Books Are Always Better!

Before reading “The Glass Menagerie” we were instructed to read a few pages at the beginning of the book dealing with reading plays. In the reading it says that plays are meant to be acted out, obviously, but that it can also be beneficial to read them. This got me thinking about how reading is often more entertaining. Sure, a play is always entertaining to go see but when you read something you can picture it in your own imagination. I personally love to read to books and always find the books to better than movies based on them. I think this is because, as I mentioned, when you read something you are able to picture in your own mind how it plays out. The descriptions the author gives leads you to imagine what they scenery looks like, how the characters look and what their personality is like. When you go see a play or a movie what you are viewing is the directors depiction of the book or play. Sometimes scenes are cut out of the original work to allot for time and that can change the whole dynamic of the story. When you read something you can do it at your own pace and truly understand and experience the story. Great authors have a way of writing and bringing the words to life without having to visually see what is happening. I often feel let down after seeing a movie when I have read the book first because I have this image of how everything should go. However, the director and I have very different imaginations and that is why it can very different. I think “Oedipus the King” and “The Glass Menagerie” were both great reads and I wouldn’t mind seeing them acted out but it sure doesn’t beat reading it for myself.

Submitted by Christina Carbone