Then last night before a work meeting I stopped at the bookstore.  My boss asked me what I bought and I said Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs then explained that it was the series that Bones was based on.  Again, no  one around us seemed to have any clue that the show was based on books.


Why is that? Maybe it is just because I’m such a huge bookworm but I usually pay attention to if a show is based on one.

Especially with True Blood, I have noticed people complaining about it not sticking to the books.  Personally I actually have no problem with that.    I feel that in any case (tv or movie) that there is two ways to do it; you can recreate the book or you can use it as a reference.


In the case of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, the reader really is only getting Sookie’s side of the story.  We don’t see any backstory with Jason, Sam, or any of the other characters.  When you are making a tv show, there has to be more than one storyline going or it gets boring.  The shows writers do a great job as far as I’m concerned with using the characters in a way that is true to the books while still making there stories better for tv.  


Furthermore, I don’t think the books are necessarily amazing pieces of literature.  They are more of a fast and entertaining read.   Along with that though, I think it takes an enormous amount of talent to write a book that is successful and a number one best seller on the New York Times list.  I fully admit, I have every intention of reading the whole series because I do really enjoy them. 


With Bones there is a far bigger gap between the show and books.  Sure the main character is named Temperance (which I named my cat after by the way) and she is a forensic anthropologist that works with the FBI but that basically ends the similarities.  I don’t see people complaining about how different those to are though.  Maybe it is because they are so different that people have an easier time seeing that the tv show is just using the books as a starting point.


The Tempe books are extremely well written.  I don’t read tons of crime series but I do think that Reichs’ novels are among the best I have come across.  They are written on a high reading level but are so good that I can’t put them down so end up finishing them in days.  The story comes together in such an interesting way in each novel.  The show writers do a good job at bringing that element into the episodes as well.


So what does everyone else think?  Have you read a series that had a tv show based on it?  Do you think True Blood or Bones is completely ruining the books or doing them justice?


On a sort of related note, I noticed the other night that the last four books I have read were Deja Dead, Death Du Jour, Dead Until Dark, and Living Dead in Dallas (currently reading).  Do you see something in common? Maybe I should read something not so morbid sounding next, haha.  Actually next I will definitely be reading Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs.  Maybe after that I will go for something less dark sounding.