In My View - Books VS Movies

Being a writer has allowed me a similar perspective on books versus movies.  Both I love, both I admire and view equally as pieces of art.  Challenges and victories brought to life either on the page or the screen created by someone, usually unknown, behind a keyboard.  

 As a reader, I see books differently than I do movies.  Movies are a short version of fantasy time- a quick high if you will- allowing the viewer to escape into another visual dimension. 

Books however, are more of a new high completely.  The reader finds a connection with characters, pieces of their own hidden selves, within the folds of the page.  Characters can change the way a reader views the world, and even more so, can change how they see themselves.  The book ends however, leaving the reader without a drug.  Thus they disappear into the dusty corners of the corner bookstore in search of the next story.  

We read from before we can decipher the written word.  Children can open a book and be inspired by the pictures they see, telling their own tale, simply spinning it out of thin air.

When we dive into a series, it allows the reader to keep getting the hits from the same source.   The reader gets attached to characters, completely building the entire mental picture of what the setting looks like and if the story is written well, waits patiently for the next installment in the series.

Now, books are not all world changers- there are some that are simply for entertainment, a great action movie if you will.  Others are fluffy entertainment, like a hit television series, and then there are others. 

 

They are the ones that are not great, but still entertaining.  They hook the reader and keep them coming book after book, even though very little traditional quality writing is involved.  They are the soap Opera’s of the book world.  The Days of Our Lives, that seems to never end and even though we mock and make fun, the viewers keep watching, secretly recording their little pleasure, or watching it in the dark after everyone has gone to bed.  

As I begin diving into book reviews, you will find I classify books in that way- comparing them to a classic movie, a hit television series or simply- a guilty seductive soap.  Please keep in mind, I believe all of these have a place and a position on the shelf of the bookstore near you- after all- everyone deserves a little escape now and then.