Twilight & New Moon

I read Twilight over the break, as I had mentioned before. I didn't expect to get obsessively hooked on these books but I guess flight delays and a snow storm forced me into the world that now I cannot escape. I really liked Twilight, although it's not really the kind of book you read if you're looking to be intellectually stimulated. The writing is poor and the characters are quite silly, but the story is captivating (at least in my opinion). I had difficulty overlooking the fact that the books are anti-feminist in every way possible. The story is about a girl who defines herself by the boy she spends her time with. Her self-esteem and life goals revolve around her boy crushes and in the presence of boys she becomes daft and clumsy. This is hard for me to stomach. Women have spent decades becoming individuals and all of the wishy-washy fantasizing about boys in these books erases what so many strong woman have worked hard to create. Count on a Mormon woman to write a series about a young girl who throws everything away for the man she loves. I know it sounds romantic, but I'll tell you what I think is romantic. I think it is romantic that I am myself to the very core around my husband and he supports any endeavor that I wish to pursue, whether that be career or motherhood, and on my own timeline. It's wonderful. But besides all the anti-feminist stuff, the story behind the Twilight books are addicting. There is something so fascinating about the concept of a family of vampires living among regular people. I loved reading about the history of each of the vampires in the Cullen family and the story of how they became vampires. The histories of the vampires reminded me of this Ghost Bus Tour I took while I was in Ireland a few years ago. This tour took us throughout Dublin and showed us various areas that are supposedly haunted. One of the stories we listened to was about a vampire. I've always been drawn to stories about ghosts and vampires for some reason. There is definitely a romantic element when it comes to vampires. I can't put my finger on it though. Weird. I'm also quite taken with the story as it is set in the Northwest. The constant commentary about the dreary, gray weather makes me laugh because in my book there is nothing depressing about a gray sky!

I finished New Moon over the weekend. It took me longer to finish the book because 1) I've been busy and 2) I really can't stand Jacob Black and almost the whole book is about him. For some reason I can totally buy into the concept of a family of vampires, but the concept of a family of werewolves just baffles me. I just can't get into it. It's unbelievable and silly to me - like a story about Bigfoot. I know that is kind of a double standard considering I'm so accepting of the idea of vampires. But, whatever. New Moon was fine. I wasn't nearly as hooked as I was with Twilight, but I understand that certain things needed to happen to set up for the third book. Like I said, I just can't stand Jacob Black! It's not just the werewolf thing, but I think he is clingy and annoying. He kind of reminds me of someone I knew in high school, which might explain my immediate annoyance with him. I've heard the fourth book is partly narrated by him. I'm not looking forward to that.

As for the movie, Twilight, I laughed the whole way through. I went with my adorable sister, who was seeing the movie for the fourth time. There are so many things I would have done differently in the film. I'm usually disappointed when I read a book and go see the film. The film never does the book justice. I thought the part in the woods was so funny when Edward was demanding that Bella say what he was out loud. It just wasn't portrayed with that kind of drama in the book. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was a casual conversation in the car when Bella told Edward her theory. I may have laughed throughout the film, but I will certainly continue to see every film they make. I'm hoping that since they only spent 37 million on Twilight (and made a ton of money) that the following films will be better quality. Also, get rid of the kid who plays Jacob Black. Even he is annoying.

That's all for now. I'm not sure if any of that made any sense, but I felt like writing about the books. Tonight I start Eclipse!