Top Ten: Movies That Should Have Been Books

Have you ever read an overview of a movie and thought to yourself, "Well, that would be a really good book! But I don't think it sounds so great as a movie." I hope I'm not alone in this way of thinking. I've run into many movies with excellent synopses that would make for interesting reads, but as movies I probably wouldn't have the patience to view them or the director's view will ruin what I think it should be, whereas I'm rarely ever disappointed by a good read. So, for my Top Ten this week: Movies That Should Have Been Books.

1. Sunshine Cleaning (Dark Indie Comedy): Two sisters team up to make money for their son/nephew to go to a good school by cleaning up crime scenes and bio-hazard removal. I can see reading into their lives, feeling connected, laughing at their crazy life, loving the way it all fits into words.

2. Women in Trouble (Indie Comedy): One crazy day in the lives of ten different women. And then a book would bring it all mind-meltingly together so you would smile and wonder for weeks afterwards, in the back of your mind, if lives really DO fit together that way.

3. Read You Like a Book (Drama): A movie about a book found in a quirky bookstore that changes the lives of several who find it has mystical powers; allowing the reader to go back and fix past mistakes. It's a MOVIE about a BOOK.

4. TiMER (Sci-Fi): Bio-technical advances have made it easy to find your soul mate in that you literally have "biological clock" that ticks down to the time when you are supposed to meet him or her. But the main character, Oona, is concerned. She's nearly 30 and her TiMER hasn't started ticking yet.

5. The Ramen Girl (Comedy): When the main character is left high and dry in Tokyo by her boyfriend, she finds solace in a Japanese ramen house, where the chef, a grumpy old man, agrees to take her on as an apprentice and teach her the ways of the ramen.

6. Dreamcatcher (Supernatural Horror): Four friends perform a heroic act and are changed forever by the powers they gain. Years later, they become lost in a blizzard that harbors an ominous presence. Seriously, I can't see this as a good movie. But a book? Yep, I'd pick it up.

7. Ondine (Fantasy): An Irish fisherman unexpectedly catches a girl in his cast net who changes his small village with her presence. Though I will say, this movie has Colin Farrell, so um. . . I wouldn't mind seeing the movie. Lol.

8. Time Bandits (Fantasy): A boy escapes his gadget-nutty parents to go adventuring with time-travelling dwarves.

9.Riverworld (Sci-Fi): After being killed by an explosion, this main character and his fiance end up in different parts of the afterworld. The main character teams up with Mark Twain (!) and a female warrior to find his fiance. Admittedly, I've seen the movie. It was great. It would make a better book.

10. The Answer Man (Romance): A reclusive author, famous for having penned a self-help book a decade earlier, is in need of some spiritual healing. And I'll bet he finds just the woman to help!

So there you have it. You may have seen them. Or heard of them. They may be fantastic. But I could totally picture cuddling up with these movies in novel form. Just no novelizations. If these ideas were books before they were movies! Then we'd have ourselves a reading list!