Have you held off watching a movie so you can read the book first?

[Iain Edward Henn]

I was very keen to see the The Time Traveler's Wife movie, but held back as I really wanted to read the novel, by Audrey Niffenegger, first. I'm glad I did, as I'm a fan of time travel fiction and I loved this book. It was the first time I've ever delayed seeing a movie for that reason.

I was also drawn to the film, Unknown, starring Liam Neeson, but once again held back as I wanted to read the novel it was based on (by Didier Van Cauwelaert). Once again, glad I did, I particularly enjoyed this Hitchcock-style mystery. I wanted to read the novel without knowing the outcome.

Now I seem to be doing this more and more. Am I mad? Has anyone else been holding off watching a movie because they want to experience the book first?

(By the way, I still haven't caught up with either of those movies, though I plan to very soon.)

[mooshie78]

Occasionally, but not often.  I'm a bigger movie buff than I am a reader.

If it's a book from an author I like, I'll try to read it first though.  I don't much enjoy reading a book after seeing a movie as it's just kind of boring to read after you know all the main plot points (assuming it was a faithful adaptation anyway!).

[Lynn ODell]

I have.

I still need to read "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" so I can watch the movie on Netflix. 

[bordercollielady]

I have... most recently Water for Elephants and The Help.  Usually I find the books better than the movie - so want to get my first impression from the book.  Also - for the last two Harry Potter films - if I hadn't read the books - I wouldn't have understood the movies (which I watched at home from very dark DVD's..)

[jlee745]

I have Bag of Bones on my dvr waiting patiently for me to read the book. I am almost finished with my current book and then I will read it.

[MLPMom]

I have before. I refuse to read a book after having seen the movie so, if I want to read the book and watch the movie I always wait until reading the book first before I even think about watching the movie.

Recently I did this with The Help and I am so glad that I read the book. It was a wonderful read. I don't think I would have liked the movie as much without having read the book first.

[tinytoy]

Yes.  I read both Water for Elephants and The Help before watching their corresponding movies, on purpose.  After seeing the movie trailer I put The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo book on reserve at the library and eventually read it before the movie came out in theaters.  I also read the entire A Song of Ice and Fire series before watching any of the episodes of Game of Thrones on HBO. 

I wouldn't not read a book because I've already seen the movie, though. I just prefer to read the book first if possible.

[4eyesbooks]

No, if the trailer looks good I watch the movie.  If the movie was really good then I might go back and read the book.

[shelbymhailstone]

Doing this with the Hunger Games movie. I can't believe I haven't read them yet! Mostly, I just want to be sure I understand the plot of the movie, since I've learned from the experience of having to walk my little sister through the Harry Potter movies when she didn't understand things the book made clear. 

With movies that aren't "big name" books, though, I tend to watch the movie whether or not I've read it, since the producers are probably assuming I haven't read it and i can still follow the story okay.

[Tony Richards]

No, I find the two don't tend to clash. There's usually a lot more in the book than they can fit into the movie, so I know that I can watch it first and still look forward to getting the more complete story in the original novel. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an excellent example of this.

[Ryan Harvey]

I'll delay watching the movie if it's one of those books that "I've always wanted to get around to." Usually because it's in my huge stack of "to-read" (or in my "to-read" collection on Kindle).

The best long-term example for me was the 1984 film version of Dune. I waited ten years after it came out before seeing it because I wanted to read the novel. I watched the movie the next day after reading the book. I'm glad I took this route, because the movie would have left me utterly baffled if the book were not in my immediate memory.

[AllisonKraft]

I do that sometimes, if it's a book I already wanted to read. I remember marathon-reading IT by Stephen King back in high school because I wanted to Irish it before the mini-series aired on TV. More recently, I'm holding off on seeing The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo until I can finally read the book.

On the other hand, I find if I read the book too close to when I see the movie, I spend the whole time comparing the two and picking out differences. I enjoy the firms better with some time in between. I ruined my enjoyment of the earlier Harry Potter movies by re-reading the books immediately before seeing them.

[StephenLivingston]

I have.  One example that comes to mind was "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey.  Great book and great film too.  Best wishes, Stephen Livingston.

[JFHilborne]

No, if the trailer looks good I watch the movie.  If the movie was really good then I might go back and read the book.

Ditto. Several times I've only read the book b/c I liked the movie and would not have picked the book up if I'd not seen the movie first.

[Sarah1981]

I don't watch many movies--TV shows are more my thing because it's hard for me to sit down and watch TV for more than about an hour at a time--so, yes, I read the book before the movie.

I am, though, looking forward to watching "The Help" at some point. I'd really like to know how they deal with "the terrible awful thing."

[Iain Edward Henn]

I'll delay watching the movie if it's one of those books that "I've always wanted to get around to." Usually because it's in my huge stack of "to-read" (or in my "to-read" collection on Kindle).

The best long-term example for me was the 1984 film version of Dune. I waited ten years after it came out before seeing it because I wanted to read the novel. I watched the movie the next day after reading the book. I'm glad I took this route, because the movie would have left me utterly baffled if the book were not in my immediate memory.

Ryan, I think you'd take out the all-time record with that one: holding off on watching 'Dune' for 10 years until you'd got around to reading the book, lol
 

[Iain Edward Henn]

No, I find the two don't tend to clash. There's usually a lot more in the book than they can fit into the movie, so I know that I can watch it first and still look forward to getting the more complete story in the original novel. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an excellent example of this.

Tony, fortunately I'd previously read this one so I'm ready for the movie. And I couldn't agree more that Dragon Tattoo is a great example of the differences between a novel and a movie, which allows you to enjoy each on its own merits. I found this, for instance, with The Count Of Monte Cristo. I'd seen several films and tv miniseries of this, but none of them compared with or took away from the book with its epic scale and multiple plots and subplots.

[ImmortalInk]

I've *always* done this! I feel like a movie can ruin a book but a book can only enhance a movie. IDK why. Just how I feel

[KateEllison]

If there's a movie version of a book that I really want to see, and I haven't read the book, I'll almost always watch the movie first.

I find that usually the movie is a more stripped-down version of the story, due to time constraints, and when I go back to read the book later it fills in the gaps and fleshes out the characters a bit more (exceptions to this--TV shows and miniseries based on books usually do a great job of exploring these things in more depth, because they have a lot more time).

I've been disappointed when watching the movie version of a book I loved, but I've almost never been disappointed from reading the book version after loving the movie. So I usually do things in that order.