You can wisk through them because they require very little thought.

It's pointless to start on a literary evaluation here because films are not books and books are not films. QED.

I have no real problem with films based on books but it is pretty rare that a book becomes a great film. In fact Philip K Dick's books have been bastardised continually in order that Hollywood producers can earn their dough:

Blade Runner - based on Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick. Now apparently that was only the basis. The film was more properly based on a book by Alan E Nourse called 'The Blade Runner'. Why wasn't that hyped? Possibly because Nourse's name wasn't as sellable as PK Dick's.

'Total Recall': Have you read the story this was based on? It's called 'We can Remember It for you Wholesale'. Yes, some idea in there got into the film but it's totally different.

'Minority Report' Come on! The film has no real bearing on the story. A vehicle for fast stunts and product placement. Absolute boolocks.

But to get back to the whole 'I have read a book' scenario the majority of you have picked books that are as hyped as films.

Why don't you read some real books. Books that require you to think. Books that may need a little more than a quick scan. Books that mean you go to bed worrying about what you've just read. Here is a list:

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Piano Player by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

The Man In The High Castle by P K Dick

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Walking On Glass by Iain Banks

Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell

For Whom The Bell Tolls by Earnest Hemingway

Breakfast Of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

Sirens Of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Filth by Irvine Welsh

I could go on. Apart from the travesty that was 1984 not one of these has been attempted (Sorry I remember that David Lean did a well respected and spooky version of Great Expectations - big deal). And too right. If you want to make a film of a book, fair play. But trying to pretend it's in some way a literary, intelligent exercise is crap.

Oh, yeah, Kubrick did a great attempt at Clockwork Orange and I'm sure someone's tried For Whom The Bell Tolls, but the point is that these books do not translate well. Most books don't.

I just get annoyed when all people say is that they've read The da Vinci Code or the entire Harry Potter series. Please, there are some great novels around. And we all have, I hope, an hour before we fall asleep. Read a good book.