Have you read the Bourne books?

[TKay]

I have a couple of questions. How many Bourne books are there? I thought there was a Potter-like list of seven or so novels. Alas, I can only find four, and the fourth one is written by someone else (not Ludlum). Is this correct?
Has anyone read all of the books? Seen the movies? Do they stay true to the books? I'm curious because I love the movies. Not sure if it's Matt Damon or the actual plot that's working for me. :rolleyes:

[Terri_A]

I have read the original trilogy by Ludlum ( Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Ultimatum). The other two Bourne Books ( Bourne Legacy and something else I can't remember right now ) were written by another author who apparently had permission from Ludlum to continue the character. The original books were great! The movies stay true to them to an extent, but the movies are more modern. The books were written in the era of the cold war and so reflect that thinking/mentality/etc. They are excellent books, extremely well written and I'd recommend them in a heartbeat. As for the final two - I've not read them. Someone commented on them on the thread that was a poll - who's hotter Bourne or Bauer - or something like that. A search maven could probably find the thread for you, but I'm afraid I"m not that talented!!!:D

[sneezles]

Someone commented on them on the thread that was a poll - who's hotter Bourne or Bauer - or something like that. A search maven could probably find the thread for you, but I'm afraid I"m not that talented!!!:D


Now I know you're a multi-talented maven and this would have been an easy one!;)

Bourne or Bauer (http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=108336&highlight=bourne+bauer)

[Jazzmatazz49]

I read the original books a long, long time ago. What I remember is that they were hard to follow, but I can't really remember why. I just remember being confused while reading them, but they must have been good if I stuck it out.

[Gail]

In my opinion, only the first book was well done. I felt it was fast paced and it held my interest all the way through. As for the sequels, I felt they were lesser efforts, riding the on the coattails of the original novel and they didn't measure up. The story was good, but the way it was written... (shrugs.) I felt the non-Ludlum books were rather like Alexandra Ripley's sequel to "Gone With the Wind." (Okay, maybe that's a little more extreme.)

I haven't seen the latest film, but wasn't overly impressed with the first two. I really wished they'd remained truer to the original story.

[Kathy B]

Actually, I thought the books were very different from the movies (at least the first two movies....haven't seen Ultimatum yet). The basic premise is the same. Both have Bourne as a government assassin who has lost his memory, but the events that follow are much different in the book. I saw the movies first, and I felt like the books were a whole new story (which was actually a nice surprise since that way I didn't necessarily know exactly what was coming). If you haven't read them, give the first one a try!

[KimKelly]

I read them years and years ago, but I remember really liking them. I haven't seen the movies, but my husband and son really like those too!

Kim

[bekki]

I read all three by the original author at the begining of the summer. I enjoyed them all, but all (esp. the third) can be confusing. There are a ton of twists and turns and I'm a fast reader who sometime skims over things (bad reading comprehension :) ) so I often had to flip back a few pages to figure out who someone was and why they were doing what they were doing. However, I consider that a good thing, as I like challenging reading.

I also have loved all three movie (saw Ultimatum on Saturday, it was awesome!)

The books and the movies have 1 thing in common. The main character is called Jason Bourne and he's lost his memory about why he's such an amazing killer. Other than that, there's really not anything else similar. I think it would have been hard to cover what they cover in the books in a 2 hour movie, and I think they did a great job rewriting the story.

[SusanMac]

I also read the original Ludlum series years ago. Absolutely loved them. I like that there are a lot of twists & turns. Not so confusing that I got frustrated at all.

I love the movies & think they've done a good job with them. The stories are quite different, but that doesn't bug me at all, I think b/c they're not trying to be exactly the same. They've intentionally updated the stories to modern times. IMO, it doesn't detract from the stories. If the movies had bad scripts/acting/directing/etc, then that would bug me.

[Silvery Moon]

I read a bunch of Ludlum novels years ago. I bought them used for about twenty cents each.

I kept trying to give them a chance, but I finally decided that Ludlum was a bad writer--or at least, not to my taste.

Because I didn't like the books, I have never wanted to see the movies. For a while I wondered if the films were actually based on the books because the films have been so popular, and I recalled hating the books!

[Sarah45]

I'm a huge fan of Ludlum's three Bourne books although the first one is by far the best.

My husband is not a big reader of nonfiction but he really enjoyed the first two Bourne books and was very excited for the Matt Damon version. At one point during the movie he turns to me and says "THAT DOESN"T HAPPEN IN THE BOOK!!" He was shocked and unimpressed with the creative license taken and has refused to see the other two movies. :rolleyes:

Has anyone ever seen the Bourne Identity made-for-TV movie with Jaclyn Smith and Richard Chamberlain?? It's much more true to the book and quite good (husband approved of that one :D )

[TKay]

Has anyone ever seen the Bourne Identity made-for-TV movie with Jaclyn Smith and Richard Chamberlain?? It's much more true to the book and quite good (husband approved of that one :D )

I haven't seen it, but then, I haven't read the books. Funny about your dh not liking the movie because it strayed from the book. Sometimes it's hard to let go of the original story--especially if it was good.
For me, I've enjoyed all three Bourne movies. I'm not a really fan of action/adventure/espionage type films. But these have been really interesting and fun for me. Again, maybe it's just Matt Damon. :p I wonder if my dh would get into the original books. He has trouble sticking with any kind of reading that doesn't have to do with work.

[Sarah45]

My husband reads mostly books on Chaos Theory or other physics-related books, the Bourne books were the first fiction books I really saw him get into (not counting his stacks of Dilbet comic books).

[varybarry]

I read all of the originals and I thought they were great. I think the movies are good, but as always they don't touch the books.

[newsomz]

How funny! DBF & I were just talking about the Borne books this weekend after we re-watched the first 2 movies. I think he'll probably read them - he loooves the movies. I'm picky about my books so I may pick one up and see if I can stay with it :)

-carrie

[madpots]

Its been awhile since I read the books, and I liked the TV version with J. Smith and Chamberlain better than the new ones. I find them very hard to follow and Matt Damon only has one expression.

[SusanMac]

I believe that one expression is called "sexy" ;-)

[KimKelly]

Its been awhile since I read the books, and I liked the TV version with J. Smith and Chamberlain better than the new ones. I find them very hard to follow and Matt Damon only has one expression.

I really liked the older tv versions too! I do have to say that I like the new ones too - they are just different.

YOu are right about the one expression! I didn't really think about that until you mentioned it. I like him, but he's not my favorite. I don't picture him as Bourne. It worked though!

Kim