Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic is Top 5 Adaptations You Liked Better Than the Book.
1. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I feel like this is a very obvious answer. Rosamund Pike’s portrayal of Amy completely stole my heart. I did enjoy the book, of course, but I really loved the film. Everyone knows the iconic monologue of Amy when she explains how she pulled off her own disappearance and the way Rosamund reads it truly brings a whole new vibe to the storyline. I love the twisted ending and the final shots of Amy laying with her head on Nick’s stomach which parallels a frame of her doing it earlier in the film, bringing the story full circle. It has great cinematography and didn’t take too many liberties from the book which I enjoyed.
2. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
This novel was brought to screen in a TV adaptation and I fell in love. Amy Adams gives an amazing performance in it and I really loved Eliza Scanlen and Patricia Clarkson too. The show really captures the creepy, uneasy vibe of the book while staying very true to the source material. Although I think part of the show is a little unclear in a certain event which the book explains far better, I still prefer the show to the novel. I especially enjoy how much music they brought into the show with Camille’s stepfather and then Camille’s roommate when she has her stay in the psychiatric hospital. Another adaptation that has great cinematography, if you haven’t watched Sharp Objects on HBO yet, you should give it a try!
3. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Yes, I think the animated movie was better than the book and it has one major reason: Wybie. Spoiler alert if you’ve never read the novel: Wybie isn’t in it! I love his character so much in the movie so it really makes me sad that he isn’t an original character. Regardless, the film has so much color and imagination that I’ve always loved it. The book is really good but because I’m so partial to Wybie, I would still say I prefer the movie.
4. Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story
If you’ve never read the entire series of Anne of Green Gables, this may be a little confusing but let me try my best to explain. First, I LOVE Rilla of Ingleside. It’s an amazing book featuring Anne’s youngest child and the romance in it is so SO cute. It’s the final book in the series. BUT I like the Sullivan Entertainment film Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story, or “Anne 3” for short if you were ever in the fandom, a LOT. The biggest difference is that World War I is the biggest feature of both stories; however, the film has Anne and Gilbert placed in the war while the books show a more accurate time period version of Anne and Gilbert’s children placed in it. If you prefer accuracy, you’d probably prefer the books. If you like drama and angst, you might like the movie better. Truly I just loved seeing Anne’s ferocity and determination and bravery shown in the film as she journeys with the Red Cross and find it more interesting than the quieter version shown in Rilla of Ingleside with her daughter. Both are great but I do like the film better even though they’re very different. (Also the books are really sad at times while the film had a really cute “full circle” ending which I’d rather think about than what really happened because I’m a softie).
5. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
This is literally the only John Green book I’ve ever liked. I might be more partial to the film because I saw it before reading the book and it also came out close to my birthday so I associate it with happy memories (ironically) but I did enjoy the movie more. I feel like they picked great actors to portray the characters and it has that magic thing I love where they show text messages on the screen during the film. I particularly think the twist with Van Houten made more sense in the film compared to what happened in the book. But both versions made me cry so they accomplished what they set out to do I think haha.
Honorable Mentions
I had to pop a few honorable mentions in here because I had too many to fit on the list. Other adaptations I enjoyed more than the book are: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (I think Vivian Leigh’s performance truly brought Scarlett to life), Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (I loved the 2013 version and had the movie poster as my wallpaper on my phone for approximately 3 years), and Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding.
Do you agree with any of my picks on this list? Do you have any adaptations you think were better than the book? Let me know in the comments and happy reading!
wings and fables 
so many good books! great post, and thanks for sharing
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Thank you so much, Chelsea! 😊💕
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Ahh great post Wren! 💖 I had no idea there were movie adaptations of the Anne books!! I barely remember anything about Rilla of Ingleside (except for a *certain* character death that completely destroyed me), but I absolutely love all the books in that series! I might have to check out the movies if I ever get the chance 😊
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Thank you, Abby! I know exactly which character death you’re talking about. That was my so eloquent “really sad at times” reference about the book. 😂 I wish I could wipe that death from my memory and pretend it never happened. 🥺 The movies are older but really cute. The first one is just based on AoGG but the second film covers I think books 2-4. Then the third is just its own creation, loosely inspired by Rilla. If you get a chance to watch them, I hope you enjoy them and I’d love to hear what you think of the third if you remember to tell me later. 🤗💕
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I have to say, I actually haven’t read Gone Girl but I really loved the film, so it’s really satisfying to see it on your list this week!! And I didn’t even know that there was an adaptation of Sharp Objects!! I’ll have to see what streaming series it’s on over here, as we don’t have HBO.
Great post!!
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I hope you can find Sharp Objects somewhere! I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that some streaming platforms wouldn’t exist in other countries since even our Netflix are different. 😅 It’s truly a great adaptation and I’ve watched it more than once. 😊💕
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