This weekend I went to see the latest tearjerker, Me Before You, and while the movie was great, the book was better. This is often true of many book-to-movie adaptations. The movie will never capture the characters we love and the scenes we imagine. There is just something about physically reading a book that keeps all book lovers coming back. All-in-all the book is always better because…
1. Details, details, and more details.
When you’re watching the movie, you’ll never get all the little descriptions that make a book so great. There is just something about reading a book that brings you closer to the story through all the tiny details that you might miss in a movie
2. You can get inside the character's head.
In movies the characters can’t always outright express what they’re thinking; and frankly, it would be a little creepy if they kept talking to themselves about how they felt. However, in books you can really connect with their characters as you learn how they feel and what they think. The character development is just so much deeper in books.
3. It’s easier to imagine yourself as the character.
It is easier to put yourself in the character's shoes because you know so much more about them. When you’re reading you feel as if you’re the character preforming amazing feats or saving the world. Books make relating to the characters so much easier.
4.You’re free to picture the characters and scenes how you see fit.
After you read a book you have imagined the characters and scenes a certain way. But, as soon as you see the movie your imagination is ruined because most of the time everything is not exactly as you pictured it. As hard as you might try, you will never see the characters you imagined again and instead will see the actor’s faces.
5. The movie is never exactly like the book.
Yes, some movies follow the books better than others, but the movies will always leave something out or switch something up. It is better just to read the book and leave it at that then be disappointed at the movie’s inability to stay true to the story line.
6.You feel accomplished afterwards.
It really is true that after you finish reading a particularly long book you feel accomplished afterwards. Watching a movie requires no skill whatsoever, but reading a book takes time an effort. This leaves you feeling that you actually did something productive in the end.7.The smell of a book is just amazing.
This one may seem a bit silly, but anyone who likes to read a book knows that nothing can beat the smell of books. And what do movies smell like? Nothing.8. It lasts longer.
Some people don’t like the time commitment that reading a book takes, but I think it makes reading the book better. This is because the time commitment allows you to savor the story. You stay enthralled longer, and it gives you something to do for several days. (Unless of course you’re a binge reader who reads the whole thing in one sitting).9.It is easier to get lost in the story.
Because of the details, character development, and effort required to read a book; you get more into it. It is a lot easier to submerse yourself in the story because it’s just you and the book most of the time. No one is there to lean in your ear and say, “Can you believe that just happened?”
10. It’s more personal.
With a book, you are almost always reading alone. Therefore, there are no breaks from your alternate reality like there is when watching a movie with a particularly chatty person. With a book it is you and a story that is filtered directly into your head through the words.
11. It stays with you longer.
Reading requires you to process the story more than a movie does. Basically, you have to think more; and because of this, you will remember a book a lot better than a movie. After, finishing a good book you might spend hours thinking about how the story all worked out and going over all the little details in your head. Therefore, it sticks with you more than the movie ever could.
12. It makes you smarter.
I’m not lying! Reading really does help build some brainpower. So next time you’re bored be sure to pick up a book instead of a movie because it really is the better option.
