Read the book, see the movie challenge

I love books, I love movies, and I like getting grumpy when movies don't measure up to the book. I don't agree that a movie has to slavishly follow the plot of a book but it does have to retain its spirit, as well as being a work of art in its own right. Fight Club is a good example of this, the movie is different from the book in many ways, but it remains faithful to Chuck Paluhniuk's central idea.

So I'm very much looking forward to CB James' Read the Book, See the Movie challenge, and I'm going to go in at the Film Festival level - that's comparing eight books with eight movies. Should be interesting - I've already got the first one lined up.

Here's the dets:

The Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge is based on a simple idea--read a book, see a movie based on the book, include both in your review. Whether yours is a book blog or a movie blog, this could be a way to add some spice to your posts, expand your outlook, have some fun. Mostly, have some fun.

You don't have to write full reviews both the movie and the book. You can write a review of one then add a brief paragraph or just a sentence or two about the other at the end.

Here's how to join:

1. Select a challenge level:

• Matinee: one book/movie
• Double Feature: two books/movies
• Saturday Movie Marathon: four books/movies
• Film Festival: eight books/movies
• Festival Jury Member: ten books/movies

2. Copy and paste the Read the Book, See the Movie Challenge button to your blog. (Optional. If you don't have a blog, you can still sign-up and play along. You can post reviews here.)

3. Sign up using Mr. Linky below. Please list your challenge level in a comment.

4. Get together a list of books/movies that you plan on reviewing. (Optional. You can just see what comes along during the year if you'd rather.)

I'll post monthly link lists so you can post links to your reviews here and I'll try to feature a few reviews each month.

The challenge will begin on New Year's Day 2010 and will last all year. There will be prizes. I don't know what the prizes will be yet, but expect several. I'm a big fan of giveaways. S

You can double count this challenge with any other challenges you're doing in 2010.