I have wanted to review this set for a long time. However, one of my favorite book reviewers did it for me. I pretty much agree with her. Especially her warning to parents.
Books for Readers to Moon Over
By Holly E. Newton
There’s been a lot of buzz about a series of books that I finally relented to read. (That’s quite an accomplishment because I only take time to read books for possible reviews. But when my 22-year-old daughter encouraged me again and again, and I also asked friends who had very highly recommended these books and all the answers were affirmative, I finally picked up book one.)
I was a bit leery knowing that it’s a young adult book and such books are hard to find that are good as well as appropriate. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, is a book that you’ll easily sink deep into and find it hard to come up for air.
This book is so good that I could see why everyone is talking about it. I had to pry it out of my hands to go to sleep at night and actually finished reading the 498 pages in two days. Part of the high interest in this first book in the series is in not knowing what it’s about before you read it. (So reader-beware!)
Meyer has an uncanny ability to write with eloquence and elegance. Her fluid flair of description doesn’t bog down the romantic mystery and propels the protagonist continually as she tries to assimilate all that is happening around her. “I vividly remembered the flat black color of his eyes the last time he’d glared at me — the color was striking against the background of his pale skin and his auburn hair. Today, his eyes were a completely different color: a strange ocher, darker than butterscotch, but with the same golden tone.” Here is a sophisticated and suspenseful mystery that will undoubtedly hold you on the edge of every page.
New Moon is the second book in this series, and the excitement and anticipation of the story continues. However, the story slows a bit through more than half of the book. Again, I don’t want to give much of it away so I’ll just suffice it to say that Bella, the main protagonist, continues to tell the story through her eyes. The story finally crescendos and adventures really begin to happen when she finally meets someone she thinks she’s lost forever.
Eclipse is the last book in the series thus far, although two more books are planned. This book picks up the pace after it slowed somewhat in the second book, culminating the ensuing conflicts and rising climax to a final resounding and gratifying resolution. In all three of the books, the author's beautiful descriptions don’t weigh down the story. In fact, it becomes more exhilarating and breathtaking as you can almost sense the imagery Meyer quantifies gloriously!
Parents should note that there are mild swear words found in all three books as well as a good deal of inappropriate behavior on the protagonist’s part all the way through the series — but especially in book three. That was disappointing to read, because the author graduated from BYU. As in all books ever published, the need for swearing, however mild, and sexual innuendoes, however implied, are never necessary to propel the storyline along. But, I think the popularity with LDS members shows the thirst for exciting and well-written fiction
The Twilight Series
The Twilight Series
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
This is from Meridian editor Katherine Kidd:
Thanks for writing, Anonymous. And surprise, surprise — the series you mentioned in your letter is exactly the series that our own ward’s Young Women have been carrying to church on Sundays along with their scriptures.
I have no idea why the series has upset me so much. I have read much, much worse in my checkered past. I think it’s a tribute to the author’s writing skill that I am so annoyed with the protagonist in that series that I can’t even read the books for long before getting so angry I have to put them down. Bella is human to me, and I can’t stand her. In all the thousands upon thousands of books I have read, I have never seen a protagonist who was so stupid.
The back cover of the first book in the series is very revealing:
About three things I was absolutely positive:
First, Edward was a vampire.
Second, there was a part of him — and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be — that thirsted for my blood.
And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.
Hold on. She knows only two facts about him — he’s a predator, and at least on some level he wants to destroy her. And without knowing any more about him than that, she is “unconditionally and irrevocably” in love with him.
Excuse me. If a girl only knows two things about a boy, how can she possibly be “unconditionally and irrevocably” in love with him? Well, we soon find out. Edward is rilly-rilly cute. That explains everything. Even though her life is in jeopardy, she can’t possibly walk away from him because he is rilly-rilly cute.
Replace the word “vampire” with “child molester” or “spouse abuser.” If Edward were a child molester or a batterer, would she stay with him? Of course! If you’re rilly cute, that’s what matters!
Other things that disturb me about this protagonist include, but are not limited to, the following:
She sleeps in the same bed with her boyfriend every night, even though they don't have sex. (He sneaks through the window so her father won’t find out.)
She runs off by herself to Arizona on a life-endangering mission without telling her father, and is almost killed in the process.
She flies off to Europe on a life-endangering mission without telling her father. She lies to him, and he thinks she’s on a sleepover with a female friend.
She continually puts herself in harm's way, even throwing herself off a cliff, just because she can imagine that Edward would yell at her if he saw her doing something so stupid.
She puts her parents in harm's way. (Yes, she'd be rilly-rilly sad if the vampires killed her parents, but she can't do anything about that. After all, she's in love!)
The third novel is the one that blew me away. Picture this. You are in mortal jeopardy. Your life is so much in danger that creatures who are bitter enemies (vampires and werewolves) have banded together to fight to the death to save you. As the battle is raging, the first thing you do is take your boyfriend, who is possibly the strongest combatant, out of the fray to keep you company — even though with him out of the fight it puts the rest of your friends in even worse danger.
Then, while the battle escalates and you don’t know whether your friends who are fighting on your behalf are going to live or die, you don’t even waste a thought on them. Instead, you spend the entire time pestering your boyfriend to have sex with you. You badger him over and over and over again. All you can care about is getting your own physical gratification.
Talk about a black hole of selfishness!
Am I over-reacting? Probably so. Our own children’s books reviewer, Holly Newton, gave these books a glowing review — and I really (excuse me, rilly-rilly) trust Holly. (Our Young Adult books reviewer, Hollie Parry, read them and refused to review them because she didn’t think they were appropriate for an LDS audience — so there you have both ends of the spectrum.)
Do I think these books should be banned from LDS homes? Actually, I don’t. For one thing, your pre-teen and early-teen daughters have probably already read them. But the other reason is that these books can give parents a terrific opportunity to discuss with their daughters (in a non-panicked, non-judgmental way) that they may come upon the human equivalent of vampires in their own lives, and that they need to prepare now to be smarter than Bella is.
Girls need to know that no matter how cute the guy is, or how much he says he loves you, there is nobody who is worth sticking around for if he’s going to beat you or your children, or if he’s going to take you away from the Church, or if he’s going to do any one of a number of things that could destroy you and the generations that come after you. Your daughters need to know there are other options.
There are apparently going to be five books in this series. You can bet your booties I’ll purchase the other two as they come out, in hardback, so I’ll be able to discuss these books with the Young Women in our ward. I’ll probably be screaming at the idiot protagonist all through them, but the discussions will be worth the frustration.
I also have a hidden agenda for continuing this series. I have fingers and toes crossed that by the end of the story, Bella is going to decide that perhaps her immortal soul is just a teeny bit more important than having a boyfriend, even if he is the cutest thing on the planet, and that she’s going to finally grow a spine and say goodbye to her undead companion.
One can hope
Thanks for writing, Anonymous. And surprise, surprise — the series you mentioned in your letter is exactly the series that our own ward’s Young Women have been carrying to church on Sundays along with their scriptures.
I have no idea why the series has upset me so much. I have read much, much worse in my checkered past. I think it’s a tribute to the author’s writing skill that I am so annoyed with the protagonist in that series that I can’t even read the books for long before getting so angry I have to put them down. Bella is human to me, and I can’t stand her. In all the thousands upon thousands of books I have read, I have never seen a protagonist who was so stupid.
The back cover of the first book in the series is very revealing:
About three things I was absolutely positive:
First, Edward was a vampire.
Second, there was a part of him — and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be — that thirsted for my blood.
And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.
Hold on. She knows only two facts about him — he’s a predator, and at least on some level he wants to destroy her. And without knowing any more about him than that, she is “unconditionally and irrevocably” in love with him.
Excuse me. If a girl only knows two things about a boy, how can she possibly be “unconditionally and irrevocably” in love with him? Well, we soon find out. Edward is rilly-rilly cute. That explains everything. Even though her life is in jeopardy, she can’t possibly walk away from him because he is rilly-rilly cute.
Replace the word “vampire” with “child molester” or “spouse abuser.” If Edward were a child molester or a batterer, would she stay with him? Of course! If you’re rilly cute, that’s what matters!
