

Movies usually pale in comparison to the original text, but there are a few movies that have at least met the standards of the book that it was based on. One that I can think of off the top of my head is The Five People You Meet in Heaven, written by Mitch Albom. Even thought it was a made-for-TV movie, it still followed the story and brought the text to life without having to make a significant amount of alterations. Unlike A Walk to Remember, which is really nothing like the beautiful story Nicholas Sparks originally wrote.

Anyway... I can't wait to see The Time Traveler's Wife. I don't go to the theater often, but I think I can make an exception for this one.

Books or Movies?

I've been thinking about this for awhile, and I'm never sure which one to pick first. If I read a book then see the movie based on it, I spend the whole movie saying how terrible the adaptation was (case in point: A Walk to Remember). But if I see the movie first, I'm not compelled to finish the book. The only time I actually finished the book in this case was when I watched a TV version of The Shining and didn't have time to watch the end of it.

I wonder about this because when I write my short stories and novels, sometimes I can see a film adaptation in them. But if there are too many people like me, the movie adaptations would never be successful. Just food for a writer's thought...