Throwback: Favorite Book to Movie Adaptations

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image source: here. edited by me.

I almost forgot about this Throwback feature on my blog, and the last time I did it was last year. So this time I'm trying to revive this dying feature by talking about some of my Favorite Book to Movie Adaptations. While I was doing a research to make this post, there are actually tons of movies that are adapted from books—which I never knew about before. In this post, I will list some of my favorite movie adaptations; some might be quite old and some are quite recent. I might actually have many more movie adaptations that I love, but so far these are the ones at the top of my head right now. I listed the movies in no particular order, but I kind of separate them into genres. Feel free to share some good book to movie adaptations you've watched that are not on this list ;) (I also included some book review/movie adaptation review links that are available on this blog)

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks (2002)
I don't remember the exact time I watched this movie, but it sure is a long time ago—even before I started reading Nicholas Sparks' books, I think. This movie managed to make me cry buckets, and it's probably one of the best romance movies I've watched. Only later did I knew this was adapted from a book; and when I started reading all of Nicholas Sparks' books, I also read the original story of A Walk to Remember. And I actually think that I liked the movie better.

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (2004)
With this one, I watched it some time after I read the book. It's like a classic love story between a rich girl and a not-so-rich guy. They're separated and reunited after 14 years apart. I think I enjoyed the movie as much as I enjoyed the book. I fell in love with Ryan Gosling because of this movie. He's such a sweetheart <3

P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern (2007)
I read the book in 2008 and watched the movie before that; because only later did I found out it was originally a book. The movie was really sweet and heartbreaking; and I love Gerard Butler in it. To be completely honest, the book actually has a better and deeper plot than the movie. But still, I enjoyed watching it nevertheless. It's a good romantic movie that touched my heart :'))

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2012) | Movie Adaptation Review
This book is one of my favorite reads of 2010; and when the news of the movie adaptation came out, I was so excited to watch it. I finally get to watch it in 2013 and that movie is so beautifully made. I love the graphics, effects, and colors—everything is so pleasing to the eyes. The movie was able to portray the intensity of the situation and I think the actor did a really good job. You can click the link above and read my review for the movie adaptation :))

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2013) | Book Review | Movie Adaptation Review
I read and watched the movie in 2014, because it was one of the best books I read that year. I'm really happy because the movie did justice to the original story; and I'm pretty sure I would cry a lot more if I didn't know about the ending beforehand. The book is amazing, the movie is heartbreaking. Love this story so much. I think the characters will stay in my heart forever.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2014) | Book Review | Movie Adaptation Review
I'm pretty sure you all know what this is about because it's really hyped and it's a pretty recent movie adaptation. I absolutely adore the story of Hazel and Augustus and also all the quotable dialogues. I'm really satisfied with how the movie adaptation turned out because it wasn't too different from the book. Again, I will probably cry harder if I didn't know about the ending as I'm watching the movie. I was prepared for it, I guess. But yet, I'm still incredibly sad, because I love Augustus so so much <3 One of my favorite book boyfriends ever; and Ansel Elgort is perfect as Gus.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Closeby Jonathan Safran Foer (2011) | Book Review | Movie Adaptation Review
I don't think this movie was really popular when it premiered; but since I absolutely love the book, I still enjoyed the movie adaptation well. It is indeed a lot different from the book, because the original story had so much more happening compared to the movie. It's a heartfelt story about family and how the main character struggles after losing his father during the 9/11 incident. Oh, and I also cried at the end of the movie. I think most of the movies on this list made my cry.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2007) | Movie Adaptation Review
Another movie that breaks my heart. I know this movie is quite old but I watched it early this year because I just found out about it. The Kite Runner is one of my favorite books ever and it made me fell in love with Khaled Hosseini's writing. And I feel like this movie was able to deliver the important message that is within this heartbreaking story about friendship and life in general.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman | Book Review | Movie Adaptation Review
I read the book about 3 years ago and absolutely loved it; it talks about family, friendship, romance—all the typical young adult stuff. The story made me teared up multiple times, and the movie adaptations managed to do the exact same thing. And even though there are some differences between the movie and the book, the movie adaptation successfully portrayed the emotions that was in the story. FYI, I cried heaps while watching this movie. I know, I'm such an emotional wreck.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (2001, 2002, 2003) | Book Review 1 / 2 / 3 | Movie Adaptation Review 1 / 2 / 3
I was more than 10 years late in watching the movie adaptation because I only started watching it after I finished reading the trilogy. And it took me almost a year to finish watching all three movie adaptations because I had such a difficult time sparing 4-5 hours to watch each movie. But it was all worth it. The movie adaptation is so epic and freaking cool. Even though it's been more than 10 years since the movie was released, I still think it's one of the best movie adaptations ever. I can even say that the movie are better than the books at some point. Definitely an all-time favorite.

