The big book-to-film reading challenge of 2020

I had quite a few UK holiday plans this year, they are gradually getting cancelled or postponed. In the meantime I have decided to pursue more homely goals; sorting out our house and garden and catching up with my reading and writing, art and craft. My reading list this year centres around twelve book-to-film titles I have been meaning to read for a while. I have already read and reviewed the first three. You can find more of my book reading and reviews at Good Reads.

Eat, Pray, Love by Liz Gilbert

The Martian by Andy Weir

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Dune by Frank Herbert

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman

The Duchess by Amanda Foreman

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian

The Revenant by Michael Punke

Eat, pray, love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I really loved watching the film of this book on Netflix, so I was really looking forward to reading the book itself. Luckily the book did not disappoint, although I found it strangely lighter in many places than the movie. The first part is thirty six chapters on enjoying food in Italy, as well as some story background and an introduction to Liz, I found it quite delicious. The middle section, Pray, is set in an ashram in India and features a lot of reflection on meditation. The final, Indonesian section, Love, seemed less well-defined as the eat and pray sections, it was about finding balance. I found the whole book was a very enlightening read. 

The Martian by Andy Weir

I found this a difficult, but enjoyable read. It is very much like the film, so the story was easy to understand. The difficulty, I found, was the amount of mathematical and scientific language involved. Mars is a planet devoid of life, so anyone attempting to exist there, has a lot precise working out to do. All of this was explained in great detail in Watney's log. Even so, the book was still a lot of fun.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre

I found this a difficult film to follow and so I was surprised to find the book much easier to understand. Its quite old now, so I found it pleasantly nostalgic. Most of what I got from the book was a series of unusual characters having strange conversations with other odd characters in various interesting locations, in and around London. I think I got a lot out of reading it nevertheless.