There are two kinds of people: those who think books are always better than the films they inspire, and those that watch the film so they don\u2019t need to read the book.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, however, a book and a film can offer very different versions of the same story. Here are a few books worth reading even if you\u2019ve seen the film!<\/p>\n
Stanley Kubrick\u2019s classic tale of ultraviolence and Beethoven-obsessed hoodlums is a powerful statement on crime, punishment and the importance of free will… although it\u2019s not the statement author Anthony Burgess originally wanted to make.<\/p>\n
Kubrick\u2019s adaptation omits the final chapter of Burgess\u2019 novella, changing the tone and message of the story entirely. To avoid spoilers, let\u2019s just say Burgess is a lot more optimistic about little Alex\u2019s future than Kubrick.<\/p>\n
Removing the final chapter wasn\u2019t entirely Kubrick\u2019s decision though. Feeling the book\u2019s conclusion was too uplifting, Burgess\u2019 US publishers chose to cut chapter 21 and end on an altogether bleaker note.<\/p>\n
Burgess wasn\u2019t too happy about this decision and eventually disowned both Kubrick\u2019s film and his own novel. Blimey.<\/p>\n
Buy A Clockwork Orange on DVD<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Buy A Clockwork Orange<\/em> by Anthony Burgess<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n I Am Legend<\/em> follows Doctor Robert Neville as he searches for a cure to a vampire plague that has already claimed most of the world\u2019s population. In the film, Neville is played by Will Smith, who sadly stopped rapping the theme tunes to his films by this point thus depriving us all of a vampire-rap epic.<\/p>\n Unlike A Clockwork Orange<\/em>, the team behind\u00a0I Am Legend\u00a0<\/em>the film decided to give the story a happy ending. Richard Matheson\u2019s original conclusion is much darker and much more thought-provoking too.<\/p>\n Buy I Am Legend<\/em> by Richard Matheson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Buy I Am Legend<\/em> on DVD<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n For a film about a mass-murdering psychopath, the film adaptation of American Psycho<\/em> isn\u2019t that violent. Sure, someone gets killed with an axe and a starkers Christian Bale runs around screaming with a chainsaw, but it\u2019s tame compared to most modern horror.<\/p>\n The book, on the other hand, is one of the most violent, disturbing novels ever written. To hammer home his savage take on the emptiness of consumerism, Bret Easton Ellis describes Patrick Bateman\u2019s crimes in excruciating and horrendously gory detail.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, the book was hugely controversial. Simon and Schuster, the original publishers, dropped it 3 months before its release, while various groups campaigned to get it banned entirely. Ironically, one of the loudest protesters was Christian Bale\u2019s step-mum, Gloria Steinham.<\/p>\n It\u2019s well worth a read, although we\u2019d recommend keeping a bucket handy for the more graphic passages…<\/p>\n Buy American Psycho<\/em> by Bret Easton Ellis<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Buy American Psycho<\/em> on DVD<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Imagine writing a book, then one of the world\u2019s greatest directors adapting that book into a movie pretty much everyone loves… except for you.<\/p>\n Even though it\u2019s one of the best horror movies ever made, Stephen King famously hates Stanley Kubrick\u2019s version of The Shining<\/em>.<\/p>\n Among King\u2019s many beefs with the film is Kubrick not making it clear that Jack Torrance was possessed by evil spirits lurking in the Overlook Hotel, turning Jack\u2019s wife into a screaming one-note character and generally making the characters \u201ctoo cold\u201d.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, both versions are well worth checking out.<\/p>\n The book version of World War Z<\/em> is a documentary-style exploration of a zombie apocalypse ten years after it happened, diving into the political, social, military and personal repercussions of half the world turning into mindless brain-munchers.<\/p>\n It would make a fantastic faux-documentary, which is why Hollywood decided to…erm, turn it into an action film with Brad Pitt dodging corpses who can climb on each other to form mega-structures and leap like tigers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that the film version of World War Z<\/em> \u00a0is bad. It\u2019s just completely different. Zombie fans should really check out both.<\/p>\n Buy World War Z by Max Brooks<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Buy World War Z<\/em> on DVD<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n If the events of Forrest Gump<\/em> the film are implausible, then the events of the book are downright ridiculous.<\/p>\n As well as everything you see in the film, novel Forrest who is 6.6 inches tall and has a pretty foul mouth becomes a stuntman, a professional wrestler (stage name: The Dunce. We\u2019re not kidding), and joins a band.<\/p>\n Oh, and he also goes to space, gets stranded on an island full of cannibals and befriends an orangutan named Sue.<\/p>\n The Road<\/em> is one of the bleakest films of recent years, following a father and son as they try to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.<\/p>\n The film doesn\u2019t differ that greatly from Cormac McCarthy\u2019s original novel, although McCarthy\u2019s sparse prose (he doesn\u2019t use any punctuation apart from the comma) somehow makes the family\u2019s journey through a dead world even more bleak than it is on screen.<\/p>\n Although it\u2019s hardly an uplifting or life-affirming read, The Road<\/em> is a novel you won\u2019t forget quickly.<\/p>\n Buy The Road<\/em> by Cormac McCarthy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Buy The Road<\/em> on DVD<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Douglas Adams\u2019 sci-fi classic is an absurd classic, following a normal bloke named Arthur who is abducted by aliens just as the world is demolished to make way for an intergalactic highway.<\/p>\n Although the film is pretty good, a lot of Adams\u2019 trademark humour and wit is lost in translation. For the proper, hilarious Hitchhiker\u2019s<\/em> experience, read the original novel (and its sequels).<\/p>\n Buy The Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy<\/em> by Douglas Adams<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Buy The Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy<\/em> on DVD<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The Unbearable Lightness of Being<\/em> is a romantic novel following four people in Czechoslovakia, although author Milan Kundera frequently interrupts the narrative with lengthy philosophical musings and meditations on mid-20th century Eastern European politics. Chapter 2, for example, explores Nietzsche\u2019s concept of eternal return and its implications for the average person.<\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t guessed that, this is a weighty book that couldn\u2019t obviously be adapted to film… so someone had a go, of course. The film version of The Unbearable Lightness of Being<\/em> strips back most of Kundera\u2019s philosophy lectures and instead focuses on the central love triangle. It\u2019s a good film, but nowhere near as original or thought-provoking as Kundera\u2019s\u00a0 book.<\/p>\n Buy The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Buy The Unbearable Lightness of Being on DVD<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Looking for something to read? Second hand books<\/a>! <\/em>Or, if you need to make some space on your shelves, sell books for cash<\/a> with musicMagpie! Just get an instant price, send them for FREE and we\u2019ll pay you the same day they arrive.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are two kinds of people: those who think books are always better than the films they inspire, and those that watch the film so they don\u2019t need to read the book. Sometimes, however, a book and a film can offer very different versions of the same story. 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\nI Am Legend<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nAmerican Psycho<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nThe Shining<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nWorld War Z<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nForrest Gump<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nThe Road<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nThe Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nThe Unbearable Lightness of Being<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n