BOOKISH

A Not-So-Ordinary Book Discussion BY TIFFANY KILLOREN

SORRY, HOLLYWOOD. THE BOOK WAS BETTER.

Okay, now. Don’t get me wrong. I love a good movie. I love the giant bucket of popcorn and comfy seats. I even the love the previews and the anticipation of movies to come. That being said, when it comes to film adaptations, the book is almost always better. Even with the award-winners that manage to adeptly translate a book onto the silver screen, there is simply no way you can substitute the character development and nuances that live within the written word. I liked all of the following movies … but the books were better.

There’s no point in itemizing these books. Suffice it to say that Stephen King stories are best read, not watched (with few exceptions, like Misery, Stand by Me, Shawshank Redemption and Carrie, which I loved in film version). His oldies—like The Shining and Pet Sematary—are stories that should be read under the covers. King’s disdain for Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of The Shining is well-known despite Jack Nicholson’s maniacal perfection. His new books, The Outsider and Dr. Sleep, are similarly positioned. The underlying paranormal and supernatural themes in King’s stories are almost always best left to the imagination.

Fahrenheit 451: This one is apparently a whopper. My son read the 1953 novel by Ray Bradbury for his high school English class and was completely taken aback by the film adaptation (if you can call it that), the changes to characters and storyline so extreme that even my 15-year-old was like, “What were they thinking?”

The Exorcist: Do you see a trend here? Supernatural, paranormal or— in the case of The Exorcist—demonic storylines do not translate well onscreen. The movie’s release in 1973 caught audiences completely offguard by its depiction of the possession of a young girl, but the book was so much more subtle and effective in its story development and description of events. Take your pea soup and leave me William Peter Blatty’s book, which was a truly terrifying read.

Unbroken: I actually enjoyed the movie Unbroken, but there is no substitute for Laura Hillenbrand’s book depicting the unfathomable journey of war survivor Louis Zamperini. His life was more heartbreaking and thrilling than anything in fiction, and some of the people he encountered were more cruel than any villain in a Hollywood script. I was simply in awe of his strength when I finished the book and, although the movie stayed true to his story, it couldn’t evoke the same emotions I felt when reading about his life journey. Both are worth a read and watch, but make sure to read the book if you haven’t already.

Tiffany Killorenis a local author and lover of the written word. Her novel, GOOD WILL, was released in 2020 and she is always thinking

of new stories to tell. Follow her at @readandthreads on Instagram for book and life musings as she tries to balance career, family and

her passion for writing one step - or word - at a time.

PHOTO BY MOLLY KUPLEN