Book Bridges discussion

Some books I read make me want to get going on something--whether it's cooking (inspired by the Kitchen Daughter) or learning more about the history of some painters (anything by Iain Pears) or going back and watching Monty Python's The Holy Grail (inspired by The Once and Future King).
What books have made you take action?

This is something I have actually thought about. Sometimes it is a good idea, and sometimes not. I got interested in Frank Lloyd Wright as a person while reading Loving Frank. It was a bad idea to act on it then.
Reading does often lead me to learning, just as reading is learning.

I'll admit, too, that after reading the shades of gray series, I wanted to burn my retinas and pray for a time machine so I could go back and never set eyes on them at all. I mean, really, if you want to write lady-porn, at least write it well.

I think I can avoid that, but thought the same of The Hunger Games, and it is on our book club list for the coming year.

Not sure if it counts as DIRECT action, but I was fascinated by Mutiny on the Bounty growing up and then when I moved to St. Petersburg, FL directly after college and found the movie replica moored in the Vinoy Basin you can bet that I joined the Unicorn Society (charged with the care of the ship) and even sailed on her one time under the old Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Stephen wrote: "Not sure if it counts as DIRECT action, but I was fascinated by Mutiny on the Bounty growing up and then when I moved to St. Petersburg, FL directly after c..."

Neat! Does anyone actually say neat? I love connecting things I have read to things I have seen/done. Like finding locations in books that are places I have been. Conversely I hate to find a location that is real but not written about accurately. Since I am not very well traveled that does not happen often. If I don't know I don't care.

I saw the movie The Color Purple before reading the book and was absolutely wowed by both of them. Hard to say which I loved most.

I'm also a huge fan of the series that inspired a whole generation to read, you know, The Harry Potter series. While I loved the first movie and could watch that over and over again, I was less enthralled by the rest of them. The first followed the book much more closely than the rest of the movies did.

I enjoyed all the Potter movies except the last ones made from the last book.
They were well done enough for the person watching with me to enjoy them without reading the books.