Reading in the Future

All my life, I have been assigned books to read for school. Most of the time I have very little time to fit in reading for leisure. When I do choose to read I book on my own, I tend to become very enthralled with it and neglect the book I'm supposed to be reading for school. I feel bad about not finishing my assignment, however I would much rather read a book that I know I'll enjoy. After years and years of assigned books, I look forward to seeing what reading will be like when I'm in college.

I guess I'll still have book assignments for the next four years, but I wonder if there will be a constant stream of books for the whole school year. I also would like to know if I will have more say in the types of books I'll be able to read. For instance, for the summer reading assignments in high school we had a pretty big list of books from which we could choose. This freedom always made me feel like I had a say in which book I could read and I didn't feel tied down to an assigned book. I seemed to pick some pretty good books over the years so if have options in college I'll enjoy it.

In high school we also had deadlines that I also seemed to struggle to keep up with. I hope in college to get better at manage my time when it comes to reading. I would always put other assignments before my reading assignments but then was left with giant chunks to read the night before the book was due. This never really allowed me to enjoy the book. I look forward to seeing what college reading has in store!

Summertime Reading

For as long as I've been able to read, my summers have always included a summer reading assignment. So, every year since first grade, I have gone to the library right before my vacation down the shore and my mom was always there to remind me that I needed to finish this book. These past eleven years I've prolonged reading the books assigned by school, even if they were not that bad, because I would much rather read for leisure than for work. So, this will be the first year that I can completely pick which book I'm going to bring with me to the beach and I'll be able to read it at my own pace.

I have been reading a David Beckham autobiography for about three years now because it strictly has been a beach book. However, I only read little bits at a time because I have been trying to read my summer reading books on the beach, too. This year, my first goal is to finish the Beckham book while lying in the sand, happily uninterrupted by other assignments.

Next, I look forward to rereading the Hunger Games series with the extra time I will have this summer. I read these books for the first time last February and flew through all three in a week. They were the types of books that made me want to do nothing but read. I couldn't stop thinking about reading what happened next until I finished the trilogy. Now, since the second movie is going to be released in November, I really have the urge to reread all three books. I think that the summer would be the perfect time to fly through the series once again.

With my remaining free time in the summer I would like to utilize Good Reads. I sometimes have trouble picking books for myself to read so I like the way this website suggests books based on my preference. I will go through and rate some more books so it has the best options available. Also I'll look for more books from authors that I've enjoyed and maybe read some of their other work. I look forward to having a summer filled with reading books that I've chosen for myself.

Page to Screen

Many people like to debate over whether a book is better than a movie and vice versa. Some will argue that, no matter what, a movie is always worse than the novel off which it is based. Others say that the visual experience will make the movie more enjoyable than a book. However, my opinion on the book/movie argument is unique for each different case.

There have been many times where I have read a book, and really enjoyed it, but was disappointed by the movie adaptation.  I think this is understandable because readers expect the movie to be identical to the book that they loved. Unfortunately,  this just not possible. Screenplay writers have to take a book, say around 500 pages, and turn it into a script that has a maximum of 120 pages. Inevitably some details or plot lines must be skipped over in order to create a movie that is a reasonable length. Screenplay writers understand that books being made into movies come with a fan base that is very passionate and protective of the work, so they try to stay as true to the original as possible, but it does not always work out in their favor.

There have been other times where I have read a book then watched its movie and have been impressed by the adaptation. Even though the movie is not identical to its inspiration, it still captures the same ideas and themes well. Some information is bound to get cut out, but in some cases the directors are able to pick out the most important aspects to keep. Also many times I read a book, see a movie, and notice that the two are quite different but are both enjoyable in their own ways. The movie may not be faithful completely to the book, but the director was still able to create a successful movie loosely based off the original.

After some research, I found some of the best book to film adaptations that I'm familiar with:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory adapted to film in 1971

Schindler's Ark adapted to film in 1993

To Kill a Mockingbird adapted to film in 1962

And now some of the worst:

The Lovely Bones adapted to film in 2009

The Cat in the Hat adapted to film in 2003

The Chronicles of Narnia adapted to film in 2005