Top Ten Tuesday

I have actually been excited about this weeks top ten for quite a long time (longer than it would perhaps be prudent for me to admit...), mainly because I thought 'Hey! The Broke and the Bookish are doing a top ten tuesday almost specifically for my blog, because I write about books AND movies!' Alas, it wasn't too long before I realised that this is Oscar week... but that still doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for this week's list!

Top Ten Book to Movie Adaptations

1. Fight Club- It's just so awesome. I saw the film before I read the book (the blasphemy!) but when I did finally get round to reading it I was really surprised (and pleased) at how similar the two were. When a book is that good, you just don't want to change it all that much!

2. Lord of the Rings- Because, ok, the books are pretty awesome, but the films are similarly amazing AND they missed out like all the bloody songs (which, in the end, I had to start skipping in the books anyway, or I would have gone completely insane). Also, Aragorn was about a thousand times hotter than any man I could have imagined, and may have accidentally set off my beard obsession...

3. True Blood- I know, it's a TV programme, but HBO series are more like really really long films anyway. Also, this programme is so spectacularly better than the books that it really deserves its place on my list. 

4. Angels in America- I guess, since Angels in America is a play, this shouldn't really count because it was always intended to be performed. Nonetheless, I just love the play and the mini-series so much that I can basically put it into any list ever. And this definitely counts. You can check out my review of the play here

5. Gone With the Wind- I know that the film misses out lots of things (extra children, stuff like that) but I saw it before I read the book, and I just love it so very very much. It also hold special Christmastime memories for me, whereas the book has memories of the gorgeous summer afternoons where I read it in the garden. Basically, they're both just the greatest (racism and love of slavery aside, of course).

6. Chocolat- Any film with Johnny Depp in is pretty much going to be a winner for me. This, however, I love in spite of Johnny (since he's only in it for about 17 minutes in total). It's just so sweet (haha) and lovely, and makes me want to be a chocolatier in the french countryside. The book has much the same effect on me.

7. Tess of the D'Urbervilles- I normally avoid BBC costume dramas like the plague, because I just can't deal with them! Nonetheless, I decided it would be a good idea to watch Tess, and it really was. I was so unbelievably moved by this that I wanted to jump inside the screen and save Tess really badly. It was also doubly good, since it made me return to a book that I had read far too young to understand it, and I really really loved it the second time around.

8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- So faithful to the book (which is completely amazing, see here) but with the added bonus of the inspired casting of Jack Nicholson as McMurphy. Find me a better actor for that role, and I'll drop down dead, because Nicholson is completely perfect, as he so often is (see here, for instance). Heartbreakingly wonderful.

9. The Green Mile- Another sobfest that, doesn't necessarily go as deep as the book, but definitely still has the same emotional depths, and made me cry equal amounts. A really great cast (Tom Hanks could be in everything if I was a casting director) and still a spectacular story.

10. Brokeback Mountain- The short story is good, but the film just takes the book and runs with it, across mountains and rivers, and takes risks where the story doesn't. Having said that, however, it still does stick really closely to the book, and doesn't take too many liberties with it. The casting here is also inspired, and I can't watch it without sighing and considering all the great things we could have seen from Heath Ledger, since he was capable of so much. (You can find my review of the film here.)

So, that's my top ten. Do you have any book to movie adaptations that you love? Or, on a similar note, ones you can't stand? (I, for one, can't deal with the Harry Potter films, although I know that's an unpopular thing to say!) Let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear from you!