Other things that disturb me about this protagonist include, but are not limited to, the following:
She sleeps in the same bed with her boyfriend every night, even though they don't have sex. (He sneaks through the window so her father won’t find out.)
She runs off by herself to Arizona on a life-endangering mission without telling her father, and is almost killed in the process.
She flies off to Europe on a life-endangering mission without telling her father. She lies to him, and he thinks she’s on a sleepover with a female friend.
She continually puts herself in harm's way, even throwing herself off a cliff, just because she can imagine that Edward would yell at her if he saw her doing something so stupid.
She puts her parents in harm's way. (Yes, she'd be rilly-rilly sad if the vampires killed her parents, but she can't do anything about that. After all, she's in love!)
The third novel is the one that blew me away. Picture this. You are in mortal jeopardy. Your life is so much in danger that creatures who are bitter enemies (vampires and werewolves) have banded together to fight to the death to save you. As the battle is raging, the first thing you do is take your boyfriend, who is possibly the strongest combatant, out of the fray to keep you company — even though with him out of the fight it puts the rest of your friends in even worse danger.
Then, while the battle escalates and you don’t know whether your friends who are fighting on your behalf are going to live or die, you don’t even waste a thought on them. Instead, you spend the entire time pestering your boyfriend to have sex with you. You badger him over and over and over again. All you can care about is getting your own physical gratification.
Talk about a black hole of selfishness!
Am I over-reacting? Probably so. Our own children’s books reviewer, Holly Newton, gave these books a glowing review — and I really (excuse me, rilly-rilly) trust Holly. (Our Young Adult books reviewer, Hollie Parry, read them and refused to review them because she didn’t think they were appropriate for an LDS audience — so there you have both ends of the spectrum.)
Do I think these books should be banned from LDS homes? Actually, I don’t. For one thing, your pre-teen and early-teen daughters have probably already read them. But the other reason is that these books can give parents a terrific opportunity to discuss with their daughters (in a non-panicked, non-judgmental way) that they may come upon the human equivalent of vampires in their own lives, and that they need to prepare now to be smarter than Bella is.
Girls need to know that no matter how cute the guy is, or how much he says he loves you, there is nobody who is worth sticking around for if he’s going to beat you or your children, or if he’s going to take you away from the Church, or if he’s going to do any one of a number of things that could destroy you and the generations that come after you. Your daughters need to know there are other options.
There are apparently going to be five books in this series. You can bet your booties I’ll purchase the other two as they come out, in hardback, so I’ll be able to discuss these books with the Young Women in our ward. I’ll probably be screaming at the idiot protagonist all through them, but the discussions will be worth the frustration.
I also have a hidden agenda for continuing this series. I have fingers and toes crossed that by the end of the story, Bella is going to decide that perhaps her immortal soul is just a teeny bit more important than having a boyfriend, even if he is the cutest thing on the planet, and that she’s going to finally grow a spine and say goodbye to her undead companion.
One can hope
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
Here are some more comments from Meridian's Kathryn Kidd(I misspelled her name last time) and responses to her last post in Meridian.
Thank you a thousand times for the Twilight review. I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with me because the books bothered me so much when everyone else was singing their praises. Okay — I've only had time to read the first so far. Like you, I will be reading the others to see how the author handles the outcome of the story — if it glorifies dangerous and predatory relationships.
I was deeply troubled by the justification of a fundamentally dangerous relationship in the name of "love." Additionally, I was concerned with the age difference of the primary characters. Bella is a teenager, a minor child in the eyes of the law. Edward, meanwhile, though in a 17-year-old body, is a much, much older man. How is this any different from a 16-year-old girl who falls "in love" with a 35-year-old man? It happens far too often and our daughters absolutely must be warned of the dangers of these predators. It seems so dangerous for our teenage (and even younger!) girls to be reading these books that seem to glorify a dangerous relationship between a teenager and an adult man.
Thank you for pointing out that Bella endangers not only herself, but those around her whom she (ostensibly) cares about. That is not true love.
I can hope that the final installments will resolve my concerns, but in the meantime I wonder how many girls out there will flirt with these dangerous and predatory relationships before the years pass and the story is finally resolved (if it indeed is resolved).
I cannot tell you how grateful I was for your soapbox lecture!
A former high school teacher and YW leader
Thanks for writing, Former. It's definitely worth pointing out that the age difference between the star-crossed lovers in this series should be a cause for concern. It never occurred to me to consider the predatory nature of a much older man pursuing a teenager. What I did wonder about, however, was why this man who is nearly a hundred years old by his birth certificate (even if he does look like a teenager) would fall in love with someone who is not only underage, but who is also very emotionally immature.
What in the world do they have as a common ground? And why are his family members, who are even older than he is, treating Bella's hare-brained ideas as though they have actual merit? When Bella hatches one of her kindergarten schemes (“Let's use me as bait for the bad guys!”), why is nobody saying to her, “What kind of idiot are you, anyway?” Instead they treat her as though she is on an emotional and intellectual par with the rest of them — which is definitely far from being the case.
Thank you a thousand times for the Twilight review. I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with me because the books bothered me so much when everyone else was singing their praises. Okay — I've only had time to read the first so far. Like you, I will be reading the others to see how the author handles the outcome of the story — if it glorifies dangerous and predatory relationships.
I was deeply troubled by the justification of a fundamentally dangerous relationship in the name of "love." Additionally, I was concerned with the age difference of the primary characters. Bella is a teenager, a minor child in the eyes of the law. Edward, meanwhile, though in a 17-year-old body, is a much, much older man. How is this any different from a 16-year-old girl who falls "in love" with a 35-year-old man? It happens far too often and our daughters absolutely must be warned of the dangers of these predators. It seems so dangerous for our teenage (and even younger!) girls to be reading these books that seem to glorify a dangerous relationship between a teenager and an adult man.
Thank you for pointing out that Bella endangers not only herself, but those around her whom she (ostensibly) cares about. That is not true love.
I can hope that the final installments will resolve my concerns, but in the meantime I wonder how many girls out there will flirt with these dangerous and predatory relationships before the years pass and the story is finally resolved (if it indeed is resolved).
I cannot tell you how grateful I was for your soapbox lecture!
A former high school teacher and YW leader
Thanks for writing, Former. It's definitely worth pointing out that the age difference between the star-crossed lovers in this series should be a cause for concern. It never occurred to me to consider the predatory nature of a much older man pursuing a teenager. What I did wonder about, however, was why this man who is nearly a hundred years old by his birth certificate (even if he does look like a teenager) would fall in love with someone who is not only underage, but who is also very emotionally immature.
What in the world do they have as a common ground? And why are his family members, who are even older than he is, treating Bella's hare-brained ideas as though they have actual merit? When Bella hatches one of her kindergarten schemes (“Let's use me as bait for the bad guys!”), why is nobody saying to her, “What kind of idiot are you, anyway?” Instead they treat her as though she is on an emotional and intellectual par with the rest of them — which is definitely far from being the case.
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
Re: The Twilight Series
I thought this was interesting because it's obviously hard to please the world's standards and LDS standards.
M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E
Stephenie Meyer's Vampire Series Makes Readers' Blood Rush
By Maurine Proctor
Most books when they are published creep quietly and obscurely on to book shelves, hardly noticed by the reading public. Not so for Mormon mom, Stephenie Meyer, whose fourth book in her vampire Twilight saga became available last Friday night at midnight. Readers across the world had been anticipating Breaking Dawn, the conclusion to her series with racing pulses and couldn't wait to take a bite out of the last installment.
Friday night featured 4,000 parties at bookstores and libraries across the United States alone where readers in anticipation dressed up in prom attire and debated how the story would end. BYU Bookstore sponsored a blood drive to mark the event. Book groups sponsored “Vampire” nights for members so they could finish the story together.
When she appeared on Good Morning America, Friday morning, the program received 1,000 emails with questions and comments for Stephenie, a record for the show. She has had to limit her appearances to venues that can handle thousands of fans and events in Los Angeles and New York sold out in 45 minutes.
On Saturday, the first day her book was available, it sold 1.3 million copies to fans eager to learn who the heroine, Bella, would choose between her romantic possibilities: Edward Cullen, the vampire who has swept her off her feet or Jacob Black, her best friend and a werewolf? And if she chose Edward, would it mean she would also choose to become a vampire herself?
