I'm not a travel bird and I still fell in love with 'The Beach'. (Booktip)

"Did you know that 'The Beach' is also a book?"

I was over at a friend's place one night and we were talking books over a bottle of wine.

No. I did not know that and immediately demanded she tell me everything she knew. Fortunately she did me one better and pulled the book straight from the shelf.

Normally I don't tend to want to read a book if I've seen the movie adaptation first. There's just no fun in trying to create your own world for the story and it gets interrupted by flashbacks from the movie.

To be perfectly honest I couldn't tell you why this book was different. Could have been sheer boredom of my own bookshelf that made me decide to read it. Whatever it was that same evening I submerged myself in Garland's Thai adventures.

I am not exaggerating when I say that the book was not put down for the next 3 days. Every second that I had to spare was spent with Richard in Eden.

To my surprise: the book beat the movie by a landslide! It was so much better than the film. Before I go on I'd still like to give praise to Leonardo Di Caprio, who put down a very decent portrait of Richard. Despite the fact that Richard in the book is a Brit and Leonardo definitely doesn't sound British. Not that 14 year old me listened to what he had to say much.

In order to make sure I looked at the story from all sides I treated myself to a night of Movie On Demand: The Beach! Immediately the tones of 'Pure Shores' took me back to my friend's couch, pimple-faced and massively crushing on every move Leo -Richard, his name in the movie is Richard- makes.

Turns out I wasn't wrong in my first conclusion: the book is endlessly better than the movie.

Garland's writing doesn't need more than just that to make you drift away to that secret Thai getaway. Sitting in the comfort of my sofa, blanket and tea at hand I wandered around the caves and watched in wonder as an entire secret, tropical world unfolded before my mind's eye. And Daffy. Oh how the movie needs a Daffy. He plays a prominent part in the book, while he only provides Richard with the map in the movie.

Here are what I consider to be the most poignant aspects of the book versus the movie:

• Psychology in the book is much more subtle than the mindgames in the film. There are some pivotal changes in the plot that would have never worked in the book, but to me don't do the story justice in the movie.

• The role of Daffy. In the book he is somewhat of a guideline and provides you with details that are skipped by the director in the film. He's also quite funny and I've grown fond of him in a way.

• The portraying of Sal, who is considered to be the leader of the beach. From what I read in the book it was a huge disillusion to see her again in the film. The performance of Tilda Swinton gives away too much of Sal's true nature. Her motives become clear a lot later in the book and I wish they hadn't made it so obvious in the film.

• The roles of Richard's new but close friends on the beach are somewhat lagging in the movie version.

When you are like me and you're able to read the same book over and over and then some: you should consider picking up this gem. Even though the opinions differ a great deal, I'd say that this is a generally accessible novel. Short passages, clear use of language and a world that is close, yet somehow lightyears away of our own. I am clueless as to how the author manages to write in a way that is so enticing that even a homebound girl like me feels the urge to see a different sunset.

There's no chance that you'll find me on a Phuket beach anytime soon. But it was nice to be able to imagine it as a possibility and not just something I'll never do.

#booksyoubetterread #booktomovietobook #thebeach #20somethinanything #queenjoke