Greetings, OTB fans! Welcome to the middle of November; can you believe it? Today we’re asking you to use your imaginations in a big way… Movie theaters. Remember those? The smell and crunch of super-buttery popcorn, the slight tacky stickiness of the floors, the research you would do beforehand to carefully plan out the optimal time to run to the restroom (looking at you, Avengers: Endgame). If you’re a fan of both books and movies, you’ve likely experienced the highest of hopes and the lowest of disappointments when it comes to the arena of book-to-movie adaptations. Some of them defy the odds and present a film that satisfies both true blue book fans and general movie-going audiences. These success stories are not our focus today. Here we’ve given our staff a safe space to sound off on their most egregious experiences when it comes to bringing a beloved book to the big screen. Buckle in; it’s a wild ride…

Adapting Donna Tartt was and always will be a thankless task. Doubly so when you pick arguably the least plot-heavy of her three novels, aka The Goldfinch. On the surface, it’s a pretty simple story: during the bombing of a museum that subsequently kills his mother, a boy inadvertently steals a rare painting, and both events haunt him through adolescence and into adulthood. With the final novel clocking in at almost 800 pages, surely you must be thinking, “There’s got to be more to it than that? Is that it?” But Tartt’s beautiful prose and characters elevate the seemingly simple story, compelling you to root for the main cast despite most of them being undoubtedly the worst people possible.

When the trailer for the 2019 adaption dropped, I literally watched it over and over again. I met with a friend who is just as obsessed with the novel as I am, and we watched it together. I watched it frame by frame, second by second. Because it seemed perfect. It seemed to grasp the harsh emotions that fill the novel while casting actors who truly embodied the characters. It had to be too good to be true, right?

And it was. It wasn’t for a lack of trying. The film, starring Ansel Elgort, knows its source material but purely on a surface level. Despite being nearly identical plot-wise, the film is a boring, unstylized slog devoid of any of the bite or intrigue. Like an empty dollhouse, it’s a gorgeous piece of cinema but lifeless on the inside.

At the end of the day, it’s an adaptation made by people who didn’t understand why the book was so successful in the first place. A film that has the average moviegoer shrugging their shoulders as if to ask “That’s it?” and the book’s fans sighing with regret as if to say, “That’s it…” - Abby (Floor Manager)

Harriet The Spy by Louise Fitzhugh is a classic, deservedly so. The 1996 movie version, not so much. Rita Kempley of The Washington Post was critical of the film, deeming it a "tedious" adaptation. The book is funny, subtle and wise, and it rewards re-reading when you're an adult. Fitzhugh was able to capture the bright, suffocating world of school and childhood exactly. The two sequels, The Long Secret and Sport, are both fabulous too. And who doesn't love a girl detective? Harriet will always be first in my heart, although I have a soft spot for Nancy Drew too.

For true fans, there's a new biography of Fitzhugh out in early December this year, titled Sometimes You Have to Lie, and it's already gotten raves from Alison Bechdel, Gregory Maguire, Roz Chast, and Therese Anne Fowler. - Jen (Book Buyer)

To give you some background, I was a definite serial reader in my upper elementary and middle school years, before the responsibilities of schoolwork infringed upon my reading time. There were points where I would literally max out the number of items that I could check out on my library card. One of the series that I adored and re-read on multiple occasions was Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. It was so refreshing to encounter a protagonist that was not inherently good from the beginning and to follow his story as he grew up and grew as a character. His supporting cast of characters is top-notch, with solid friendships, witty banter, and some A+ fight sequences. Earlier this year, I revisited the series as an adult (through the awesome talents of the series’s audiobook narrator) and it still holds up. Which brings us to the recent movie adaptation on Disney+…

I kid you not when I say that within the first five minutes of the film, I was already shouting at the screen. Throughout the series, Artemis is described as a primarily cerebral character largely uninterested in the physical conditioning that his bodyguard Butler wants him to go through. The film introduces the character running down an Irish beach with a surfboard… * shrieks of bookworm rage * The irregularities and mischaracterizations only increase from there. If you are a fan of the original book series, skip this attempt at a movie adaptation. If you are intrigued by the idea of a child criminal mastermind who goes head to head with underground magical intelligence officers, come down to Old Town Books and pick up the first book in the series. It’s far more worth the trip. - Shannon (Bookseller)

What are the biggest swings and misses in this genre for you? We would love to listen to (and rant along with) you, either online or masked and in-person. Until next time, happy reading!

Blog contributions by Abby Bennsky, Jenn Chang, and Shannon McCarthy. Edited by Shannon McCarthy.