"There's no way to please everyone," Stephenie said. "The (e-mail) messages I get say, 'If Bella doesn't end up with Edward forever, I'm going to burn this book,' and the next one I get will say, 'If Bella doesn't end up with Jacob forever, I'll burn this book.”
In some ways, the numbers tell the story. After three years, Stephenie had sold 10 million copies of her book. The initial printing of Breaking Dawn is 3.5 million. Her books have dominated the USA TODAY bestseller list all summer with her first book Twilight at No. 1 and her second and third books New Moon (2006) and Eclipse (2007) weighing in a Nos. 2 and 4. Last summer Stephenie knocked J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows off its No. 1 spot on the list.
Yet, it is the enthusiastic dedication of readers to the characters and stories that is most telling. Speculations on the plot twists fill the blogosphere. Websites have been started by enthusiasts where a digital clock counted down the milliseconds until the next book appeared. Though the book was meant for youth, it has successfully crossed over to adults and they confess things like this from Twilightmoms.com
“Do you think you are the only one whose life turned upside down when you read Twilight? Is your house a disaster with piles of piles of laundry in every corner and stacks of dirty dishes at record breaking heights? Have you imagined your husband is a vampire (or werewolf) and suddenly have the libido of newlywed again? Do you convince yourself that "cold cereal" makes a perfectly wholesome dinner? Is the pizza delivery boy now on your Christmas card list? Are your children free to run a muck as long as no one comes too you bleeding . . .(too badly)? Oh, you feel guilty, but that's not enough! You still can't tear yourself away from the book.”
The kind of fan excitement that pulses around Meyer makes way for the inevitable comparisons with J.K. Rowling smash successes.
A Mormon Mother and a Vampire Story?
The question, of course, is what's a Mormon mother doing writing vampire stories? What part of her mental world makes room for these creatures of the night? She originally pitched her story to publishers as a “suspense romance horror comedy” and she says she is not into the horror genre at all. She hasn't read Bram Stoker's Dracula and told Entertainment Weekly, "I've seen little pieces of Interview with a Vampire when it was on TV, but I kind of always go YUCK! I don't watch R-rated movies, so that really cuts down on a lot of the horror. And I think I've seen a couple of pieces of The Lost Boys , which my husband liked, and he wanted me to watch it once, but I was like, it's creepy!"
“I just know I'm too much of a wuss for Stephen King's books,” admits Stephenie Meyer. “I'm waaay too chicken to read horror.”
The genesis of all this hoopla was a dream Stephenie had on June 2, 2003. She described it: “ In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately.”
“Though I had a million things to do (i.e. making breakfast for hungry children, dressing and changing the diapers of said children, finding the swimsuits that no one ever puts away in the right place, etc.), I stayed in bed, thinking about the dream. I was so intrigued by the nameless couple's story that I hated the idea of forgetting it; it was the kind of dream that makes you want to call your friend and bore her with a detailed description. (Also, the vampire was just so darned good-looking, that I didn't want to lose the mental image.) Unwillingly, I eventually got up and did the immediate necessities, and then put everything that I possibly could on the back burner and sat down at the computer to write—something I hadn't done in so long that I wondered why I was bothering. But I didn't want to lose the dream, so I typed out as much as I could remember.”
Up to this point Stephenie hadn't written much, and hardly anything at all since the birth of her son six years earlier, but she was compelled to continue, writing while her family slept, and too shy about it to even confess it to her husband for a little while.
Juggling children, swimming lessons and church assignments, she was still able to finish her manuscript by August, sent out 15 queries, got an agent in October, and a contract for the book in November with a large advance. That's less than 6 months and an accomplishment that would make most would-be writers drool.
In the story, Bella Swan is an awkward, unsure, yet headstrong high schooler who has come to the very gray Forks, Washington on the Olympic peninsula to live with her father. She is an everygirl—very ordinary in her own estimation. There she attracts the attention of the stunningly handsome Edward Cullen, who poses as a senior in high school, but is actually a 107-year old vampire, who falls madly in love with her. He, and his equally perfectly beautiful family, may be vampires, but, they are good vampires, “vegetarians”, having sworn off human blood, to only hunt beasts in the forest to quench their thirst.
Still, the smell of her blood is intoxicating to Edward, and, despite his best moral intentions, must exercise every bit of self-control not to let his vampire instincts take over. At one point in the series, Edward finally decides he is bad for her, as the only way they can ultimately be together is for her to become like a vampire like him, and in his absence she is befriended by Jacob, who just happens to be a werewolf. Thus the love triangle and the dilemma about Bella's mortality, and the frenzy of readers who want to know what happens in this intense story.
To Stephenie these stories aren't about a scarefest, but about characters that people care about. “I don't know why I've gotten the response I have,” she admits. She just knows she loves the characters and they are extremely important to her.
In fact, far from embracing the horror genre, Stephenie said in an interview that her first book Twilight was loosely based on Pride and Prejudice ; the second, New Moon was based on Romeo and Juliet ; the third, Eclipse, was based on Wuthering Heights , and Breaking Dawn was a mix of many others including Midsummer's Night Dream.
The Twilight book, which is due out as a movie December 12, advertises in these words with a picture of Bella and Edward, “When you live forever, what do you live for?”
Informed by her Mormonism
Journalists have relished making an issue of Meyer's Mormonism, which is a bit puzzling to her. Stephenie told interviewers: "It seems funny that it's still a story," Meyer says, "because you didn't hear people saying, 'Jon Stewart, Jewish writer,' when his book came out. I guess being a Mormon is just odd enough that people think it's still a real story. Obviously, to me, it seems super normal. It's just my religion."
Yet, she says her faith informs her work and hopes that the message comes through. She was looking to put a lot more light than darkness in the books, and she attributes some of the popularity of the books to Bella's being an everygirl. She told Entertainment Weekly , “She's not a hero, and she doesn't know the difference between Prada and whatever else is out there. She doesn't have to be cool, or wear the coolest clothes ever. She's normal. And there aren't a lot of girls in literature that are normal. Another thing is that Bella's a good girl, which is just sort of how I imagine teenagers, because that's how my teenage years were.”
In fact, in this hypersexualized world, where the claim is that teenagers can't be and aren't abstinent, Bella and Edward's passion is wild, but chaste. Newsweek said of this, “Meyer , who is Mormon, has said that she doesn't want Bella and Edward to have sex before marriage. For most romance novels, the ‘no sex, please,' notion would be blasphemous. But Meyer's fans have embraced it like a couple of teenagers just cuddling on the couch. Many mothers say they've used the books as a way to begin that awkward birds-and-bees talk with their teenage daughters. ‘I can discuss sex without being preachy because, well, we're just talking about Twilight ,' says Mary Ann Hill, mother to Tara , 13. ‘It's non-threatening and I see the book as extra support for what I want to teach anyway.'”
Not all readers agree with this estimation. Stephenie has been criticized in Mormon circles and some mothers won't let their daughters read the series because Edward, who, as a vampire, doesn't sleep and is worried for Bella's safety, often stays in her bedroom all night to protect her, and the occasional kisses between them are certainly sexually charged and sometimes on the bed. The books have no gratuitous sex scenes, but the strictly above-the-collar kisses are passionate to the point of pulse racing.
The new book Breaking Dawn goes a bit farther because it begins with Bella's marriage and describes the honeymoon. Though it is tastefully done, Stephenie's editors discussed putting an age warning on the book because of its mature theme and because of the violence. Stephenie said she was for putting an age limit of 15 or 16 and a warning because “the content is a little harder to handle, a little bit more grown-up for really young kids. I have 9-year-old readers, and I think it's too old for them.”
What's more, many have asked if Bella is a role model they want their daughters to be so taken with. Bella and Edward are obsessively intrigued with each other. He is unreal in his devotion and physical good looks, and she has no interest in education or even life itself without him. He can read her mind, anticipate her needs, and be high-handed if she doesn't follow his warnings. She is perpetually the damsel in distress who is saved by him.