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011)
I think I watched all the movie adaptations of Harry Potter in the theaters; and watching these movies made me feel like I was growing up along with the characters in it. I started reading the series in 2009; so I was pretty late jumping into the bandwagon—but better late than never, right? I'm glad I decided to read the books even after I watched some of the movies because the movie adaptation left out quite a lot of details. Still, watching the movie is a whole different experience as we got to see Hogwarts and all the magic in it comes to life <3

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (2012, 2013, 2014) | Book Review | Movie Adaptation Review 1 / 2 / 3
Another pretty recent movie adaptation even though the book is really old. I read the book in 2012 and the last part of the movie adaptation was released late 2014. I'm glad Peter Jackson decided to adapt this book into a movie because I think he's the only person who's capable of doing it right. My favorite out of the three is probably The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, because that war scene is so epic. Even though there are a lot of changes made in the movie adaptation, I still think it's very well done.

Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth (2014) | Book Review 1 / 2 / 3 | Movie Adaptation Review 1 / 2
The dystopian theme is the trend these days; thus a lot of dystopian novels are being adapted into movies. The Divergent trilogy has a very interesting world with all the factions separating people according to their personalities. I thoroughly enjoyed the trilogy and I'm happy to see it come to life int he movie adaptation. I think I liked the first one better than the second; because the movie adaptation for Insurgent changed a lot of the plot in the book. But still, it's action-packed and fun to watch.

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (2012, 2013, 2014) | Book Review 1 / 2 / 3 | Movie Adaptation Review 1 / 2 / 3
The Hunger Games is the very first dystopian series that I've read and I obviously loved it so much—especially the first book. And even though the movie adaptation wasn't as violent as the book, it still did a pretty good job portraying the characters' feelings and conflicts. As the story progressed, it dwells a lot more on the political conflict. And I'm really excited to see the last installment in the movie adaptation which is set to premiere in November!

The Maze Runner by James Dashner (2014) | Book Review 1 / 2 / 3 | Movie Adaptation Review
Another favorite series of mine which I started reading because I'm looking forward to the movie adaptation. The book was really intense, fast-paced, and action-packed. In a way, the movie adaptation is also like that; but they did changed some things a little bit which kind of lowers the intensity of the story. I still loved it though, especially because Ki Hong Lee is bae <3

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (2010) | Book Review | Movie Adaptation Review
I picked up the book Gulliver's Travels because I really enjoyed the movie—which was really funny. But it turns out the original book is a classic and it's nothing like the movie. I think the movie adaptation just took the general idea and kind of develop the story on their own. I'm really thankful for that because the book was so boring, I didn't even finish it. On the other hand, the movie was so entertaining; it's really fun to watch.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (2001)
I don't remember exactly when I watched this movie but I think it's quite a long time ago. It's a typical Disney movie that's pleasant to watch at any age, and I absolutely love Anne Hathaway in this movie—she's done such an incredible job at portraying the main character who starts off as an ugly duckling turned into a princess. I never read the book and probably never will, because that series so long!

Shrek! by William Steig (2001, 2004, 2007, 2010)
I only just knew that this movie franchise is actually adapted from a book when I was doing a research for this post! It was a picture book by William Steig that was published in 1990. I always have a soft spot for animated movies and Shrek! is one of my favorite animated movies ever (along with Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and many more). Out of all the Shrek! series, I liked the first one best.

Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg (1995)
I'm not sure if people these days still remember this movie, because for me Jumanji is such a legendary movie. I think I watched it when the movie aired in Indonesian television with all the dubbing and stuff—but back then I love it so so much. I really love the idea behind the story in which the main characters played a board game and one is sucked into it until he was released twenty-six years later. Anyway, it's quite hard to explain but it's amazing! It's a family movie that I'm sure will be enjoyed by everyone.

Matilda by Roald Dahl (1996)
I watched this in school because we read the book for English class. We also watched a lot of other movies adapted from Roald Dahl's book including James and the Giant Peach and The Witches—which are also really old movies. But out of all that I've watched I think Matilda has a special place in my heart especially because of the main characters' love for reading.

Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss (2008)
And the last one on this list will be yet another animated movie. I've know Dr. Seuss from the popular quotes by him, and I watched this movie at home when I had nothing else to watch. It turns out to be quite heartwarming and funny. The book itself is pretty old and was published back in 1954; but I this Dr. Seuss' stories are a classic that will stand the test of time :))

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Phew, that was quite a long post. I actually still have several more movie adaptations that I wanted to include in this post, but I reckon this post is already long enough as it is. As I've said earlier, feel free to recommend me your favorite book to movie adaptations in the comments below! You can probably judge my taste in movies according to my list above. I always love movies that are heartwarming, funny, and overall entertaining to watch. I'm still thinking about what topic to discuss on my next Throwback post, so if you have any idea, please write it in the comments as well :)) Okay, bye!

by.stefaniesugia♥ .