I don’t think I could’ve chosen a more profound quote for a title for this week’s post. Also, I totally stole the idea from my sister’s blog which you should visit, dear reader; it’ll be worth your time.
Ever heard snooty people tell you ‘the book was better than the movie adaptation’? Well, however much you hate them, they’re right. The book is ALWAYS better, no exceptions.
Whereas the adaptation has restrictions like the director’s vision, the actor’s ability or the budget, there’s no limit to where your imagination can take you. If the book wasn’t better for you, hate to break it to ya, but your imagination sucks! The idiot box saps you of that ability, you’re basically watching regurgitated milquetoast that you know you could’ve conceptualized better (Michael Bay, I’m looking at you!). Reading adds volumes to your vocabulary (see what I did there?), it adds spark to the razor’s edge of your wit, it makes you a more interesting, enlightened person, best of all, it’s a way of escaping from the dreariness and misery of your everyday to a place where good always triumphs over evil, good intentions are rewarded, bad people get their just desserts and there are happily ever afters. (Though that does depend on the book you chose)
Oooh oooh Fun exercise! I’m going to put in tons of references of famous books, let’s see if you can get them all. Leave me a comment for the ones you can guess.
Books open up intellectual horizons so you can weigh the decisions you make today in light of their consequences, it can open portals to the future
You can visit a future with too much freedom, where all sorts of information is at your fingertips, except your path and destiny has already been chosen for you, through chemicals that stunt your physical or intellectual growth, and you will not be allowed to go beyond that. The powers that be keep you in a state of drugged complacency.
or You can be in a terrifying, dystopic future where there is no freedom and big brother watches your every move, the chimes of freedom are flashing, except in this suffocating universe ‘freedom is slavery’
I admit both of those futures are equally dismal… what’s up with that? Why are future imaginings always reeking of despondency? One explanation could be that they’re meant to be cautionary tales. A worst case scenario that needs to be avoided.
Or you can reminisce about the past
travel back in time to a sexist (well, MORE sexist) society, where you share the despair of a woman who bears the burden of her shame with quiet dignity, out of love and respect for the man who sired her child, she cannot reveal his name, and that is her cross to bear, the mark of her ‘sin’. The man is too much of a coward to claim her and his child.
Or be horrified with the barbaric and heart-breaking story of slavery as one man traces his ancestral family tree and the torture-ridden journey of many generations, from Africa to the Americas.
*Sheesh* I’ve chosen the most depressing examples EVER! Please don’t hate me!
If unhealthy obsessions are your thing (weird segue, I am aware) in an instant you can be the first mate to a ship captain battling his inner demons and obsessions in the shape of a giant whale that may or may not be white.
Or witness the struggle between an old man and a marlin fish, both of whom come to regard each other as adversaries, neither of whom end up getting what they had wanted.
Adolescence is a strange time for all of us, we’re just discovering who we are; you’re either the innocent young boy in 1930’s New York whose candor is heartrendingly endearing, and the ending is just plain heartbreaking. You want to protect this kid in the red hunting hat.
Or the young man who’s defined by his love for Beethoven and ultra-violence. The boy who has a penchant for milk and rape. It will leave you with questions about free-will and how punishment for crimes should be meted out.
A book can take you to a fantastical universe set in an alternate dimension, where elves, orcs, dwarves, hobbits, wizards and men exist in harmony… well, not so much in harmony as fighting an epic good vs. evil battle, where the ring that binds them in darkness is destroyed.
Or an equally fantastical universe where cakes make you smaller, rabbits have tea parties, there are grinning cats and hookah smoking caterpillars and queens of hearts that scream ‘off with their head!’
Or you can experience the complete isolation of a man ostracized, and ultimately claimed by death for lack of human contact, because of his having changed into something undesirable (tons of subtext in this one!). How much change can we accept in the ones we love? What makes someone human?
Or the hive mentality of a town where people have collective amnesia regarding the night before, all the women end up giving birth to these demonic children that have blond hair and creepy eyes, are inherently evil and grow at warped speed.
Your imagination will reel a little with the powerful imagery of the underwater world as one man imagined it in the late 1800’s, as captain Nemo takes on a journey in his incredible submarine.
and your inner child will rejoice with the above land imagery of a factory that makes every kind of candy imaginable.
Or visit an inn where you meet a mysterious stranger just come to town, who’s all wrapped up in bandages and sunglasses (claims to have had an accident) so that no part of him is visible, what’s his secret? (I gave you a pretty big hint, right there!)
or a man that the entire town considers somewhat soft in the head and stupid because he is so open and has no hidden agendas. A little too exposed, shall we say? People only befriend him because he is rich and they like affluence.
You read to discover what your concept of true love is. Is it when souls are made of the same elusive matter and love can survive even death?
Or does love sneak up on you when you least expect it? Somehow someone who annoyed you, and seemed clueless, turned out to be the one.
You can give me some books to guess in the comments too, but remember, they’re easy, so, no cheating!
Also, don’t scroll down and read the comments first!
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