Aventura Book Worm: May 2010

I have always heard that books are better than the movie but could never really vouch for that because up until just recently, I never saw a movie that was based on a book and read that book...
When I started to read (just a couple of years ago - remember, I used to hate reading, and never understood how people could sit for hours and hours and read a book!), so when I started to read a couple of years ago, one of the books I first started reading (after DS of course), was "Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks.

I finished the book in just a few hours.

It was (still is) such an incredible story and I just couldn't put it down!

Of course, it is a love story.

It's about an angry rebel who dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army.

John had nothing else going on in his life, his mother passed away and his relationship with his father was not very good. He didn't really know what to do, until of course he meets Savannah. They are immediately attracted to each other and fall in love, but John has to go away to the Army and so Savannah patiently waits for him to finish his tour of duty so they can start a life together.

Well, 9/11 happened, and changed everything!

John feels it is his duty to re-enlist and so the wait for him becomes longer and longer.

Well, what can I say guys...Savannah ends up falling in love with someone else, and their dreams instantly fall apart.

Through the whole book though, while John is in the Army, him and Savannah write letters to each other, even up until the point when she gets married and he finds out through a LETTER!

If any one of you has read any Nicholas Sparks' novels, you are already aware that his endings are always sad. Well, "Dear John" is one of those novels and the ending was not the happiest of endings.

In any event, back to my point... after I finished the book, my first thought was "wow, they HAVE to make a movie out of it".
Well, ok, I'm lying, my first thought was "WHY??" ... followed by a couple of tears flowing out of my eyes... but my second thought was definitely the movie one!

Well, I was SO excited when, not too long ago, I heard that "Dear John" would be made into a movie!

I made my boyfriend stand in line with me AN HOUR AND A HALF before the movie started on opening night because I wanted to get the best seat!

Wow, I was so excited!
FINALLY, my wish came true!

Well guys, what can I say... I WANTED TO WALK OUT OF THE MOVIE MID-WAY!

It was horrible!

It was NOT like the book at all!! They even changed the ending!

Sure, the plot was similar and blah blah blah, but the movie lacked so much depth and so much emotion! It was just simply a horrible movie. I was extremely disappointed.

So in this case, I can honestly say, that the book was a hundred times better than the movie.

But that makes me think though... I never read "The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks, and the movie was SO incredibly good!! I have seen it maybe 10 times times and still cry every single time! And I don't even have the desire to read the book because I saw the movie... now it makes me wonder though... is the book EVEN BETTER??

I also heard that "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger was an amazing book and that the movie didn't even come close to how good the book was... in this case, I didn't necessarily like the movie, so I WILL read the book (have it on my bookshelf).

Same goes with "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. Heard that the movie was not that good but that the book was great!

"The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink was an AMAZING movie and the book was so so...

I guess it just really depends and it's all very individual.
It also has a lot to do with who the actors are, because sometimes the actors don't really fit the character of a book and that can ruin it as well...