I spent a lovely and engaging seven weeks watching Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell on BBC America, the adaptation of Susannah Clarke’s tome set in a magic-infused England that, sadly, ended last Saturday. The show was fantastic; magical, funny and suspenseful in all the right places. This mini-series was an unusual experience for me because I hadn’t read the book prior to watching the show. I remember remarking how it was nice to see something like this and be able to take it in fairly unprejudiced. I knew little about the book except for it’s existence and that the premise intrigued me so when I watched the series, I was able to take it in with fresh eyes and experience the twists and turns (and there were plenty!) with surprise. I plan to read the book (it’s been on my to-read list for a while now) but I’m wondering just how much my reading of the book will be affected by what I’ve seen.

When I read the book before seeing the movie, my view of the movie is definitely colored by what I’ve read. Recently, I was eager to see Still Alice because, despite the utterly sad and somewhat helpless feeling it left me with, Lisa Genova’s book was richly detailed, well-researched and truly moved me. I felt for Alice and through her I felt that I could somewhat better comprehend the cloud people with Alzheimer’s live in. I wondered as I read the book, how this-or-that detail would come across in the movie and whether or not certain scenes would translate onto film the way they did in my head. So I was sorely disappointed when many of the details that I thought gave the story so much of its emotional impact were left out of the movie entirely. This happens a lot with me (and I have it on good authority that it happens to some of my friends, too, so at least I’m in good company) but more often with books than with movies, I get emotionally attached to certain parts of the book (or in some cases the entire book) and feel crushed that a part that I loved so much in print was left out or interpreted differently.

There’s also the flip side, where reading a book after seeing the movie can leave me confused or find it difficult to get into the book. I had this experience with Wicked. Before you check the catalog, there’s no movie version (yet… I hear one is in the works) but I saw the musical before I was able to read Gregory Maguire’s fantastic book. I love both the way one might love two children: equally, fervently but with different reasons for each because they are so different themselves. When I picked up the book after seeing the show I completely lost! Maguire’s Wicked, for me is a read-more-than-once book anyway, but the show and book took on different themes, different events. I was confused and frustrated; why couldn’t I plug in some of Stephen Schwartz’s great songs into the text? I eventually appreciated the book for its own beauty and its own story, but it certainly did take me a while.

So there is the great conundrum of book-to-movie (or musical) adaptations. Which to do first: read or watch? And once you choose, how happy are you with your decision? There’s no right or wrong way to read a book (or see a movie for that matter) so there’s no right answer here, but with the host of adaptations coming this fall, which path will you choose? Here are some adaptations coming out this fall and links to their accompanying books. Hopefully, this might help you decide….

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Riding the success of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, Charlize Theron stars in this adaptation of one of Flynn’s earlier works. Libby Day witnessed the murder of her family as a young child and testifies against her older brother Ben, but later in life she starts to question what really happened that night.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson is the first author who introduced me to the wonderful world of travel memoirs and I have him to thank for my go-to “beach reading” genre. This is the book that started it all for me. I read it in public and had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud and disturbing everyone. Several times. A middle-aged family man tries to find himself and decides to trek the Appalachian Trail with the only friend crazy enough to go with him. Naturally, hilarity ensues; though, this was very likely a case of not-so-funny-when-it-happened…. This adaptation stars Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.

Black Mass by Dick Lehr & Gerard O’Neill

Johnny Depp and Benedict Cumberbatch star in this adaptation of the book written  by two former Boston Globe reporters who worked on Whitey Bulger stories since his rise in the 1970s. When John Connolly, who knew Bulger in childhood tries to indoctrinate the king of the Irish mob as an informant for the FBI, the two powers clash; their deal spirals out of control and into drug-dealing, racketeering and murder.

The Martian by Andy Weir

Astronaut Mark Watney is one of the first people to walk on Mars, and may well be the first person to die there after his team accidentally leaves him behind on the red planet during a freak storm. He’ll need to use every skill he has in order to survive. This adaptation stars Matt Damon.

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

During the peak of the whaling boom off of Nantucket, the whaleship The Essex set sail and was sunk 15 months into its voyage by sperm whales who attacked the ship. If this story sounds a bit familiar, it should. This is the real-life encounter that inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick. Nathaniel Philbrick, author and historian describes what the survivors of the wreck went through in their attempts to survive. The adaptation stars Benjamin Walker and Chris Hemsworth.

Till next week, dear readers, I hope you enjoy whatever you’re reading or watching.