Reading and Dining at its finest

It wasn’t until my senior year of high school I learned that reading could be entertaining. Before then, if an interesting book came out, I was the kid who waited for it to become a movie. I was a con-artist when it came to it; I would avoid reading by any means possible even if it meant getting my girl friend to read my summer reading books. But with the help of Shakespeare and a book worm of a girlfriend, I converted over from a book con-artist to a book enthusiast. Although the old me would disagree, I found reading is an in depth form of entertainment, with an endless amount of opportunities.

The power of reading presented me with a new style of entertainment. Shakespeare’s Hamlet was sadly the first piece of writing I’ve ever read cover to cover. Of course I read other books, but they were only the required ones and I found myself focusing so much on finishing the book, I failed to comprehend what was actually taking place in the story. It was senior year, and every student was required to write a term paper in order to graduate. Being the typical lazy senior, I choose to write my term paper on Hamlet, since we were going to read it anyways. It was killing two birds with one stone, I could gather good information from class to help with my paper and it was one less book I had to read. What I didn’t realize was I’d would finally open the door to a new world in which reading not just tolerable, but enjoyable. It was hard to get into Hamlet at first, but after part one I could not put the book down. Never before had I felt that sensation from a book, it was like my eyes were glued to the television set watching my favorite movie. I had never read a book like Hamlet before the content of the story had characteristics that appealed most teenage boys like my self. The murder scenes, the violence, and the profanity I felt like I was reading a rated R book.

As soon as we finished the book, we started to watch the movie in class. I anticipated the movie to be just as good as the book if not even better. But to my surprise I was completely wrong. The movie was nothing in comparison to the book. I was confused at first, how could a book be more exciting and entertaining than a movie. It just didn’t seem right, my whole life I’ve been living under the impression that movies were best source of entertainment. I’m not sure when exactly it hit me, but as soon as it did I felt silly for not seeing it earlier. Books pull you deeper into the story’; you know how the characters feel, and what they are thinking. On the other hand with movies, you only know what you can see and hear, and most of the time they leave out a lot of the story’s plot. With books you can envision the story how you perceive it, not how the director does. A movie would be several time longer if was to the same depth of a book. Books also allow us to take in the story at our own pace. If you do at first understand something you can always go back and reread it.   Once I became aware of my discovery, I felt like I had been settling for fast food my entire life when instead, I could have been fine dining at the fanciest restaurant in town.

After my discovery with Hamlet, I wanted to explore this new world where reading was a great source of entertainment. I knew books now were up to par but is it more than just books, could it be other forms of reading as well. Emily, my girl friend (The same one who read my summer reading) loved to read.  She set up time everyday to read as if it was her favorite TV show series. She also loved reading the news paper, every morning she would open up the paper during breakfast and read it. I know this because even when I was sitting across from her at breakfast, she would still pick the paper up and read it.  Every time she did she would look up and ask if I wanted a page and I would respond to her in the same manner as if she offered me a cigarette ” No thank you, I don’t read.”  In a sense I was jealous, not because she wasn’t paying attention to me, but because I never knew what it felt like to enjoy reading to the point where I could pay full attention to it and not to all distractions surrounding me.  My experience with Hamlet changed all this. I found myself once again sitting at breakfast with Emily, but this time was different. For the first time, I took Emily’s offer and grabbed a page to read. I’ll never forget that article; it talked about how ninety percent of  American bills have cocaine on them. Once I finished that, I move on the sports section then business. I ended up reading the entire news paper. Once I finished the paper I looked up at Emily. He face was priceless she was staring at me as if I had preformed some medical miracle.  And to this day every time I eat breakfast if there is a newspaper close by I will pick it up to read.

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