Still, what's fun about the book to the fans is that they are page turners with characters they care about. The author knows how to draw tense scenes of conflict and moral dilemmas that engage the readers. One fan said, “It's cheesy, but I can't put it down.” What's more, in her own life, Stephenie sticks by her personal standards. She never works on Sundays and passed up an invitation to present a clip from Twilight at a recent Sunday MTV movie awards.
A Regular Person
Bottom line is that Stephenie Meyer is in the spotlight, but at heart she's just a Mormon Mom who says when it comes to photo shoots and media attention, she'd be happier holding the gear. Her kids think she's the epitome of normal and one asked his friend, “What book is it that your Mom writes?”
95% of the time, Stephenie says, she's just Mom.
Her husband, Pancho, also reports that he is not at all threatened by Edward. After all, Edward is fictional. After 30 years of being the most normal person around, she says, it's hard to become ungrounded.
M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E
Stephenie Meyer's Vampire Series Makes Readers' Blood Rush
By Maurine Proctor
Most books when they are published creep quietly and obscurely on to book shelves, hardly noticed by the reading public. Not so for Mormon mom, Stephenie Meyer, whose fourth book in her vampire Twilight saga became available last Friday night at midnight. Readers across the world had been anticipating Breaking Dawn, the conclusion to her series with racing pulses and couldn't wait to take a bite out of the last installment.
Friday night featured 4,000 parties at bookstores and libraries across the United States alone where readers in anticipation dressed up in prom attire and debated how the story would end. BYU Bookstore sponsored a blood drive to mark the event. Book groups sponsored “Vampire” nights for members so they could finish the story together.
When she appeared on Good Morning America, Friday morning, the program received 1,000 emails with questions and comments for Stephenie, a record for the show. She has had to limit her appearances to venues that can handle thousands of fans and events in Los Angeles and New York sold out in 45 minutes.
On Saturday, the first day her book was available, it sold 1.3 million copies to fans eager to learn who the heroine, Bella, would choose between her romantic possibilities: Edward Cullen, the vampire who has swept her off her feet or Jacob Black, her best friend and a werewolf? And if she chose Edward, would it mean she would also choose to become a vampire herself?
"There's no way to please everyone," Stephenie said. "The (e-mail) messages I get say, 'If Bella doesn't end up with Edward forever, I'm going to burn this book,' and the next one I get will say, 'If Bella doesn't end up with Jacob forever, I'll burn this book.”
In some ways, the numbers tell the story. After three years, Stephenie had sold 10 million copies of her book. The initial printing of Breaking Dawn is 3.5 million. Her books have dominated the USA TODAY bestseller list all summer with her first book Twilight at No. 1 and her second and third books New Moon (2006) and Eclipse (2007) weighing in a Nos. 2 and 4. Last summer Stephenie knocked J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows off its No. 1 spot on the list.
Yet, it is the enthusiastic dedication of readers to the characters and stories that is most telling. Speculations on the plot twists fill the blogosphere. Websites have been started by enthusiasts where a digital clock counted down the milliseconds until the next book appeared. Though the book was meant for youth, it has successfully crossed over to adults and they confess things like this from Twilightmoms.com
“Do you think you are the only one whose life turned upside down when you read Twilight? Is your house a disaster with piles of piles of laundry in every corner and stacks of dirty dishes at record breaking heights? Have you imagined your husband is a vampire (or werewolf) and suddenly have the libido of newlywed again? Do you convince yourself that "cold cereal" makes a perfectly wholesome dinner? Is the pizza delivery boy now on your Christmas card list? Are your children free to run a muck as long as no one comes too you bleeding . . .(too badly)? Oh, you feel guilty, but that's not enough! You still can't tear yourself away from the book.”
The kind of fan excitement that pulses around Meyer makes way for the inevitable comparisons with J.K. Rowling smash successes.
A Mormon Mother and a Vampire Story?
The question, of course, is what's a Mormon mother doing writing vampire stories? What part of her mental world makes room for these creatures of the night? She originally pitched her story to publishers as a “suspense romance horror comedy” and she says she is not into the horror genre at all. She hasn't read Bram Stoker's Dracula and told Entertainment Weekly, "I've seen little pieces of Interview with a Vampire when it was on TV, but I kind of always go YUCK! I don't watch R-rated movies, so that really cuts down on a lot of the horror. And I think I've seen a couple of pieces of The Lost Boys , which my husband liked, and he wanted me to watch it once, but I was like, it's creepy!"
“I just know I'm too much of a wuss for Stephen King's books,” admits Stephenie Meyer. “I'm waaay too chicken to read horror.”
The genesis of all this hoopla was a dream Stephenie had on June 2, 2003. She described it: “ In my dream, two people were having an intense conversation in a meadow in the woods. One of these people was just your average girl. The other person was fantastically beautiful, sparkly, and a vampire. They were discussing the difficulties inherent in the facts that A) they were falling in love with each other while B) the vampire was particularly attracted to the scent of her blood, and was having a difficult time restraining himself from killing her immediately.”
“Though I had a million things to do (i.e. making breakfast for hungry children, dressing and changing the diapers of said children, finding the swimsuits that no one ever puts away in the right place, etc.), I stayed in bed, thinking about the dream. I was so intrigued by the nameless couple's story that I hated the idea of forgetting it; it was the kind of dream that makes you want to call your friend and bore her with a detailed description. (Also, the vampire was just so darned good-looking, that I didn't want to lose the mental image.) Unwillingly, I eventually got up and did the immediate necessities, and then put everything that I possibly could on the back burner and sat down at the computer to write—something I hadn't done in so long that I wondered why I was bothering. But I didn't want to lose the dream, so I typed out as much as I could remember.”
Up to this point Stephenie hadn't written much, and hardly anything at all since the birth of her son six years earlier, but she was compelled to continue, writing while her family slept, and too shy about it to even confess it to her husband for a little while.
Juggling children, swimming lessons and church assignments, she was still able to finish her manuscript by August, sent out 15 queries, got an agent in October, and a contract for the book in November with a large advance. That's less than 6 months and an accomplishment that would make most would-be writers drool.
In the story, Bella Swan is an awkward, unsure, yet headstrong high schooler who has come to the very gray Forks, Washington on the Olympic peninsula to live with her father. She is an everygirl—very ordinary in her own estimation. There she attracts the attention of the stunningly handsome Edward Cullen, who poses as a senior in high school, but is actually a 107-year old vampire, who falls madly in love with her. He, and his equally perfectly beautiful family, may be vampires, but, they are good vampires, “vegetarians”, having sworn off human blood, to only hunt beasts in the forest to quench their thirst.
Still, the smell of her blood is intoxicating to Edward, and, despite his best moral intentions, must exercise every bit of self-control not to let his vampire instincts take over. At one point in the series, Edward finally decides he is bad for her, as the only way they can ultimately be together is for her to become like a vampire like him, and in his absence she is befriended by Jacob, who just happens to be a werewolf. Thus the love triangle and the dilemma about Bella's mortality, and the frenzy of readers who want to know what happens in this intense story.
To Stephenie these stories aren't about a scarefest, but about characters that people care about. “I don't know why I've gotten the response I have,” she admits. She just knows she loves the characters and they are extremely important to her.
In fact, far from embracing the horror genre, Stephenie said in an interview that her first book Twilight was loosely based on Pride and Prejudice ; the second, New Moon was based on Romeo and Juliet ; the third, Eclipse, was based on Wuthering Heights , and Breaking Dawn was a mix of many others including Midsummer's Night Dream.
The Twilight book, which is due out as a movie December 12, advertises in these words with a picture of Bella and Edward, “When you live forever, what do you live for?”
Informed by her Mormonism
Journalists have relished making an issue of Meyer's Mormonism, which is a bit puzzling to her. Stephenie told interviewers: "It seems funny that it's still a story," Meyer says, "because you didn't hear people saying, 'Jon Stewart, Jewish writer,' when his book came out. I guess being a Mormon is just odd enough that people think it's still a real story. Obviously, to me, it seems super normal. It's just my religion."
