GGB Reno’s “August Adaptations” Brunch Recap

In lieu of a traditional “book brunch,” the Reno chapter of Geek Girl Brunch opted for a broader theme for the month of August, including all varieties of “things-adapted-into-other-forms.” This allowed us to discuss a multitude of adaptations beyond the standard book to TV or film adaptations, such as stage plays to film (and vice versa), video and board games to the big screen, various manga adaptations, and the virtually endless stock of Disney property adaptations.

Officer Vanessa started things off with a long list of favorite book adaptations, including The Lord of the Rings (but decidedly NOT The Hobbit movies), The Road, and Game of Thrones (the books of which she couldn’t finish, but she loves the show). Her favorite film of all time is an adaptation of a stage play which itself was an adaptation of an old B-movie – Little Shop of Horrors!

Janet L. has seen a number of stage versions of Disney animated films, such as Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and she may be a bit obsessed with Beauty and the Beast in general. She highly recommends that we check out Lindsey Ellis, formerly AKA The Nostalgia Chick.

Officer Angela is looking forward to the big screen adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians! She then spoke of her exceedingly strong love/hate relationship with the Twilight movies. She also, much to the shock of many geek girls, doesn’t mind spoilers and sometimes actively seeks them out, since she doesn’t like surprises.

Paola also immediately mentioned The Lord of the Rings films as one of the her favorite adaptations, although she was disappointed that there were not enough female characters (and she’s not an Arwen fan!). She also loved the book Howl’s Moving Castle but hated the movie! She’s  very excited about the upcoming In the Heights film adaptation.

Chelsea brought up the much beloved The Princess Bride, asserting that the book is even more fun than the cult classic film. She wishes that the Peter Jackson LOTR adaptations had stayed a bit closer to the books. She passionately discussed how the movie version of The Last of the Mohicans is far better than the book.

Lindsay brought up the touchy subject of the Harry Potter books – touchy, because she is not a huge fan of the film adaptations. She feels as though they were not faithful enough for her taste, particularly the later ones in the series. She also passionately defended the 2018 movie Tomb Raider as possibly the first (and perhaps, only) actually good film adaptation of a video game.

Danielle shifted the group’s gears by talking of her love for Anne Rice, bringing up films such as Interview with the Vampire. She also loves Game of Thrones the show but found the books hard to get through. She also mentioned 2 films which she believes are way better than their books – Alien and Jaws.

Janet F. continued the trend of geek girls who love the live-action LOTR films, making Peter Jackson the clear winner of the day. She also loves the Harry Potter movies, and is a huge Disney fan. A film adaptation that came up multiple times, she actually didn’t hate the live action Beauty and the Beast (like so many at the table!), although she admits it wasn’t perfect.

Tangents went everywhere from baby names to Disneyland ride film adaptations, and provided more than enough material to run well over our allotted time! After intros, we had just enough time to play a game, and rewarded those who had seen/read/played the most adaptations. Check out the winners with their swag!

Coming up for Reno GGB in September – our first MST3K Brunch!!