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Some of the best movies have come from adaptations of books.  The upcoming Brave New World being adapted for the screen is an example. Some of my favorite books are made into movies. Sometimes when they make adaptations from the books into movies, some of the most important aspects of the books are left out in the movie. When this happens, since you have read the book and knowing what has happened in the book, the motion picture is usually a disappointment. Sometimes, though, you get a surprise when the motion picture is actually very similar to the book.

I have had at least three books that were my favorite that were made into very good movie adaptations. They were The Green Mile by Stephen King, Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, and North and South by John Jakes. I was quite surprised when I watched the movies and then ended up reading the books. Yes, I watched the movies first before reading the books. I know I should have read the books first, but at the time, I was not even sure I wanted to read them. After I saw the movies, I felt the urge to read the books.

North and South was written by John Jakes and was about two men who became friendsalthough they were different as night and day. One was from the South while the other was from the North. They became friends while at West Point Academy and before the Civil War that almost destroyed a nation. I watched the motion picture and fell in love with the era and the movie. After watching the movie, I decided to read the book. Boy was I surprised when I read it. There was so much more to the book than the movie ever had. I was still happy with the movie adaptation, though. I was happy to note that John Jakes had written two sequels to North and South and both had been made into movies.

The next book, The Green Mile, by Stephen King, was as different from any of his books. Normally I do not read his books at all, since his books are too scary for my taste. Yet, I watched the movie first and was pleasantly surprised by it. It was so different from anything that I had ever heard about his books being made into movies. So I decided to read the book and was also pleasantly surprised. In the movie, there were more similarities to the book than I even knew. There were some differences, of course, but all in all it was basically the same. I loved both the book and the motion picture and still to this day, I enjoyed both. Of course, I have not read anything else of his, but this book wassuperior than I ever thought it was and was happy that they made it into a movie.

Jurassic Park was written by Michael Crichton and was one of the scariest books that I had ever read before. This time around, though, I decided to read the book first before I saw the movie, so I would know what to expect when I watched the movie. I enjoyed reading the book, and eagerly awaited the movie that was coming out. When I saw the movie, I noticed the differences that were there. In the book, the two kids roles were reversed, and one other one that I noticed was the ending. In the book, the island was almost destroyed while in the movie; it was not, setting up the sequel, The Lost World.

All in all, those three books are the ones that I remember the most that were made into movies. I may have read those years ago, but they’re the ones that I remember the most. They stand out like they did when they first came out. I am happy to note that they still stand the test of time. I have gone back several times to read the books and also watch the movies. The movies and the books still capture that surprise that I had when I either first read them or watched them on the large screen.