Discussion: Books into TV Series

I may be in the minority for book readers, but I almost like the Game of Thrones show more than the books in some ways.  I like how the show took out some of the more rambling storylines that happen in the fourth and fifth books; they did a really good job paring it down for a TV audience.  At the same time, I really didn’t like the timeline shift that led to Jaime raping Cersei in the show and I didn’t like the entire Dorne storyline, which felt like it was going nowhere.  But I’d still say that the Game of Thrones TV show has stayed true to the spirit of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

One of the TV adaptations I was really impressed with was the adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen.  I officially finished the first four episodes in a huge binge-watching session last night and was really happy with the way the books translated onto the screen.  The actors and actresses are all very talented and the TV show stayed very true not only to the feel of Gregory’s series on the War of the Roses but also to a lot of the main plot events.  You have Jacquetta working her magic, Elizabeth growing more and more ruthless toward Edward’s enemies and the poor Neville girls admiring the queen and yet being forced to become her rivals for power.  It’s actually a very satisfying adaptation and on the whole I like it more overall than the Game of Thrones adaptation because it stays very true to the source material and the writing is consistently excellent.

So what I want to know now is this: Do you have any particular books that you’d like to see adapted into a TV series?  Or, how has your experience been with seeing your favourite books adapted into TV shows?  Was it good or bad?  Why?

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