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Interesting article

W

Wabbit

New Member
Interesting and short article on the art of reading The Art Of Reading I urge you to explore the rest of the site, it's great They don't update the site all that often but when they do they always have something interesting and beautiful on show.

While we are on the subject. I wanted to add my own views on the subject :)

I think one of the biggest shifts from the "old" world to our modern would is the loss of the intimate. Everything is created by a group for a huge mass of people. Movies, games and every day items are made by a group. I think that is the magical and wonderful thing about books. They are one of the few things left created JUST by a single person. You sit and open a book and it's just you there. You read and get sucked into that world created by the author. It's just you and him. His words bringing to life and breathing again, you living them. It's an intimate and magical thing and one of the reasons that I do love books :)

With what other medium can you be transported to another place and time? You can be anywhere, open a book, and you are someplace else. Is that not a wonderful thing?

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
I'd never thought of it that way, Wabbit, but I'd have to agree. Book reading is more of a private solace when dealing with the day-to-day life where most of us are surrounded by people. Nice to come home and just let your mind fly away to anywhere you want....its one of the reasons that I love to read so much.
 
I completely agree with you Wabbit, very well said.

However . . .

With what other medium can you be transported to another place and time
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Film, absolutely. As much as I love books (which I have been 'into' for about 4 years now), I've always (always) been 'into' films; I might love them even more than books, but I'm not sure. I don't want to make that choice, so i'm not gonna.

So there.

Cheers, Martin :cool:
 
I guess it's a personal thing :)

For me, movies don't take me away like books do. I DO love movies but no way near as much as books. I find books have, in general, a higher good to crap ratio than movies. Do you find that Martin?

There are LOTS of great books that I have read but very few great movies. I think it has something to do with movies are so product than books. As I said before, movies are also often made by a board rather than one mans vision.

Regards
SillyWabbit

PS: I watched reign of fire today! Everybody told me it was crap but I really liked it! I thought it was dragontastic!!! :D Have you seen it?
 
Agreed. Good points there. But if I'd have to choose between my favourite film and my favourite book ... I really wouldn't know. Tough choice.

But you good-to-crap-ratio point is a very good one! Films can suck ass, but at the same time be oh so good!

Btw, Reign of Fire? It's ok <--- **1/2

Cheers, Martin :cool:
 
Martin said:
Film, absolutely. As much as I love books (which I have been 'into' for about 4 years now), I've always (always) been 'into' films; I might love them even more than books, but I'm not sure. I don't want to make that choice, so i'm not gonna.
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I can't agree. A film is someone else's interpretation of an event. A film is someone else's imagination. They divert me for an hour or two, but they don't transport me to other realms the way that books do.

Books are written by other people, and they're someone else's story. But I'm the final ingredient. I'm the one who makes that book come alive. I the one colouring in the pictures, putting faces to the names, attitudes to the words. I know when I read a book that I'm having a completely unique experience. No one else's Bilbo Baggins looks exactly like mine. Only I know exactly how squelchy was the mud that my Arthur Dent was lying in before the bulldozer. Only I know if androids really do dream of electric sheep.
 
Valid points, Litany.

I agree with you on the books, and even on the films, to some degree. However, despite agreeing with you, I still think films are just as good as books.

Cheers, Martin :cool:
 
Litany said:
Books are written by other people, and they're someone else's story. But I'm the final ingredient. I'm the one who makes that book come alive.
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I agree entirely with Litany, especially the above quote.
Wabbit said: 'You read and get sucked into that world created by the author. It's just you and him.' (my italics)

I don't want 'him' to be there. It spoils it. I don't want to know if 'he' eventually shot himself in the head, or was found rotting on a railtrack. I don't want to know that 'she's' earning a bucket load of money, or has ten children to five different men. I don't want to know if 'he's' a man pretending to be a Geisha, or if 'she's' a ninety-year-old woman imagining she's a ten-year-old boy.

