Read the book first!

So this blog is a crusade for reading. There's three great books that are soon to come out as movies. The City of Ember by Jeanne Du Prau will be out in theaters this Friday. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd will be out in a week or so. And finally Twilight by Stephanie Meyer will be coming out in a month. I really enjoyed all three books and look forward to seeing them on the big screen. BUT I really don't hold out much hope for Hollywood's version. I have only read one book that I thought wasn't as good as the movie. I usually like my own "movie" of the books I read. Plus being the English teacher I am, I favor the print version to the "easy" version. What I do like about Hollywood making movies based on books is that the movie usually encourages people to read the book. Also as an English teacher/librarian, I'm all in favor of whatever gets people reading more.
I was recently talking with Jared about the value of reading. He disagrees with the notion that just because a person reads a lot they are smarter. I think the problem lies in Jared's definition of "smart people." He defines "smart" generally as someone with common sense. I will agree that extensive reading doesn't necessarily equal common sense, but I don't think a person can ever read too much. I see too many students who can't read very well and hate to read. They are very limited in many aspects of life. It never hurts and usually helps a person's IQ to read. So go out and read those three books before the movies come out to be able to intelligently compare.