Pure Imagination

Hello readers!


It has been way too long since I last posted. I started out my summer with great plans to post more often and write about the different books I read. Well, you see how that turned out. I will admit I got a little lazy. But school is almost back in session for me (two days away to be exact), so I may be writing again fairly often. But lets move on to what I really want to talk about.

I don't know if you've heard of a movie called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or not. For those of you that may not already know this bit of trivia, this movie is actually based of Roald Dahl's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (an interesting thought for later), not to be confused with the strange version that (relatively) recently came out (another interesting thought for another post). But, thinking about the original movie, there is a song that is essentially Willy introducing the children and their parents to the chocolate room (you know, the one with the chocolate waterfall). One of the lyrics in that song is my favorite from the movie:

Come with me, and you'll be in a world of pure imagination. Take a look and you'll see into your imagination.

And a little later in the song:

There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there you'll be free if you truly wish to be.

Wonka is telling the visitors to expect the unexpected, and to not hold themselves back from exploring the wonders of a childlike mind. If you think about it in a different way, it can also describe the world of books. Just like the chocolate factory, books can hold so many wonders that "defy explanation", that can take you wherever you wish to go, let you do whatever you want to do.

What do I mean by that? In books, there is no limit to the places your imagination can take you, and absolutely no limit to the things your imagination will let you do. When you read, at least in the case of all the readers I have had contact with, you live alongside the characters in the book, reacting to what they react to, doing what they do.

Reading also inspires many different things that don't even have to do with opening a book and reading it. Books have inspired songs, art, even dances. So the imaginative journey is not limited to the pages within a book. A book will stay with you, unlocking more and more of your imagination.

"Take a look and you'll see into your imagination"

As I've said in a previous post, no two people read the same book, ever. One person can read a book and imagine the dragon as long and sleek, with sharp features. Another person can read the same book and imagine the same dragon as muscular and stocky with rounded features. Both read the same description; both see a different dragon. That is the magic of imagination at work. Your imagination is truly limitless. As my mother likes to say, the only person who limits you is you. So it is in this case. The only thing limiting your imagination is yourself, your own belief. If you just see books as ink on a sliver of tree, you're missing out on the magic contained within that ink. But, if you allow the ink to paint a picture in your mind, and let it take you on a journey, then you are experiencing your imagination at work. And you thought magic didn't exist!

"Living there you'll be free if you truly wish to be"

You only get out of it what you put into it. That is a phrase every single one of us has heard at least a dozen times in our lives. If you only put a halfhearted effort into something, you'll only get a halfway decent product. The same goes for reading. You cannot get a full fledged adventure,a vivid painting, or an overall satisfying experience if you only approach books with a half-open mind. Too many times I have approached a story with a half-open mind, when halfway through I realize that I enjoy the story and open myself fully to it, only to realize that I missed so much of the adventure and excitement. Allow your imagination to run freely with you when you read. It makes for a much better adventure.

"It's all in your mind." This is yet another phrase I'm sure we've all heard a time or two. It does sadden me when people tell me that they can't get into a book or that it just didn't connect with them. Granted, not all books are for all people and reading isn't for everyone. But at the same time, I've seen where people who have the potential to enjoy reading, don't because of one thing or one person who tainted it for them. That is why I think that it is all in someone's head (not all the time, but most of the time) when they say they don't like to read. I say try. There is a "world of pure imagination" waiting to be explored.

Going back to Wonka showing the children around his factory, it makes me think of a picture I haven't talked about yet. Wonka is the author, the factory is his book, and the children and their parents are the readers. Wonka is proud of his creation, his brainchild, his world of imagination, and wants to share it with others. But not everyone appreciates it the way he intends to. The children greedily consume the factory (quite literally in some cases) with no appreciation for the splendor. The parents don't see the wonder at all, and only see it for what they think it is: something to be profited from. But, you do have the one child who appreciates it for the amazing work of magic that it is. Charlie is the one who let his imagination free and saw through all the curtains and smoke. He saw a wonderful adventure just waiting for him. And he shared in the imagination with Wonka, and saw the vision of a wonderful, delicious world.

I'm not trying to demean those who truly don't like to read. I understand that. But for those who think they don't like to read, I do hope they can be like Charlie, seeing the magic underneath the surface. There is a picture that I have seen time and again of an open book with what looks to be sprays of pixie dust coming from its pages. That is how I see books: full of the magic that is imagination waiting to be released by some willing reader.

I could go on and on and on about the wonderful world contained within books, but my brain and fingers are growing tired. Share this with someone who is unconvinced, or someone who has a vivid imagination!

Let me know your thoughts about pure imagination!

Happy reading!

Inconceivable!

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope your January has been a fun one and full of grand adventures. I for one have already been on several journeys, and am embarking on yet another. Let me tell you about the first adventure I had this year.

As you may have already guessed from the title of this post, I went to Florin and explored the Cliffs of Insanity, the Fire Swamp, shark-infested waters, and everything in between in the Princess Bride. Some of you may be saying "Wait, there was a book?" Yes, there was a book before the movie. I didn't know until a couple of years ago. This is my first time putting my hands on a copy, which I decided to pick up before a new years trip to the mountains. William Goldman, the author of the book and screenwriter of the movie, presents the book as an abridged version of the original Florinese story by S. Morgenstern. He does a very good job convincing the reader that it is indeed merely an adaptation of the original book, when in fact the entire story is out of his own mind. (As you can probably guess from this, I was one of the readers who actually believed the story was the way he presented it. In my defense, the layout and presentation of the book was such that it had every appearance of not being the original work...) He paints an elaborate picture of his fictional life an experiences with this particular story. As a young boy, the son of a Florinese immigrant, he is introduced to the book as he is recovering from a bout of pneumonia. His fascination with the book carries over into adulthood, when he attempts to give his own son the gift of reading the story that carried him through his dark days. However, after his son receives the book, and he asks him about it, Goldman realizes that his father only read the good parts aloud to him, skipping over the boring narratives. It was then and there that he decided to condense the book to only the "exciting parts" so as to make it appealing to all ages and levels of interest in reading.

After the long "history" behind his decision to practically rewrite the book, we finally get to the story. It is much as you would expect if you have seen the movie, as I have countless times. The movie itself is set much like Goldman would have been with his father reading The Princess Bride to him, recovering from pneumonia, only there is a boy with his grandfather, but that is a minor detail. The rest of the book is interspersed with Goldman's opinions on the "original" story, and why he left something out, or what he would have added in. For me personally, before I realized that it was merely a setup or fabrication that the story was what it was, it did get a little annoying. Although I am one for wanting to know history behind certain events in a book; otherwise I just don't know what in the world is going on. Goldman intentionally decided to not write about the historical aspect of the story, or include certain descriptions, although considering the whole supposed premise behind the book I think I can forgive him ;-)  Overall, the book was great. Everything that I expected to happen, happened, plus some. It is a story that I am very familiar with, and I even found myself quoting along with the characters, but all the same it never gets old and is always exciting to experience.  This is one of the few instances where the movie is true to the book. Granted the screenplay was adapted from the book by the author, but still, it is rare that you find a movie so true to the original story, if there is one.

Those are my thoughts on the book. Have any of you read it? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Let me know in the comments.

Happy reading!