Yet, she says her faith informs her work and hopes that the message comes through. She was looking to put a lot more light than darkness in the books, and she attributes some of the popularity of the books to Bella's being an everygirl. She told Entertainment Weekly , “She's not a hero, and she doesn't know the difference between Prada and whatever else is out there. She doesn't have to be cool, or wear the coolest clothes ever. She's normal. And there aren't a lot of girls in literature that are normal. Another thing is that Bella's a good girl, which is just sort of how I imagine teenagers, because that's how my teenage years were.”
In fact, in this hypersexualized world, where the claim is that teenagers can't be and aren't abstinent, Bella and Edward's passion is wild, but chaste. Newsweek said of this, “Meyer , who is Mormon, has said that she doesn't want Bella and Edward to have sex before marriage. For most romance novels, the ‘no sex, please,' notion would be blasphemous. But Meyer's fans have embraced it like a couple of teenagers just cuddling on the couch. Many mothers say they've used the books as a way to begin that awkward birds-and-bees talk with their teenage daughters. ‘I can discuss sex without being preachy because, well, we're just talking about Twilight ,' says Mary Ann Hill, mother to Tara , 13. ‘It's non-threatening and I see the book as extra support for what I want to teach anyway.'”
Not all readers agree with this estimation. Stephenie has been criticized in Mormon circles and some mothers won't let their daughters read the series because Edward, who, as a vampire, doesn't sleep and is worried for Bella's safety, often stays in her bedroom all night to protect her, and the occasional kisses between them are certainly sexually charged and sometimes on the bed. The books have no gratuitous sex scenes, but the strictly above-the-collar kisses are passionate to the point of pulse racing.
The new book Breaking Dawn goes a bit farther because it begins with Bella's marriage and describes the honeymoon. Though it is tastefully done, Stephenie's editors discussed putting an age warning on the book because of its mature theme and because of the violence. Stephenie said she was for putting an age limit of 15 or 16 and a warning because “the content is a little harder to handle, a little bit more grown-up for really young kids. I have 9-year-old readers, and I think it's too old for them.”
What's more, many have asked if Bella is a role model they want their daughters to be so taken with. Bella and Edward are obsessively intrigued with each other. He is unreal in his devotion and physical good looks, and she has no interest in education or even life itself without him. He can read her mind, anticipate her needs, and be high-handed if she doesn't follow his warnings. She is perpetually the damsel in distress who is saved by him.
Still, what's fun about the book to the fans is that they are page turners with characters they care about. The author knows how to draw tense scenes of conflict and moral dilemmas that engage the readers. One fan said, “It's cheesy, but I can't put it down.” What's more, in her own life, Stephenie sticks by her personal standards. She never works on Sundays and passed up an invitation to present a clip from Twilight at a recent Sunday MTV movie awards.
A Regular Person
Bottom line is that Stephenie Meyer is in the spotlight, but at heart she's just a Mormon Mom who says when it comes to photo shoots and media attention, she'd be happier holding the gear. Her kids think she's the epitome of normal and one asked his friend, “What book is it that your Mom writes?”
95% of the time, Stephenie says, she's just Mom.
Her husband, Pancho, also reports that he is not at all threatened by Edward. After all, Edward is fictional. After 30 years of being the most normal person around, she says, it's hard to become ungrounded.
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
Re: The Twilight Series
This review is quite lame, it's here because I fear too many people who have defended the series think like this woman. Some of her comments actually are funny and I don't think she meant it to be funny.
M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E
Twilight's Eternally Good Messages: A Note to the Critics
By Darla Gaylor
You know, I read the detractors' emails last night with a bit of sadness. There was some truth to what was said, but also a lot of ignorance- mainly from those that hadn't read the books. I am one of those adults who got swept off my feet by Meyer's deep, moralistic vampires. And I'm not a fan of the vampire genre by any stretch of the imagination, or teen romances either- not even when I was one. However, her take on these traditionally dark and evil creatures is one that should give readers pause for understanding . I found many gospel messages interwoven in these stories, perhaps the most striking is that of "Divine Nature," followed strongly by "Choice and Accountability."
Meyer's central vampire family, the Cullens, is made up of individuals, none of whom chose to become vampires, but did find they had a choice in overcoming their intrinsic nature to kill human life in order to further their own. The lessons learned and taught by the "father" of this clan, Carlisle Cullen, is one of reverence for human life and maintaining a hold on humanity, even when his very nature screams for him to do otherwise. I think that is a lesson we can all relate to, as it is the very reason we are here: to learn to put off the natural man in order to receive greater rewards than those that come by indulging in momentary pleasures.
As for our heroine, Bella Swan, if she is guilty of anything, it is being fraught with human nature! Like all of us she has her failings, her teen-aged hormones- which I think many people forget they ever had- and confused actions that pull her to and away from her blood-related family. Still, she recognizes choice as a key factor in her motivations. She, like most of us at one time or another, battles with what she thinks is right versus what she feels is wrong. No, not all of her choices are ones I would condone as a parent, but I am not yet so old I don't remember similar struggles when I was seventeen. I made some bad choices, just as Bella, but thank goodness our Heavenly Father loves us enough to forgive us, not just stand and shake his finger at us. Bella struggles.
We all struggle. Nature, given us by our loving God, is powerful, and sometimes we need a little redirection, a little help. She had that in her love, Edward, and the influence of his family. We also see in her a young woman who did not have strong parental or religious influences growing up; she was the parent in many ways. But she still had a fair sense of right and wrong, of self-sacrifice, of service and of love- not too bad for a seventeen year old left to find her own way.
Edward, too, fights his nature in order to to love and protect this fragile, delicate girl who has not yet discovered all of her great potential. At one point, he leaves to save her, but finds himself too weak to survive without her. In the end, Bella is the one who has to save him from himself, and their relationship grows into a more equal partnering through its challenges. Don't all good relationships go through changes and difficulties in order to mature? Not everyone gets to "happily ever after" automatically, blessed by a temple sealing or not. Their struggles, as they find ways to accommodate one another, to compromise to make each other, and yet themselves, happy, to find a way to do more than just love, are very real- and are a type for most relationships...good ones aren't easy! The youth will do well to understand that.
The argument regarding Bella's aversion to marriage when we are urged to do otherwise does not extend any understanding to the individual life and influences that had surrounded her since birth... you'll just have to read the books to have a clearer understanding of that. There are those of us here on earth and in the Lord's church that are hesitant about marriage, or like me, bearing children. "Just do it" isn't always the most helpful of instruction when people have real difficulties in their past that give them pause on these issues.
Most of us eventually overcome these problems and move forward with both marriage and children. Some of us make pretty crummy partners and parents, others are better prepared for having waited a bit. I know I for one am an exponentially better parent for having waited until twenty eight to have my first, than I would have been at nineteen. But you know what? That decision was between me, my spouse, and God. Everyone has to make those decisions prayerfully, not arbitrarily.
Back to Bella, she is if you will note, not yet twenty, not everyone is ready and prepared to make weighty choices at that age. Give the kid a break! She is so adult in some ways, but in others she's still maturing. She does after all, marry dear Edward and realize her fears were ridiculous- their marriage a blessing. As for those that see her display of hormones, both before and after taking her marriage vows, as yet another issue- was I the only one excited for their wedding night? I seriously doubt that! Those hormones, by the way, were given us for a reason: procreation. Without them, I doubt procreation would happen on its own!
Regarding concerns about teens reading these books and getting all hot and flustered, I wonder if their mothers are aware of all the books out there directed to their girls? Books that don't stop at descriptions of simple kisses or embraces. Books that don't "pull their punches." Books that overtly condone abject immorality. Are they reading these with their girls, or even aware if these materials, most likely widely available in the school library, are being read in secret?
Twilight can and should be used as a spring board to conversations with their kids to prepare them for what that rush of nature may feel like when they meet that boy that will spin their head or clutch their heart strings. If moms don't use these books in that manner, then they are missing a great opportunity to arm their girls with knowledge. As a teenager, I would have appreciated a little warning about the force of those procreating hormones. It would have been nice to understand my "enemy" a bit better. "Just say no" is very difficult when everything instead is screaming "yes!"
