When I heard that The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was going to be a movie I was SO EXCITED! But as we’re getting closer, I’m feeling a little bit ambivalent about it.

There have been a lot of books into movies over the years. I don’t know if it’s just my current reading list or a coincidence, but a lot of the books I’ve read in the last few years have become movies. Unfortunately, I’ve been pretty disappointed in all of them. The one that I thought did it best, recently anyway, was Eat, Pray, Love. Even that one didn’t do the greatest job following the book, but the general gist of the story line was the same.

As a reader, when a book really resonates with me, I have a very clear movie of it in my head. In a lot of ways it’s disappointing to find out that my movie version didn’t match with someone else’s (or that it was just too expensive to make it!). But there are real contstraints of time and money when making a movie based on a book. And there is the visual element: everyone’s vision of what’s happening and what characters look like is somewhat personal, established by their own life experiences. It’s all about perspective.

The Hunger Games is a powerful book with some incredible imagery. It’s also incredibly disturbing and violent in some areas. I honestly don’t know how they are going to portray the horrors of the story without making a rated R movie.

What do you think? Which of your favorite books have become movies. Was it done well? If you’ve read The Hunger Games, are you looking forward to the movie?