I want to read it through the eyes of the characters. Explain to me, please, Wabbit, why you want the author to be there with you. :confused: :):confused: :):confused: :):confused: :)

Sorry about the smilies. I got carried away. They reminded me of a certain bouncing rabbit ;)

Third Man Girl
 
third man girl said:
I don't want 'him' to be there. It spoils it. I don't want to know if 'he' eventually shot himself in the head, or was found rotting on a railtrack. I don't want to know that 'she's' earning a bucket load of money, or has ten children to five different men. I don't want to know if 'he's' a man pretending to be a Geisha, or if 'she's' a ninety-year-old woman imagining she's a ten-year-old boy.l
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Completely. I rarely read interviews with authors unless they're exceptionally good authors. Same with bands. I don't give a toss what's going on in their life. I don't want to find out about them, I just want to read their stories. I don't even like having the photo of the author in the book I'm reading. It's hard to absorb yourself in the growing romance between two young characters, when their sweaty beardy creator is staring at you from the back cover. Authors are human, with human weaknesses that I don't want to know about. It detracts from the possible perfection of the book. Once they've written the story, it's my property. To do with as I will. And stuff them if they don't like what I do with it. If they aren't prepared to hand over their creation completely, then they shouldn't have published it in the first place.

All I want is a name, so if the books are good I can read them all. I'll respect the author's privacy and they can respect mine.
 
ME? :D :) :confused: ???? lol

I think I did not really make myself clear! What I mean is that you share something created. I sit here. I type. My words, my emotions, my story and my world. All those things are magically transported to the page. Thousands of miles and a lifetime away, you read those words and are taken away to where they live. What I mean is that it's an intimate thing. Not that the author is ACTUALLY there. I don't mean that at all. What I was trying to say is that it was created by a single person. That whole world only exists between you and that person. While you are in that world, of coarse, the author is in no way actually THERE with you.

Do you see what I mean now?

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
Litany said:
It's hard to absorb yourself in the growing romance between two young characters, when their sweaty beardy creator is staring at you from the back cover.
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Yes! Exactly! :)

Third Man Girl
 
Litany said:
I can't agree. A film is someone else's interpretation of an event. A film is someone else's imagination. They divert me for an hour or two, but they don't transport me to other realms the way that books do.

Books are written by other people, and they're someone else's story. But I'm the final ingredient. I'm the one who makes that book come alive. I the one colouring in the pictures, putting faces to the names, attitudes to the words. I know when I read a book that I'm having a completely unique experience. No one else's Bilbo Baggins looks exactly like mine. Only I know exactly how squelchy was the mud that my Arthur Dent was lying in before the bulldozer. Only I know if androids really do dream of electric sheep.
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I'm also with Litany.....never been one to be too impressed by films. To truly enjoy myself, my mind has to be wrapped up in it and nothing is as effective as building a world in my mind's eye via the descriptions in a book. The world can be however I want it to be, not how someone else imagined it. I'm a very imaginative person, though, so that may affect my choice. I've been drifting off into imaginative worlds for as long as I can remember (at least since I was four or five years old).
 
Trouble with movies are all the affects and stunts they throw in to take your mind away from the lack of substance.

Choose any action movie (except LOTR), take out the 30 - 60 minutes of action and there remains a half hour tv show!

I like movies and watch them when I get the chance, normally in several sittings. Some of my favourite movies are the old black and white ones, my favourite being:

It's a Wonderfull Life. Directed by Frank Capra, staring James Stewart and Donna Read, and shot in 1946!

Another would be Twelve Angry Men. Directed by Sidney Lumet, staring Henry Fonda, and shot in 1957. To show you how much the movie takes you away, only 3 of the jurors have character names (just discovered this and I have watched the movie 4-5 times).

Books, if they are well written can be detrimental to your health. How many late nights have you all spent turning pages? Simply fantastic.
 
Martin said:
Are you calling me unimaginitive? ;)

Cheers, Martin :cool:
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Who, me? :p


I've just noticed that those who are more into reading than watching movies tend to be of the more imaginative type, than those who prefer movies to books. Especially those who grew up predominantly watching tv/movies.
 
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