Bella may not have had a clue about the importance of this control, but Edward did. Don't discount that fact lightly. His control and his reasoning behind it is a key point in this series. It hit home to me in a way "A Time to Love" did for so many in the mid 80s. I loved the idea of one respondent last night that mentioned reading these books out loud with their girls, and selecting the spots to skip over. I agree! Especially with "Breaking Dawn," the last installment in Bella's and Edward's tale. Girls that have read the previous three will want to know how it ends, but their marriage does ratchet up the physical contact a bit- reading together for younger readers would be a great compromise to making them wait until they are eighteen to read the conclusion!
Finally, for those that would condemn Stephenie Meyer, please keep in mind, she is an author who happens to be LDS, writing about everyday, non-lds characters, in a non-LDS genre. If these were LDS characters acting in the manner that has shocked so many, I might be more upset. As it is, I see these characters as good examples of morality in an immoral world, a world that is pushing them in one direction, but they are pushing back emphatically saying, "Your way does not have to be my way; I can choose to find a better way."
If these books had been written in a "vanilla, sugar-coated-LDS-perfect-life" way, think of how few girls in this world would have been exposed to the morality of the Cullens, the humanity of Bella, and the influence of having LDS themes running rampant in a main stream book. How many have questioned the reality of Bella and Edward "waiting" until they were married? How many more have asked, "Is it because Meyer is Mormon?" How many more have sought out what that means? If being an author who happens to be LDS requires she write only books that seem to preach to the choir of our small community, then I think she would be depriving a whole lot of non LDS girls from understanding that things can be different. As it is Meyer's influence not only shows a alternative path for some, she shows others the path is not always easy. In fact, it is downright hard! But in the end, worth it.
Darla Gaylor, Nashville , TN , USA
M E R I D I A N M A G A Z I N E
Twilight's Eternally Good Messages: A Note to the Critics
By Darla Gaylor
You know, I read the detractors' emails last night with a bit of sadness. There was some truth to what was said, but also a lot of ignorance- mainly from those that hadn't read the books. I am one of those adults who got swept off my feet by Meyer's deep, moralistic vampires. And I'm not a fan of the vampire genre by any stretch of the imagination, or teen romances either- not even when I was one. However, her take on these traditionally dark and evil creatures is one that should give readers pause for understanding . I found many gospel messages interwoven in these stories, perhaps the most striking is that of "Divine Nature," followed strongly by "Choice and Accountability."
Meyer's central vampire family, the Cullens, is made up of individuals, none of whom chose to become vampires, but did find they had a choice in overcoming their intrinsic nature to kill human life in order to further their own. The lessons learned and taught by the "father" of this clan, Carlisle Cullen, is one of reverence for human life and maintaining a hold on humanity, even when his very nature screams for him to do otherwise. I think that is a lesson we can all relate to, as it is the very reason we are here: to learn to put off the natural man in order to receive greater rewards than those that come by indulging in momentary pleasures.
As for our heroine, Bella Swan, if she is guilty of anything, it is being fraught with human nature! Like all of us she has her failings, her teen-aged hormones- which I think many people forget they ever had- and confused actions that pull her to and away from her blood-related family. Still, she recognizes choice as a key factor in her motivations. She, like most of us at one time or another, battles with what she thinks is right versus what she feels is wrong. No, not all of her choices are ones I would condone as a parent, but I am not yet so old I don't remember similar struggles when I was seventeen. I made some bad choices, just as Bella, but thank goodness our Heavenly Father loves us enough to forgive us, not just stand and shake his finger at us. Bella struggles.
We all struggle. Nature, given us by our loving God, is powerful, and sometimes we need a little redirection, a little help. She had that in her love, Edward, and the influence of his family. We also see in her a young woman who did not have strong parental or religious influences growing up; she was the parent in many ways. But she still had a fair sense of right and wrong, of self-sacrifice, of service and of love- not too bad for a seventeen year old left to find her own way.
Edward, too, fights his nature in order to to love and protect this fragile, delicate girl who has not yet discovered all of her great potential. At one point, he leaves to save her, but finds himself too weak to survive without her. In the end, Bella is the one who has to save him from himself, and their relationship grows into a more equal partnering through its challenges. Don't all good relationships go through changes and difficulties in order to mature? Not everyone gets to "happily ever after" automatically, blessed by a temple sealing or not. Their struggles, as they find ways to accommodate one another, to compromise to make each other, and yet themselves, happy, to find a way to do more than just love, are very real- and are a type for most relationships...good ones aren't easy! The youth will do well to understand that.
The argument regarding Bella's aversion to marriage when we are urged to do otherwise does not extend any understanding to the individual life and influences that had surrounded her since birth... you'll just have to read the books to have a clearer understanding of that. There are those of us here on earth and in the Lord's church that are hesitant about marriage, or like me, bearing children. "Just do it" isn't always the most helpful of instruction when people have real difficulties in their past that give them pause on these issues.
Most of us eventually overcome these problems and move forward with both marriage and children. Some of us make pretty crummy partners and parents, others are better prepared for having waited a bit. I know I for one am an exponentially better parent for having waited until twenty eight to have my first, than I would have been at nineteen. But you know what? That decision was between me, my spouse, and God. Everyone has to make those decisions prayerfully, not arbitrarily.
Back to Bella, she is if you will note, not yet twenty, not everyone is ready and prepared to make weighty choices at that age. Give the kid a break! She is so adult in some ways, but in others she's still maturing. She does after all, marry dear Edward and realize her fears were ridiculous- their marriage a blessing. As for those that see her display of hormones, both before and after taking her marriage vows, as yet another issue- was I the only one excited for their wedding night? I seriously doubt that! Those hormones, by the way, were given us for a reason: procreation. Without them, I doubt procreation would happen on its own!
Regarding concerns about teens reading these books and getting all hot and flustered, I wonder if their mothers are aware of all the books out there directed to their girls? Books that don't stop at descriptions of simple kisses or embraces. Books that don't "pull their punches." Books that overtly condone abject immorality. Are they reading these with their girls, or even aware if these materials, most likely widely available in the school library, are being read in secret?
Twilight can and should be used as a spring board to conversations with their kids to prepare them for what that rush of nature may feel like when they meet that boy that will spin their head or clutch their heart strings. If moms don't use these books in that manner, then they are missing a great opportunity to arm their girls with knowledge. As a teenager, I would have appreciated a little warning about the force of those procreating hormones. It would have been nice to understand my "enemy" a bit better. "Just say no" is very difficult when everything instead is screaming "yes!"
Bella may not have had a clue about the importance of this control, but Edward did. Don't discount that fact lightly. His control and his reasoning behind it is a key point in this series. It hit home to me in a way "A Time to Love" did for so many in the mid 80s. I loved the idea of one respondent last night that mentioned reading these books out loud with their girls, and selecting the spots to skip over. I agree! Especially with "Breaking Dawn," the last installment in Bella's and Edward's tale. Girls that have read the previous three will want to know how it ends, but their marriage does ratchet up the physical contact a bit- reading together for younger readers would be a great compromise to making them wait until they are eighteen to read the conclusion!
Finally, for those that would condemn Stephenie Meyer, please keep in mind, she is an author who happens to be LDS, writing about everyday, non-lds characters, in a non-LDS genre. If these were LDS characters acting in the manner that has shocked so many, I might be more upset. As it is, I see these characters as good examples of morality in an immoral world, a world that is pushing them in one direction, but they are pushing back emphatically saying, "Your way does not have to be my way; I can choose to find a better way."
If these books had been written in a "vanilla, sugar-coated-LDS-perfect-life" way, think of how few girls in this world would have been exposed to the morality of the Cullens, the humanity of Bella, and the influence of having LDS themes running rampant in a main stream book. How many have questioned the reality of Bella and Edward "waiting" until they were married? How many more have asked, "Is it because Meyer is Mormon?" How many more have sought out what that means? If being an author who happens to be LDS requires she write only books that seem to preach to the choir of our small community, then I think she would be depriving a whole lot of non LDS girls from understanding that things can be different. As it is Meyer's influence not only shows a alternative path for some, she shows others the path is not always easy. In fact, it is downright hard! But in the end, worth it.
Darla Gaylor, Nashville , TN , USA
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,... but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Mormon 9:31
Re: The Twilight Series
Carly showed me this review; I think it's pretty funny. Plus it's fitting what with the movie coming out to assail us in just a few short weeks.
