The Book, Please by Sydney Salter

More than three decades ago, my husband and I included a movie on our first date. We've loved going to movies together ever since - we especially love unique stories and indie films. The superhero glut  has been hard on us.

I have a funny relationship with books made into movies. Naturally, as an avid reader, I want to read the book before the movie comes out. Sometimes I'll see a promising movie preview and race out to buy the book.

But here's the thing: if I really love the book, I often don't want to see the movie. If I don't love a book, I usually won't care about seeing the movie anymore.

Books are just so dang satisfying.

Sometimes I do like to study the difference choices made by authors and screenwriters. The film version of The Firm had a more clever ending and included a difficult scene in which the main character has to admit his infidelity to his wife. John Grisham avoided writing that tricky scene - and to be fair the filmmakers left most of the scene to the actors' reaction shots and dramatic music.

Usually books contain more magic for me. I recently read the book version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes written by Anita Loos in 1925. As charming as Marilyn Monroe is onscreen, she cannot compete with the laugh-out-loud hilarity of Loos' character's voice.

I'll probably continue rushing out to buy and read books when I see movie trailers. I have discovered a lot of good stories that way, and sometimes both the movie and the book are great.

But I sure wish Hollywood (and Broadway for that matter) would take more chances on new material by screenwriters, rather than banking on a book's established popularity. How many great stories are being unseen? I want to watch those unique films!