To View or Not To View…That is the Question!

As a small child, my two favorite toys were Barbie dolls and books. While the Barbies have faded away to just a distance memory, the books have not.  It all started with my Grandma Hershberger and  my three Aunties Hershberger reading Cinderella to an adolescent Denise.  …. over and over again I.  Every gift giving occasion I would receive books.  I had the entire Nancy Drew series…until my mother sold them in a yard sale while I was at college.  But we will save that whole story for another post.   And yes, at 52, I'm still bitter about it. 

Sorry, I digressed for a moment…back to the task at hand.  To this day I read every moment I can.  I always have at least 5 books downloaded and waiting on my Kindle.  One of those books was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  I watched the movie on my flight back from Paris.  I loved the movie!   

So, I did something that I rarely do.  I bought the book after watching the movie.  Well, that was in March, but didn't get to the book until this August when my book club selected as the read of the month.  I was excited because I was actually

going to read the book!  I was apprehensive as I had seen the movie already.  We all know how the movies can ruin books.  I, too, was a book snob and thought the movies never did the book justice.  That is until now.  

My friend, Barb Whyte, and I had a discussion not long ago about the book.  She wasn't feeling it at first because she is a plot driven reader. (She is a retired English teacher after all!).  I was loving the book because we decided that I was a word driven reader.  I want the words to dance off of the page and take somewhere.  And boy did The Book Thief come alive for me…But not just because of the words, but because I saw the movie.  The imagery in the book was spectacular.  But when it was enhanced by my own reference to watching the movie, I was memorized.   I could see Liesel and Rudy and Rosa and Papa and Death in my mind every word of the book.  I could feel and smell the weather, the smoke,  the accordion, the death and destruction.  I could hear the bombs and I taste the horrible pea soup.  The entire book came alive like I have never experienced with any other book.  I contribute it all to watching the movie first.  

 

I was talking to a coworker about the book, and he told me he always watches the movie first whenever possible.  He says it makes the book more real.  The bonus is that you get added surprises with the book.  We all know that in order to convert a book to a movie, there are always parts omitted from movies.  So, when you read a book after the movie, you get an added bonus.  I have to agree with Chris.  This was a different experience for me.  Then I started thinking what it would have been like if I had read the Harry Potter books after the movies!  Or what about The Twilight series!  I could go on, and on, and on, but get the drift.

Now while I can't wait for every book I want to read to come out as a movie first, I do know that my reading experience will be heightened if I read it after the  fact.  What about you?  What do you think? To view or not to view?  That is the question?  What a paradigm shift!

Make A Every Day Count

Denise