I want to beat Edward Cullen with Stick
by Yoni
Bad Book Month
(In Which I Read Bad Books on Purpose)
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Oh, my. This book justifies Bad Book Month all by itself. It's appalling. The redeeming factors are few and far between (mostly Charlie, because he's sweet; and maybe Jasper), but they're helpless against the overwhelming gag factor.
The most appalling element, however, is how popular this novel is. How many teenage girls are drinking this up and screaming for more. I fear for my gender's future, for what they're learning about love and relationships through this series.
However, I'm not the only one who's noticed the general lack of quality about this book (and its sequels, which I hear just get worse). avadriel posted an insightful, if scathing, review of the book. Reading the one-star reviews on Amazon is also quite fun.
Because of the amount of anti-Twilight stuff out there - though, granted, it only equals the smallest fraction of the pro-Twilight fangirl mania - I'm not going to write a review. I'm not going to go into the disturbing way Bella and Edward's obsessive relationship is portrayed as true love, or how borderline abusive it is, with Bella's complete lack of self outside Edward and Edward's controlling, emotionally unstable behavior. I don't have anything new to say on the topic.
I am, instead, going to provide you with a catalog. A count of various elements in the book, which should give you a feel for exactly how numerous its flaws are.
The Catalog
Number of Pages in the Book: 498
The First Hint of a Plot that Is Not Bella and Edward's Romance: page 328
When the Plot Actually Arrives: page 372
Boys that Totally Love Bella (Including Edward Cullen): 5
Approximate Amount of Time Bella and Edward are Romantically Involved Before Bella Is Begging Edward to Turn Her into a Vampire so They Can Be Together Forever: Like, two weeks. Maybe three. The timeline's a bit fuzzy.
References to Edward's Beauty: 165
Broken Down into the following categories -
Face: 24 (Favorite adjectives: glorious, heavenly, seraphic)
Voice: 20 (The voice of an archangel, donchaknow.)
Eyes: 17
Movement: 11
Smile: 10
Teeth: 8
Muscles: 7
Skin: 7 (Note: This only contains accounts of Edward's skin being beautiful. I didn't count references to it as "pale," "cold," or "white." If I had, this number would be about ten times larger.)
Iron Strength or Limbs: 5
Breath: 4 (EVEN HIS BREATH IS AMAZING.)
Scent: 4
Laughter: 3
Handwriting: 2
Chest: 2
Driving Skills: 1
The Number of Times...
Bella Is Clumsy or Makes a Reference to Her Clumsiness: 26
Bella Sneers at Forks or Its Inhabitants: 22
Bella is "Dazzled" or Rendered Speechless by Edward's Beauty or Touch: 17
Edward Tells Bella to Stay Away from Him While Completely Contradicting Himself with His Behavior: 16
Bella is Utterly Desolate at Edward's Absence: 12
Edward and Bella Kiss: 8
Bella's Hormones Get the Better of Her and She Attacks Edward, Almost Causing Him to Eat Her: 2 (She's not even allowed to kiss him back! Where's the fun in that?)
Edward's Kiss Makes Bella Faint: 1
Edward's Kiss Makes Bella's Heart Literally Stop: 1
Bella Thinks She Isn't Good Enough for Edward: 6
Edward Is Referred to As Godlike: 5 (Note: This number might be off, as I didn't start counting until three or four mentions in.)
Edward Tells Bella She's Unnatural: 5
Edward Sparkles: 3
Bella is in Mortal Danger: 3
Edward Saves Bella from Mortal Danger: 3
Edward Stalks Bella, For Real: 2 (Note: One of these instances involves watching her sleep every night for, like, months.)
Bella says "Holy Crow!": 2
Bella and Edward Argue About Who Loves the Other Most: 1
Edward's Inability to Read Bella's Mind is Explained: 0
I would have kept track of how many times Edward's mood shifts unexpectedly and for no reason, but I didn't have that much paper. I am sad, though, that I didn't keep track of how many times words like "granite," "stone," and "marble" are used in reference to Edward. His arms, his lips. Explain to me how kissing cold, marble lips is at all appealing. And yet it makes Bella faint. I give up.
+++++++
Lines That Made Me Laugh Out Loud Because...Well, You'll See:
I couldn't imagine how an angel could be any more glorious.
Note: Unless I say otherwise, just assume such sentiments are referring to Edward in all his glory.
He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest, his scintillating arms bare.
Incandescent. Scintillating. The adjectives in this book cracked me up. Because he sparkles!
The meadow, so spectacular to me at first, paled next to his magnificence.
Paled! Is that a joke? Oh, she's serious? I was afraid of that.
As I had just that once before, I smelled his cool breath in my face. Sweet, delicious, the scent made my mouth water.
This to me was the most disturbing aspect of Edward's inhuman perfection. It's just weird. And gross. And weird.
Edward: "There are other hungers. Hungers I don't even understand, that are foreign to me."
Um, Ed, babe? You were seventeen when you were turned. I highly doubt those "hungers" were foreign to you.
I could smell the unbearably sweet fragrance coming off his chest.
He pressed his cool lips to my forehead, and the room spun. The smell of his breath made it impossible to think.
Because, through the heavy water, I heard the sound of an angel calling my name, calling me to the only heaven I wanted.
He leaned in slowly, the beeping noise accelerated wildly before his lips even touched me. But when they did, though with the most gentle of pressure, the beeping stopped altogether.
...EDWARD KISSES HER AND HER HEART LITERALLY STOPS. I just...I don't even know what to do with this. Other than laugh hysterically while I beat my head against the table.
+++++++
From now on, I'm using the word "Edwardian" to refer to something inhumanly beautiful or perfect. For example: "Joe is totally Edwardian. Did you see his abs?"
And, because I am going to laugh at Edward Cullen for the rest of my life - because why, if you are immortal and so gorgeous that women faint at the sight of you, would you enroll in high school? wouldn't you have better things to do with your time? - I decided to start by writing a short parody of Twilight. When I finished, I realized it wasn't quite as much of a parody as I'd hoped, because the writing is actually like this. It's hard to make it even more ridiculous, but I tried. I'm pretty sure every adjective I used is already in the book. Multiple times.
Note: This contains a ridiculous theory of mine regarding the Twilight cover. Why is she holding an apple? Why? I get the color scheme, but an apple? Thus was born my vampiric fruit theory.
Note 2: Also, I think the funniest thing in the world would be if Edward actually ate Bella. I'd, like, frame that passage. Sadly, at the end of the series, I have the feeling Bella will have yet another tragic accident, only this time, the only way Edward will be able to save her is to turn her into a vampire - just as she's always wanted! And I will mourn the death of teen literature.
And now - the parody!
+++++++
Duskiness
Edward leaned toward me, his perfect face inches from mine. His sweet, delicious breath ghosted over my face. His golden eyes glowed with love.
“How do you like it?” he whispered, his velvet voice purring in my ear.
I couldn’t respond, so dazzled was I by his sparkling skin. He shone like a diamond in the sun, a godlike creature before me.
He smirked at my befuddlement, but then his face darkened and he thundered, “Don’t be difficult, Bella!”
I cringed, but he instantly softened, chuckled his bell-like laugh, and leaned toward me again. His cold, pale fingers brushed my cheek. I stopped breathing.
“Come here,” he said, bounding up in one of those blindingly-fast movements I’d grown accustomed to. “I want to show you something.”
He led me to a small creek and sank gracefully into the grass at its edge. I tripped over a pebble and landed on my face in the mud. Edward laughed. How could he love me? He was so beautiful, gorgeous, and perfect. Like the statue of David come alive. Like Adonis, a god, an angel.
Edward removed his shoes and rolled up the cuffs of his jeans, and I gasped at the sight of his white, smooth ankles. Sunlight reflected off his toenails, each an ivory glint of perfection. I’d never seen Edward’s feet before. I hadn’t realized he could be more beautiful than he was, but there seemed no end to his beauty.
My heart beat madly in my chest, bounced up into my throat, ricocheted off half a dozen ribs, and finally settled somewhere in the vicinity of my kneecap. I collapsed.
