Jan
30
The Magic of Reading
January 30, 2013 | | 3 Comments
Learning to read for me was a very enjoyable experience. I remember my father reading all of the classics to me as a child before dinner and bed. Everything from Dr. Seuss to Winnie the Poo. It always fascinated me that such amazing places and people could exist in this regular world. Eventually my father had to break it to me that these places that I was hearing about were not real but fictional. It was through these stories being read to me that the magic of reading was first shown to me,
Soon we began to learn to read in my elementary school and I attacked the task in earnest. I was eager to learn how to read so that I wouldn’t have to rely on my father to do it for me. It wasn’t very hard to actually master the combinations of letters and the meanings of the words they formed, although my handwriting was (and still is) terrible.
Finally once I fully was able to read I began to read the book versions of many of the movies I had seen much earlier in my life and was interested by how much more content there was in the book. It was then that I realized that books encourage you to create your own concepts for what the author means whereas movies are simply the interpretations of another reader of the author’s work . From there on out I have been an avid reader and will stay so for as long as I can.
Comments
3 Comments so far
I think you make a great point here about reading the books rather than watching movie adaptations. Whenever I see a movie that is based on one of my favorite books (like the recent “Les Miserables” adaptation, for instance) I get excited because I feel like my favorite worlds get to reach a larger audience. Yet at the same time, something often gets lost in translation and the movies usually disappoint me. I feel that movies make the story into a more social experience, which is fine, but I prefer reading, which is more personal. Just as you write, reading allows you to perceive the story the way you wish, which I enjoy.
A lot of compelling leads here, Taylor. I’m especially struck, in the first paragraph, by the story of your father having to break it to you that fiction was, well, fiction. There could be a research project here for you: the fictional worlds of children’s literature and/or the audiences that children’s works create from within–e.g., books that clearly speak to adults (or wink to adults) even though they are “for” children.
… and of course, as a literature professor, I love that blockbuster adaptations ultimately send you back to the books.
Do proofread. Good work!
I really love the title of this blog post! I would have to agree that books are much more accurate and lively than movies. I think that books allow you to expand your imagination and take your mind into a world that is outside of reality.. a truly magical experience!