Reading versus Movies

[Siobhan]

Myself and Vicks was having this discussion earlier and I was just wondering is reading becoming an extinct activity for people.
I know I read for 1 - 2 hours every night (use to read 4 hours a day when I was communting). I also encourage my kids to read by reading to them (even to Ben at age 2, he loves his stories) and I get Charley to read simply books to me..

Is it a dying activity for people? do you prefer to watch the movie to reading the book?

in the words of the Umpa Lumpa's

What do you get from a glut of TV?
A pain in the neck and an IQ of three
Why don't you try simply reading a book?
Or can you just not bear to look?

You'll get no... you'll get no... you'll get no commercials

[Xx-Vicky-xX]

Personally i prefere films, i rarely read much anyway these days (i would read more when i was younger to what i do now) but here is why i prefere films or at least one of the reasons, i saw a film on tv about 3 maybe 4 years ago, called The Horse Whisperer (with Scarlett Johansson) loved it, so i got it on dvd and around the same time the book aswell, well we was going on a school trip and i decided to take the book to read on the coach and i didnt understand it even though id seen the film, its because it had really long complex words that id never heard of so after the first two chapters i gave up and decided to stick to the film

[di marco]

it depends really. i love watching films but then equally when i have time i like reading books as well. with the harry potter books/films i much prefer the books but with lord of the rings i prefered the films. i think it just depends really but i do try and read a chapter of a book most nights if im not too busy and films i just tend to watch if im bored

[Bryan]

I'm too lazy to read books as a general rule, it requires too much energy, too much time I have to be in the right mood for it and in the right environment (total silence - which is a rariety in my household)

I prefer TV/Movies as it's handed to you on a plate, you dont have to digest it so to speak. It's over and done with in 2 hours 30, as oppose to weeks of reading a book. Plus with me becoming a scriptwriter/screenwriter it's more important to keep on top of tv/movies as oppose to books.

I generally only read when I'm away unless I get my hands on a good book, thing is I dont find many books I enjoy, if I do enjoy one I'll get through it pretty fast.

In terms of books I actually like to read books that were turned into films: Fight Club and A Clockwork Orange are two of my favourite films, after watching them I brought the books and thoroughly enjoyed them.

[DaVeyWaVey]

I prefer to watch a movie than read a book - though if there was a movie I really enjoyed soo much, i would consider buying the book and reading it. I don't really read that much - it's not that i don't like reading, (i'll read happily for school or whatever) but in my free time, i don't really read books...

[alan45]

I voted both. Many times especially with films based on true life I often read up on what actually did happen.

As for fiction sometimes I have noticed the film bears little resemblance to the book

[Jojo]

I prefer reading - gets the imagination going etc. My children all love to read aswell - Liam isn't 2 until December but he loves to sit with me or hubby and "read" a book with us. Ci loves reading and his reading age (8) goes without saying. Ste is getting into the teenage Andy McNab books and enjoys reading them, aswell as recently when he pinched my Peter Kay autobiography before I had a chance to start it.

[Siobhan]

Nice to see another mother like me... I love reading to Ben, he joins in in places and it is so good to watch him getting excited about the next story.. Plus your kids are geniuses Em so if reading helped them get to that stage then I am not going to stop with my kids
I would urge anyone who has any contacts with kids to just read them a story and what how a child of any age gets excited by the written word

[Jojo]

Nice to see another mother like me... I love reading to Ben, he joins in in places and it is so good to watch him getting excited about the next story.. Plus your kids are geniuses Em so if reading helped them get to that stage then I am not going to stop with my kids
I would urge anyone who has any contacts with kids to just read them a story and what how a child of any age gets excited by the written word

I think its a shame more parents don't read to their children Shiv - its like when people say to me how did my boys learn to read from such a young age etc - simple - I read to them from a young age. And they love it. Even if its just a picture book. Liam's favourite is a Postman Pat counting book - as soon as he sees Jess, he points to it, says "Look, Cat!" and then "Miaow" and can count to 5 already. Too many parents sit their children in front of the tv and ignore them.

I love the look on their faces when they get all excited and start bouncing at the thought of turning the next page and seeing what happens next etc - a wonderful picture and I think books are a wonderful thing to share with children. Every parent can make the time, even if its at bedtime for 5 or 10 mins, to sit and read with their child.

[Trinity]

I also read to my children, from birth really. We read the first 4 Harry Potter books out loud at bedtime, Animal Farm, The Chronicles of Narnia etc etc.

I only stopped when my youngest would take the book off me to finish it in between bedtimes!

Strangely my eldest son is not a keen reader, he enjoyed Holes, but apart from that I cannot think of a book that he has read avidly. He recently finished 1984 and Romeo and Juliet, but that was for school. He is currently reading a CSI book - but to my mind that is the sort of thing you should be able to read in a couple of evenings tops - and he has had it 2 weeks now.

My youngest, like me, loves books and reads every day. We go to WHSmiths or Waterstones and gets what ever he wants really. We have hundreds and hundreds of books at home.

With regard to the film v book arguement.

I think that reading the book first works ok - otherwise it takes your own imagination and interpretation away from the book. For instance if you read the Harry Potter books after seeing the film then you will see Daniel Radcliffe in your head as Harry Potter. I don't think that the girl who plays Luna Lovegood is anything like I had imagined - and I am glad that she wasn't in my head.