Enhancing the experience...

I just recently posted about my re-reading the Harry Potter books and had a thought, so I thought I would share it.

When I say that I re-read the Harry Potter books, technically that is a lie, because I didn't sit down and read out of a book, but rather listened to those books read aloud to me off of my iPod.

There are some that would argue that isn't the same things as reading a book and doesn't offer the same experience, so therefore it doesn't count. Movies that are based off of books also fall victim to this view, I believe.

I both agree and disagree with this thinking.

I would agree that in listening to a book read, instead of doing the actual reading yourself, does limit you in some ways. For myself, I find that I am not always listening 100% of the time and tend to miss things that I would have otherwise caught, if I were reading the book.

One reason that I think listening to the audio version can be limiting, is that it can be very difficult to listen to the person that they have doing the reading. For instance, I am not particularly fond of the lady whom they hired to read the Twilight series. Yes, in the end I got used to her voice and it really wasn't a problem. At first, however, I had a really hard time listening to her read the book, because I felt that she was articulating some of the words incorrectly and emphasizing the wrong words in sentences. When she read the books, the meaning were considerably different, due solely to where she was emphasizing certain words, than compared to when I would read the book.

Another similar example of this was the reader of Harry Potter, Jim Dale. I once tried to listen to the book and read it at the same time. I became VERY frustrated! His reading was slower than my reading along and I became irked with his reading style, because it differed so violently than my own. However, again, once I stopped trying to read along and just let go of the little annoyances, by the end of the reading, I had very much enjoyed the experience.

Movies based off of books are NEVER as good as the book. Period. So that never really helps the movie in my book.

However, here's why I like having had the experience of both reading and listening (or watching): I get to look at it from all angles.

Let's take my recent Harry Potter experience for an example. I have read the series through plenty of times, or at least more than the average reader, I feel. However, when I listened to the books this time, I got a different feel for how the books could be. On one hand, I think it should look and feel like this, but then I listen to Jim read it and it helped clear some of the confusion on some of the book. For instance, in The Deathly Hallows, I have always had a hard time imagining just how the scene in Godric's Hollow looked like. Harry being attacked by the giant snake, him pulling Hermione out of the window and falling...it has always just been really hard for me to imagine. Perhaps it is due to my excitement when I read the action sequences. Perhaps I have skipped over words in my haste as the excitement unfolds. Regardless of the reason, I have gone back and re-read that section a couple times trying to get it right and it wasn't until I listened to Jim read it (twice), that I was really able to see it in my mind's eye.

So, there are two levels there. There's my level, the way I read it and see it. There's the readers' level, the way he reads it. And then you throw on the Movie level and it's like you can see it, hear it and touch it! It's fabulous. Now, I realize that the movies are all going to be different than the books. This was a sad reality that I had to come to grips with after the Prisoner of Azkaban (I almost walked out). Having been so spoiled with the first two Harry Potter films, which were so close to the original books, the third movie was sadly lacking and very disappointing on multiple levels. After that, I finally had to reason with myself that the "movie version" and the "book version" while similar, are in fact two completely different stories. What the movie does offer that I really like, it a visual aspect that I had not imagined. I do have a vivid imagination, but sometimes seeing something that doesn't really exist is hard to do. The movies helped with this aspect. So now, when I listen or read the books, I can in my minds eye, refer back to the movie for the visual of what that looks like, how it acts, or what it would feel like. It adds a third dimension.

Another great example of this "3-D" feel added to a book, are the Jane Austen books. Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility...etc.

When I first decided to read Jane Austen, I didn't think anything of it. Everyone raved about her stories, and I liked reading, so it sounded like a good fit. Until I tried to read it of course. Old English is not something you just pick up one day and understand completely. In fact, I really had a hard time with her writing because it was so devoid of emotion. I was expected, as the reader, to glean all the meaning without the description. It was a highly difficult read. Needless to say, I was not so infatuated with Mr. Darcy at first. I believe when I was done with the book, my first response was "huh...". It was that good.

But, then I saw the movie and it was like it just...clicked. I was able to see the interpretation of the feelings before my eyes and I able to see the emotion in the writing, able to feel it for the first time. After that, the re-readings of her works have been much easier. I even watched the extensive BBC version of the movie (which of course I loved) and it thickened that dimension considerably.

So, in conclusion, my point is that while I didn't necessarily read the book in the traditional sense, I am ok with that because I am heightening the adventure and enjoying it all the more on a deeper level.