A book tells a singular story in hundreds (sometimes thousands) of pages. A movie tells the same story in two hours. Who wants to be burdened with the prolonged process of waiting days or even weeks to reach page 160 for the story’s climax? Reading the book does heighten the suspense of what’s to come later, but how long is too long before you get bored and give up waiting?

A movie gives you a quick cinematic fix with the option to rewatch this motion picture as many times as you want, where you want. You can watch a movie in the comfort of your own home, at a movie theatre, or at a drive-in. You can customize your movie experience to fit you something you can’t do with a hard cover and stack of printed papers inside.

When you watch a movie, you are given visual references to the characters and the scenery. Books leave characters and scenery up for interpretation. Most of the time the expectations for a movie are heavily dependent on every detail the book includes.

If the movie alters something in some way, the movie gets a negative connotation attached to it. People will circulate on the internet and tear down details in the movie tarnishing its image. The movie didn’t have enough blank, blank’s clothes were a different color in the book, or blank had a dog, not a cat. These are some of the comments that although seem small are the difference between watching the movie and not watching it. Is it worth tarnishing months of filming and hard work just to say the book is better?

Reading the book is not a bad option it’s just a different way to comprehend a story. Depending on your personal preference some like the imagination and literature suspense a book provides whereas, others like the quick and action-packed feel of a movie. Both tell the same story, it’s about how you want to learn it.

Sitting down with friends and family and enjoying freshly popped popcorn while my eyes gazed at the movie screen is how I like to learn a story. Reading is great don’t get me wrong and I like to read now and then, but movies are for me.