Books to Screen Adaptations – My List #3

Aah, it has been a while that I wrote one of these posts because when I started this series, there weren’t a lot of books that were getting adapted. However, with OTT taking over the screen world, there has been a Big Bang of books being adapted into movies or limited series on different platforms. I haven’t even gotten to half of the books that have been adapted, but here are my thoughts on the recent ones that I have watched and loved or not loved as much.

If you want to check out the previous two posts on this series, head over here 🙂

Book: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman / Movie: A Man Called Otto (Netflix)

This was an interesting one for me, because I watched the movie before I read the book. I am a huge fan of everything Fredrik Backman writes, but I am yet to go through all this backlists. But my husband had read a Man Called Ove, so he kind of insisted that we watch the movie one weekend. And I absolutely loved it. I might have been biased because it has Tom Hanks after all, but the actor who played Marisol was amazing too. Then I read the book and luckily, I didn’t cry as much as my best friend did when she read the book. Probably because the movie had already done the heavylifting for me. I did think that it was a very good adaptation. A few things were changed, and a major one being that the book’s Iranian character Parvaneh was changed to a Spanish character Marisol, in the movie, but the dialogues and the story, remained pretty much the same. I wonder why they made that change though? Are Americans more receptive to Spanish people than Iranians? Whatever be the case, I highly recommend reading both the book and watching the movie afterwards. Keep tissues handy though.

Book: Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid/ TV Series: Daisy Jones & The Six (Amazon Prime)

Another great author and superb screen adaptation. I mean, the screen adaptation came out with an actual album – Aurora that you can listen to on Spotify!! While reading the book as well as while watching the show, I couldn’t reconcile with the fact that this was about a fictitious band. Everything felt so real. Yes, the author does mention that the book is loosely based on Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, but really, what a treat. If you love music, rock and roll and a love story about star crossed people, then highly recommend reading this book and watching the show on Amazon. I was hooked. Added bonus is the soundtrack on Spotify!

Favourite songs from the album: Look at us Now (Honeycomb) and Look me in the Eye 🙂

Book: Dune by Frank Herbert / Movie: Dune

Although the book is a classic, in this case I preferred the movie adaptation to the book. The book’s one major turn off was the stereotypically sexist roles women were portrayed in. But otherwise the vision of the book and the world building was quite impressive, considering when it was written. The movie – at least the first part didnt seem as sexist as the book so far. I have a soft corner for Timothy Chalamet <hehe> and the visual effects in the first movie were quite stunning. Especially when the Sandworm makes its first appearance. Epic! I’d recommend the movie more than the book, unless you’re a classic buff and really want to read the book too 🙂

Book: Sandman Illustrated books (1,2, and 3) by Neil Gaiman/ TV Series: The Sandman (Netflix)

I had never imagined that such an excellent adaptation could be made for Neil Gaiman’s Sandman books. A couple of things have been changed, some original characters have been changed to make them more diverse and inclusive but I really loved these creative decisions, the story line was mixed a bit here and there and the content was definitely much less adult and gory as compared to the books, but I simply loved the screen adaptation. Can’t wait for the next seasons to be in. If you like illustrated books and can stomach nudity and horror, go ahead and read the books. Otherwise, simply binge on this fantastic adaptation into Sandman’s world and the epic characters in it.

Book: Shadow and Bone trilogy + Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo / TV Series: Shadow and Bone (Netflix)

Oh man, this one started on a positive note and I was really excited about this adaptation, since I just love the Crows, not so much the Shadow and Bone series though. But the show felt like a bummer. It has excellent actors and the special effects were great too, but my major gripe with the adaptation was the directors mixing the Shadow and Bone characters with the Crows. They should have been separate. Season 2 felt too much and too rushed. I could barely keep track of what was going on and found it hard to form a connection with most of my favourite characters. And that cliffhanger at the end of Season 2, with Alina – not sure how I feel about it. My recommendation is to read the books and watch the show with a pitch of salt.

Book: Anxious People by Fredrik Backman / TV Series: Folk Med Angest (Netflix)

Had to end this post with one of my favorite authors, didn’t I? 😉 Anxious People was my first Fredrik Backman book and I know a lot of readers felt that A Man Called Ove was better. But I loved Anxious People when I read it, so let’s leave it at that, shall we? This Swedish adaptation on Netflix actually turned out to be a hidden gem. I watched it with English subtitles, but the adaptation was superb because they completely stuck to the book and the best part was that the show was filmed in Sweden and had all Swedish actors (or at least that’s what I think), and everyone was just like I had expected them to be. Some of the heaviness of the book is skipped in the screen adaptation, just like Man Called Otto, but I enjoyed it still the same.

Watch it, and read the book if you’re a sucker for Fredrik Backman’s work, like me 🙂

Questions for you now, dear Readers 🙂

1. Have you read and watched any of these books to screen adaptations? What were your thoughts? Any other books to movies/screen adaptations that you would like to recommend me to try?
2. I have been following The Witcher and Wheels of Time shows as well, but havent read the books. Have you read the books? What do you think about the screen adaptations then?
3. With very few exceptions, I feel that contemporary drama books make for better screen adaptations than fantasy, mainly because us fantasy loving readers are very strict critics and its hard for us to see any change to what we had imagined the story and characters to be like in our heads. What is your take on this?