Books, no contest. I’ve probably read one book a week for the last 34 years, and I think that would be a conservative estimate. Movies in a theater or on TV – maybe 15 a year. I’m watching fewer movies as I get older, though I’m not sure why; I’m not reading fewer books.
Am I the first to say it’s probably a tie?
In an average year, my movies per week equals my books per week: two to three.
I probably read a lot more books as a kid, because I grew up without the benefit of home video; movies were theater only with occasional TV airings. As the technology changed, the increased convenience meant movies had the opportunity to catch up. This might suggest that movies would win in the long haul, but I’m finding myself bored by repetitive mainstream product more and more, so I’ve become more selective in my movie-watching habits, and the ratio has started to even out.
I’d expect that on the day I die, it will be a toss-up which is in the lead.
Books, by far. At my peak, I was going through 3-4 new novels a week. I don’t have nearly the time for that any more, but I still go through about one a month. Meanwhile, I’m probably seeing more movies now than I ever did before (being independant, and living within easy range of a couple of theaters), but it’s still only a few a year. Heck, I’ve probably reread more books than I’ve watched movies.
“It’s a book. It’s a non-volatile storage medium. It’s very rare. You should have one.” – Blank Reg, Max Headroom
I’ve definitely read more books than seen movies, and yet, I’ve seen a lot of films. I’ve kind of lost interest in current films over the last couple of years; either films (evne independent ones) are really getting worse, or I’ve just become saturated and jaded, and find relatively little novelty. In books, though, there is endless variety, and I also have a Sisyphusian stack of books awaiting attention.
Stranger
When I was a kid, I read a lot more. But I’d say it’s about the same at this point in my life. I don’t have hard numbers on movies, but I know I read about a book a week (given I’ve ended the year for the 50 book challenge between 68 and 51 books the past 4 years), and I’d be surprised if I didn’t average a movie a week as well.
I’m not really sure. While I do read quite a bit, I often go back and re-read the same books over and over again, while I very rarely watch the same movie twice. Most movies that I’ve seen, I’ve only watched once, while most of the books I’ve read have been read twice or more. I like to read it quickly–I can usually handle a 300 page book in an evening–and then return to it again to savor it.
So, while I do read quite a bit, I’m not sure if there have actually been more separate books than separate movies.
I’'m not clear on what you mean by “Movies” Go out to the theater movie, rent a movie, buy a movie from “On Demand”, porno movies, or just plain old TMC movie cut and chopped “for time alloted?”
Anyway, I read lot’s more books than any of the above on my post.
It’s a tough one for me to say. On one hand I am a movie-phile so I’ve seen thousands of movies. And on the other hand I couldn’t begin to count the number of books I’ve read. I’ve got to give the edge to movies since there was a period where I was living very close to a bargain cinema and I saw just about every major film release for a few years. By the same token there have been periods when I’ve devoured book after book, but I think movies take it.
Books. My parents sevrely curtailed my movie-watching but if I was careful about the names & bookjackets of the books I could read anything. And did.
Movies. I enjoy both, and read more often than I watch movies, but while I seldom finish more than a book a week, it’s not unusual for me to watch two or more movies in a weekend.
(Incidentally, I’m tremendously jealous of those of you who say you read a whole book every couple of days. I could never read that quickly.)
Books. I read 2-3 books a week. I rent maybe one movie a week. I go to the dollar theater maybe every other month, and I see about 2 first-run movies a year.
I think for me it’s a tossup. I’ve seen a lot of movies and read a lot of books. I tend to read somewhat slowly though, so movies might come out ahead.
Movies. I read a lot, but I see about one or two DVD’s a week, sometimes more. I read a lot of hard books that take time to get through.
Books, easily — probably by about a 20 to 1 margin or so.
Books, probably by at least a power of 10. But then I’m not much of a movie person.
Easily books. Even with my massive Netflix habit.
That’s tough! I definitely read more actual books until I got out of college at which point I was a little burned out on reading from school and from working at a book store. Although I’ve also always had a life long love of movies - my mom took me to every movie she went to since I was born. But for the last five years me and my friend have had a “movie night” every week where we see a movie together so that’s about 50x5 movies in the last five years alone. But books take longer to read. So I’m going to have to guess that I’ve seen more movies but spent more time reasding books. And qualify that with, depends on whether you count movies on cable and DVD, and whether reading things on line counts towards overall reading…
Movies – and I’ve read a lot of books. I know I’ve seen over 1500 films since 1981 (actual count from my movie log), plus probably at least 800 prior to that, when I routinely saw 50-75 movies a year.
I’ve read a lot of books, too, but I don’t have numbers. Maybe it’s up to 2300, but I’m not sure, and I’m reading far fewer books right now.
You can see a movie in two hours, but a book usually takes longer to read.
Books, no doubt. I’ve read 607 books since I started keeping track in November 1979 (yes, I have a complete list), though some of them were probably less than 250 pages, since I was still reading teen-oriented books when I started keeping a record at age 13. Also, my family was not a movie-going family when I was growing up, and my youth was mostly before VCRs became common, so I was well into my 20s before I started renting movies or even taking myself to the theater.
(Just checked my list; the first book I read that had more than 250 pages was Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, at 298 pages, read in 1980. Yup, my list includes page counts 
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Books. I see a film at a theatre about once a fortnight, and once or twice a week on TV. I read a book every couple of days.