Read the Book
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| Posted : Jul, 21, 2011 | Author [CornNerd]
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Reading? No thank you
I didn't read this until years after I received it.
When I was younger, I didna^EUR^(TM)t like to read. In fact, I had a fair amount of difficulty reading. To this day, I hear stories about how I would cry, saying a^EURoeI cana^EUR^(TM)t read. Why cana^EUR^(TM)t I read?a^EUR? Eventually, however, I got the hang of it. Still, I didna^EUR^(TM)t want to do it. Despite my accomplishment, I didna^EUR^(TM)t enjoy reading.
My parents would buy me books as gifts. I guess they were trying to encourage me to pick up a habit of reading, but it didna^EUR^(TM)t work. I remember one particular Christmas when I received a set of the first three Harry Potter books. This was back before everyone was rushing to the theater to see Harry Potter. He existed only in the pages written on by J.K. Rowling. Naturally, I had no idea who Harry Potter was or what the books were about. I flipped through the pages, and didna^EUR^(TM)t pick up any of the books again for years.
A boring version
Finally, in 2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerera^EUR^(TM)s Stone was released upon the world. A whole new wave of Potter fans arrived with it. People rushed to read the book the movie was based upon. I wasna^EUR^(TM)t among them. I enjoyed the movie, so why did I need to read the book? Wouldna^EUR^(TM)t it just be a boring version of the movie?
A few years went by and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third book-based film, was released. By that time I was a pretty big fan of the movies, but I still hadna^EUR^(TM)t read any of the books. The only time I read was when I had to for school. Luckily, this habit would take me right where I needed to go.
Eight-hundred seventy
That's a lot of pages
My middle school had a system that required students to read books and pass quizzes to show how well they had read them. We had a list of books to choose from that ranged from non-fiction to fantasy. I would choose the smallest books I could find. More than 100 pages was way too many. One day, however, I noticed a book on the reading list that jumped out at me. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It stuck out not just because it was a Harry Potter book, but because I knew my sister owned a copy. Still, I had seen the book; it was huge a^EUR" eight-hundred seventy pages compared to my usual one-hundred or so pages. Despite this, for some reason I decided to take on the task.
It was during my time with The Order of the Phoenix that I realized that I was a slow reader. This was the case not because I had any sort of disorder, but because my mind fully immersed itself in the fiction. I could see the accommodating forms of Room of Requirement. I could hear the curious sounds of the Department of Mysteries. I read for every little detail, and I absolutely loved it. When I finally finished page eight-hundred seventy, I had to keep reading. What had I been missing all of these years? I had to go back and read.
So I did
So I did. I went back and read the books I had received so many years ago. Do you know what I discovered? The books were much better than the movies. Dona^EUR^(TM)t get me wrong, Chris Colombus and Alfonso CuarA-^(3)n did great jobs directing the first few movies, but the films simply cannot compare to J.K. Rowlinga^EUR^(TM)s original works. I realized that movies are like spoon-fed versions of books. They leave little-to-no work for the imagination. Watching a movie, compared to reading, deprives you of the joys of analyzing what has been read. You dona^EUR^(TM)t get the opportunity to set down the book and think about the information youa^EUR^(TM)ve taken in. To put it simply, therea^EUR^(TM)s a reason that the movie is based on the book and not vice-versa.
Today
To this day I love reading fiction a^EUR" particularly fantasy and science-fiction. From Harry Potter to Halo, it all piques my interest and imagination. Just yesterday I saw the final Harry Potter movie in IMAX. It was amazing. Still, it wasna^EUR^(TM)t as amazing as the book. It didna^EUR^(TM)t evoke the same emotions. The highs werena^EUR^(TM)t as tingle-inducingly high and the lows werena^EUR^(TM)t as stomach-lurchingly low. It just isna^EUR^(TM)t the same.
Moral: Read the book. No matter what movie is concerned, if ita^EUR^(TM)s based on a book, I can almost guarantee you the written version is more satisfying.
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My name is Mike Cornish and I'm the founder of Neeks and Gerds. I started Neeks and Gerds with the hope of reaching those like me and helping them to realize how cool it is to be them. Geek culture is awesome. Having a desire to learn is certainly nothing to be ashamed of either. To put it simply, Ia^EUR^(TM)m a geek reaching out to other geeks and a nerd reaching out to other nerds.
You can read articles by me and my 3 other authors at neeksandgerds.com
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