Spoiler alert: the book was better

Books are an addiction for me and there is just about nothing I like more than seeing a novel brought to life on the big screen, but before I go any further, I’ll tell you all right now that I may allude to a few spoilers if you’ve never read a certain series or watched its counterpart.

Now that I have that out of the way and my conscience is clear, I can talk about how annoying people like me are. We read all the time and scarcely put down one book before we have another in our greedy palms, thumbing through the pages like some nerdy, mentally-starved misfits ready for an injection of someone else’s thoughts and ideas. If we are high tech, we have a Kindle or and iPod to store our library. Either way, we are insatiable.

In fact, right now, I have three books I’m reading depending on my mood. When I get a really good one, I stick with it until I’m done and, if it is part of a series, say goodbye to me for a while.

I generally do not like to read a series if the author hasn’t completed it yet because you always run the risk of that writer dying on you like Robert Jordan did before he finished the “Wheel of Time” which, let’s face it, took an eternity to write. I mean, did he have to describe the fabric of the women’s dresses? I felt like he was dawdling a bit, but it was still a good story overall even if someone had to step in and finish it this year.

Jordan was the reason I swore off reading another incomplete series, but I was tricked by “Game of Thrones.” I erroneously believed that an HBO project must mean that the books were done because why in the world would they risk a television show and all that money if an author was still messing around with the story?

I attacked the books full force before I watched the first HBO episode. I was actually late watching it because we didn’t have the network as part of our viewing package, but once we did, I caught up quickly.

George R.R. Martin is one of those cruel authors who kills anyone you care about in his books. If you watch the show, you know what I mean (red wedding, anyone?). I think he should have titled his series “Everyone Dies in the End.”

So now I’m left waiting for his next installment which I can’t stand.

At least HBO did a decent job with the telling of his story, unlike “True Blood.” Those shows could not have been further from what happened in the “Sookie Stackhouse” novels!

I know, we nerds are always boasting, “The book was SO much better.” I get tired of hearing it too.

I’ve been saying it since I began reading Stephen King in my teen years and they love to make movies out of his novels. “Salem’s Lot” was a big failure. “It” was okay, but Tim Curry was the best freaky clown ever. “The Shining” stands alone as a movie mostly because of Jack Nicholson, but “Pet Semetary” was probably one of the worst.

As long as authors keep writing, I’ll keep reading and as long as movies get made, I’ll be saying how much better it was to read the book, but I won’t stop watching movies. After all, nerds do need something to complain about.