Friday Reader Rambles

            The book was better than the movie. No, the movie was better than the book! Well, how about I take the book and shove it up your…

            KIDS! How about we just agree that they were both good? *receives glares from both sides, sighs deeply* Fine, kill each other. *steps back to let the two parties at each other*

            Any reader who is also a movie-goer is familiar with this argument. People get very high strung when it comes to their favorite books being translated to the silver screen. Some seem to take it personally if it is not done exactly how they imagined it. The only book or book series I would get upset about is the Fever series, by Karen Marie Moning. If they ever make them into a movie, you’re damn right I will have very high expectations, because I love those books so much. I suppose the same counts for Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels Trilogy, but anything else, I can deal with.

            Sometimes, in an attempt to be original for once, Hollywood will muck up a storyline, I admit. But then you have cases where it is handled beautifully. Or in even rarer cases, the books and the movies complement each other. Wait, that’s never happened with a movie I can think of. But it did happen with a television show and a book series. I’m speaking of course of Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire.

            As I’ve slowly, very slowly made my way through the books, I’m glad I read them after watching the show, rather than the other way around. I might feel differently if I hadn’t, but as it is now, I’m enjoying what the books have to offer and still having moments where I think the show did this or that scene better. They complement each other.

            Thus far, all my favorite Daenerys scenes from season three did not live up to expectations in the books, but I still enjoyed them. They provided the important back story that the show will never be able to put in. Never will a show, unless it’s Sex and the City or something of that nature, give you the insight into a character’s brain like a book does. And suddenly, why she acted this way or that in this scene makes complete sense, because you finally understand what was going through her mind.

            But then there are scenes that HBO cut out, like the chapter I read Wednesday night with Samwell Tarly. It was not in the show, not that I remember, but it had me on the edge of my seat and I just want to go wave it in the writers’ faces and ask “Why you no include this????” However, I understand that they are somewhat limited in what they can do. Even in thirteen one hour episodes, it’s hard to include everything from George R. R. Martin’s books.

            As a writer, I feel that George R. R. Martin has crossed a line most series writers are careful to avoid. It’s the point where you know a lot more is going on in the world than what you’re showing, but you have to keep the focus narrow enough so that people don’t lose sight of the main point. He breaks this rule, but he’s talented enough to get away with it, obviously. I bow to the master!