Don't Judge The Book By Its Movie

Are you a read-now-watch-later person or a watch-now-read-later type?

Most of the movies, I believe, then and now were / are  based on different authors' masterpiece.

The big question is, IS IT NICE TO READ THE BOOK FIRST BEFORE WATCHING THE MOVIE OR VICE VERSA?

Some people would say, "The movie is good but the book is better." Others would say, "It's better to watch the movie than to read the book."

Today, I take a stand. My point is, a book must NOT be judged by its movie. Yes, movies help the readers visualize better their thoughts while they're reading a certain book. They (movies) help them (readers) put their mind pictures into motion ones. NEVERTHELESS, books explain, expose, and elaborate some scenes which leave hanging questions to the viewers . One best example for this is Tobias Eaton, also known as Four from Veronica Roth's Divergent Trilogy. It's shown in the movie that one of his fears is his father, Marcus Eaton. Who would have thought that a Dauntless trainer, known as one of the courageous persons from the said faction is afraid of his father? Well, book for the rescue!

For me, it's better to read the book first before anything else. So what if the books spoil you of what will happen to the movie. At least, you know the story behind. You get the chance to understand COMPLETELY the story. :-)

A Typical Title But an Incredible Story

PECULIAR LIFE EVERY DAY
If one day you'll be given a chance to be somebody, who would you be? Have you imagined yourself living in somebody else's life? 

A, a soul whose life doesn't stop from leaping from one body to another (day by day). A, a soul who happened to live in a body of a man named Justin. A, a soul who didn't expect to meet a girl named Rhiannon (who happened to be Justin's girl friend). A, a soul who enjoyed being in Justin's body because of Rhiannon. A, a soul who tried to convince Rhiannon that it was he who made her happy in their ocean date (Justin's body) and who danced with her (Nathan's body) at a friend's party. A, a soul who learned to love and do everything for the sake of love. A, a soul who in the end decided to let go, thinking it's the only and the right thing to do. 

What struck me most in this story is the part where A saved a girl's life from commiting suicide. This girl has a journal where she put everything about what she feels or plans (suicide is part of it, gosh!). With the help of Rhiannon, A was able to succeed in his plan by asking Rhiannon to talk to the girl's dad.

It's not easy to be somebody. You have to do what you can't do. You are forced to do what you don't want to do. If you were A, can you do the same way?

Books Make You Feel Young at Heart

HOW WE MET
I was a student teacher back then and I was entrusted to handle Grade 5 pupils. I noticed that one of the pupils used to read DOAWK first book (the red one). I was so curious about it. Thankfully, that pupil lent me her book. I got a chance to read a few pages of it only because the schedule of my student teaching that time was very hectic so I decided to return it (tsk tsk). Whenever I visited bookstores before (actually, until now), I used to see DOAWK books being featured. Those books were very expensive or should I say I couldn't just afford to buy them(haha!). I told myself, "One day, I'll get another chance to read them!"

A SECOND CHANCE
I've been teaching children in the Primary Level for four years. One of the remarkable years is the third one. I've handled a class of bookworm students (only if you can imagine how my Library Corner looked like that time). They were fond of bringing a lot of books and asking me to read them for our storytelling time. Unfortunately, I had this particular student who was very shy and not so participative. I tried to do a lot of motivation to let him socialize with others and learn to speak in front of the class. Until one day during our DEAR time (Drop Everything and Read), I noticed that he liked reading (you guess) DOAWK! I tried to talk to him to share with me something about what he's reading. Those sharing days continued and this pupil of mine gained his self-confidence, little by little. He even lent me his TEN DOAWK books (1 per week, with his parents' consent).

THE WIMPY KID
Every beginning of the book, Greg Heffley (protagonist and narrator himself) used to note that DOAWK is a journal and not a diary. He also shares that having a journal is the idea of his mother, Susan Heffley, not his. When you were young, did you want to grow too fast? I mean, were you excited of growing old? Well, Greg Heffley is so excited for that. He's a boy in the Middle School who used to do things which are sometimes not appropriate for his age. He used to do risky things with the help of his whimsical friend, Rowley Jefferson. Greg and Rowley's friendship is like roller coaster, sometimes they're okay, sometimes not (most of the time they're okay). There is this part of the story wherein there are big boys who want to bully the two. These big boys asked Rowley to eat the rotten cheese. In their school, The Cheese Touch is very famous. Whenever someone touches the rotten cheese (even accidentally), all students will be running away from him/her. It's like a curse to them. Rowley was forced (not so good big boys, tsk) to eat the cheese. When many students came to the school gym, they were about to accuse Rowley for the Cheese Touch. Yet, Greg told them that it's he who touched the cheese.

WHO SAYS?
Readers / bloggers, books don't label what kind of persons we are. Who says that DIARY OF A WIMPY KID books are for kids ONLY? No one and no one should! Thank you, Jeff Kinney for bringing me into the world of Greg Heffley. Thank you also for being an instrument for the betterment of my shy student. After 10 books, I am looking forward to this...

Me Before You

HOW I KNEW THE BOOK
Are you familiar with Click the City app? This app shows a lot of things. One of those is the part where it features upcoming movies. One day, a friend of mine was searching for movies. She kept on browsing until she told me that there's a movie entitled Me Before You and the lead stars are Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen, Game of Thrones TV series) and Sam Claflin (Finnick Odair, Hunger Games). I was surprised by the chemistry of the two when I watched the trailer. However, I was MORE surprised when I learned that Me Before You movie is based from a best selling novel (as the title says) written by Jojo Moyes.

HOW I FOUND THE BOOK
Here comes the journey of looking for Alaska, oh! Me Before You,rather. I tried to go to bookstores which I thought would easily make me find MBY. Nevertheless, it didn't happen. Sometimes, the problem with bookstores is that they're going to feature books on the same time of the release of the movie or worse, they're going to wait for the publishers to have the books change the cover which is based from the movie poster. The question is, "How about those who would want to read the book FIRST before watching the movie?"

PDF file for the rescue! I was able to download MBY in a PDF. (Clap clap clap)

HOW I INTERACTED WITH THE BOOK
My reading journey begins. MBY is about two different lives destined to be together in a whether good or wrong timing situation. Louisa Clark, a girl who has a hilarious taste of clothing, just lost her job from a tea house so she needed a new one. A friend of hers tried to help her. After a few days, she was offered to take care of a quadriplegic, Will Traynor. Will is a rich,handsome,and adventurous (before the accident that put him to being quadriplegic) man. The beginning days of taking care of Will were not that good. However, as time went by, these two learned a lot of things from each other, enjoyed doing things together, and even loved each other.  Lou tried her best to make impossible things be possible (primarily,to have Will change his mind). Yet,as her plans went on,she's not even aware that she's the one benefitting from those. Will just let her experience everything she didn't know before. MBY just torn me into pieces when I got to the controversial topic, a planned suicide. No one couldn't change Will's idea on this matter. 

HOW I REFLECT 
Despite of the controversial topic, I learned to ❤ this book. This book shows perseverance so that you won't lose the one you love. Though in the story Will pursued what he wanted, Lou showed her persistence of stopping him. For those people whose loved ones undergo with this condition, learn to be Lou Clark, a brave and persistent person who's willing to give up everything for the one she loves. 😊

Good day, bloggers! Today is an awesome day because it's my FIRST time to do blogging (a warm applause). This day marks the beginning of my library of thoughts journey. I am looking forwad to blogging and sharing with you the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious world of reading books. :-)