Never thought we'd say this but.....

...but A Reader's Respite really needs to watch a story on a screen every once in a while.  We haven't watched television since the first season of Downton Abby ended.  We've seen one movie in the past year (J. Edgar....meh....and really, who didn't know that J. Edgar liked girl clothes?).  One would think that there was nothing worth while to be seen on a screen...and we know that's just not true.

In our quest to read the existing books on our shelves in 2012, we're also determined to actually watch some of the screen adaptations of the books we'll be reading.  First, we'll have to play a little catch-up, though.  Last year, we started re-reading the entire Harry Potter series with the intent of watching the movie following each book.  You wouldn't think that would prove a difficult task, given that we own each of the Harry Potter movies in DVD.  Yet there they all sit...still in their shrink-wrap on their pathetic, little DVD shelf.  A Reader's Respite really needs to get on the ball with this if we ever want to see the two finale movies.  At the rate we're going, we'll be so old we'll have to use the handy close-captioning features of the DVDs.

Another movie/book combo?  Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.  We have the book on our shelf and the movie on our DVR.  The movie didn't get the best reviews, but it's a fun incentive to read the book, something we've been meaning to do for years.

Since we bravely signed up for the Game of Thrones reading challenge, we want to follow it up and watch the HBO Series.  After all, we should do something to justify the HBO subscription that we've had for two years and never once watched.  Never. Once.

War Horse is an obvious choice.  We just really, really want to see this movie.  A Reader's Respite just finished reading the book and, believe it or not, it wasn't all that great.  But this is one of those books that is going to make a fabulous movie. 

Another World War I book and movie combo we're going to tackle is Sebastian Japrisot's A Very Long Engagement.  We bought this book a few years ago and....wait for it....here it comes....never got around to reading it (surprise!).  The story of a wheelchair-bound young woman searching for her fiance who was left to die on the battlefield, the movie almost looks more compelling than the book.

And we'd be remiss if we left out the upcoming (May 2012) airing of the BBC's production of Great Expectations.  Before you even ask, NO, A Reader's Respite has not ever read this classic by Charles Dickens (*hanging head in shame*).  May is really right around the corner, though, so we're thinking about watching the movie first, then tackling the book.  Is that breaking a cardinal rule of the Bibliophile's Honor Handbook?

Any other book/movie combos that we really shouldn't miss?  Let us know!