Faster than a speeding bullet, Edward had lifted me in his marble arms and cradled me to his granite chest. “Bella? Bella!” he screamed. “No!”
The sight of his perfect, glorious face so twisted in anguish sent waves of torture through my body. “Edward!” I gasped.
His cold, unyielding lips pressed to mine, but I dared not move for fear of breaking his control, so irresistible did he find the scent of my blood. I could not bear knowing I had caused Edward pain by forcing him to eat me. My heart fluttered around my kneecap.
The kiss done, Edward set me on my feet. Without moving, I tripped over a stick and would have fallen in the stream had Edward not caught me in his iron embrace.
“Will you answer a question?” I asked.
“Of course, my love, my life, my forever,” Edward said, casually tearing boulders apart with his toes. I watched, spellbound for a moment, before remembering myself.
“I once asked if you could turn into a bat, and you just laughed.”
Edward smirked. “Because it was a stupid question. We don’t turn into bats. Why would we want to turn into bats?”
“But can you turn into something?”
“Of course.” He stood, stretched, and his shirt rose enough for me to catch a glimpse of his sculpted abs above his waistband. I hyperventilated and passed out.
When I awoke, Edward was speaking.
“—for disguise.”
“What?” I asked breathlessly.
“I said, we turn into fruit. It’s great for disguising yourself.” He watched me carefully, to see if this revelation would finally be the one that convinced me he was a monster, that sent me screaming from him.
“Oh.” I said. “What kind of fruit?”
He looked frustrated, annoyed, euphoric, scared, nervous, grumpy, amused, sleepy, and sad. Like an archangel come down from heaven to bless me with his presence. “An apple.”
“Oh. Can I see?”
Rage colored his features. “No! Why can’t you understand? I’m a danger to you! I could kill you! I should leave you forever!” He threw himself forward and wrapped his arms around me. “I should go – right now! It’s the only way to keep you safe!”
Despair settled over me, so thick and heavy I could hardly see. “No, Edward! Don’t leave me! I know we’ve only been together for three hours, but I want to spend forever with you! Please!”
He pulled back and looked at me, thousands of emotions roiling in his liquid topaz eyes. “Do you mean that, Bella?”
“Yes.”
“Very well.”
His perfect, glorious, heavenly face dipped toward me, and he touched his cold lips to my neck. He growled deep in his throat, a sound that traveled up and down my spine like lightning.
Then came a sharp pain. His grip tightened. I gasped his name. My sight dimmed until all I could see was the sparkle of his skin, calling me to paradise.
Then nothing.
****
Edward looked down at the body of Bella Swan, pale and lifeless in his pale and lifeless arms.
“Oops.”
His sobs shook the forest for six long seconds, and then he stood, wiping a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth.
“Yum.”
He sprinted for the edge of the forest, moving faster than any living creature, and wondered if that Angela girl would be his new lab partner.
The End!
And now you don't have to read the book. Your brain will thank you.
+++++++
EDIT 6/14/2008:
After the sudden slew of reviews to this entry, I've decided to add a little postscript. I wrote this for a few people on my flist I knew would enjoy it and never intended to post it to any comms or in anyway try to get it out to the mass-Twilight-reading public. I amused myself and some others, and that was all I intended.
That said, for all of you who have stopped by in the last month, read, commented, and enjoyed, I'm glad I was able to bring a little laughter and humor into your day, and thank you for enjoying this so much that you shared with others. I am humbled and honored by your attention.
Two small things, and then I'll stop making this epic post even longer.
1. Shortly after I posted this, someone pointed out the apple=forbidden fruit thing to me. I felt really stupid for about five minutes, but couldn't be bothered to edit the post. Rest assured that I am firmly aware of the cover's symbolism at this time.
2. Apparently I spelled Stephenie Meyer's name wrong. Sorry 'bout that.
-Yoni
I want to beat Edward Cullen with Stick
by Yoni
Bad Book Month
(In Which I Read Bad Books on Purpose)
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
Oh, my. This book justifies Bad Book Month all by itself. It's appalling. The redeeming factors are few and far between (mostly Charlie, because he's sweet; and maybe Jasper), but they're helpless against the overwhelming gag factor.
The most appalling element, however, is how popular this novel is. How many teenage girls are drinking this up and screaming for more. I fear for my gender's future, for what they're learning about love and relationships through this series.
However, I'm not the only one who's noticed the general lack of quality about this book (and its sequels, which I hear just get worse). avadriel posted an insightful, if scathing, review of the book. Reading the one-star reviews on Amazon is also quite fun.
Because of the amount of anti-Twilight stuff out there - though, granted, it only equals the smallest fraction of the pro-Twilight fangirl mania - I'm not going to write a review. I'm not going to go into the disturbing way Bella and Edward's obsessive relationship is portrayed as true love, or how borderline abusive it is, with Bella's complete lack of self outside Edward and Edward's controlling, emotionally unstable behavior. I don't have anything new to say on the topic.
I am, instead, going to provide you with a catalog. A count of various elements in the book, which should give you a feel for exactly how numerous its flaws are.
The Catalog
Number of Pages in the Book: 498
The First Hint of a Plot that Is Not Bella and Edward's Romance: page 328
When the Plot Actually Arrives: page 372
Boys that Totally Love Bella (Including Edward Cullen): 5
Approximate Amount of Time Bella and Edward are Romantically Involved Before Bella Is Begging Edward to Turn Her into a Vampire so They Can Be Together Forever: Like, two weeks. Maybe three. The timeline's a bit fuzzy.
References to Edward's Beauty: 165
Broken Down into the following categories -
Face: 24 (Favorite adjectives: glorious, heavenly, seraphic)
Voice: 20 (The voice of an archangel, donchaknow.)
Eyes: 17
Movement: 11
Smile: 10
Teeth: 8
Muscles: 7
Skin: 7 (Note: This only contains accounts of Edward's skin being beautiful. I didn't count references to it as "pale," "cold," or "white." If I had, this number would be about ten times larger.)
Iron Strength or Limbs: 5
Breath: 4 (EVEN HIS BREATH IS AMAZING.)
Scent: 4
Laughter: 3
Handwriting: 2
Chest: 2
Driving Skills: 1
The Number of Times...
Bella Is Clumsy or Makes a Reference to Her Clumsiness: 26
Bella Sneers at Forks or Its Inhabitants: 22
Bella is "Dazzled" or Rendered Speechless by Edward's Beauty or Touch: 17
Edward Tells Bella to Stay Away from Him While Completely Contradicting Himself with His Behavior: 16
Bella is Utterly Desolate at Edward's Absence: 12
Edward and Bella Kiss: 8
Bella's Hormones Get the Better of Her and She Attacks Edward, Almost Causing Him to Eat Her: 2 (She's not even allowed to kiss him back! Where's the fun in that?)
Edward's Kiss Makes Bella Faint: 1
Edward's Kiss Makes Bella's Heart Literally Stop: 1
Bella Thinks She Isn't Good Enough for Edward: 6
Edward Is Referred to As Godlike: 5 (Note: This number might be off, as I didn't start counting until three or four mentions in.)
Edward Tells Bella She's Unnatural: 5
Edward Sparkles: 3
Bella is in Mortal Danger: 3
Edward Saves Bella from Mortal Danger: 3
Edward Stalks Bella, For Real: 2 (Note: One of these instances involves watching her sleep every night for, like, months.)
Bella says "Holy Crow!": 2
Bella and Edward Argue About Who Loves the Other Most: 1
Edward's Inability to Read Bella's Mind is Explained: 0
I would have kept track of how many times Edward's mood shifts unexpectedly and for no reason, but I didn't have that much paper. I am sad, though, that I didn't keep track of how many times words like "granite," "stone," and "marble" are used in reference to Edward. His arms, his lips. Explain to me how kissing cold, marble lips is at all appealing. And yet it makes Bella faint. I give up.
+++++++
Lines That Made Me Laugh Out Loud Because...Well, You'll See:
I couldn't imagine how an angel could be any more glorious.
Note: Unless I say otherwise, just assume such sentiments are referring to Edward in all his glory.
He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest, his scintillating arms bare.
Incandescent. Scintillating. The adjectives in this book cracked me up. Because he sparkles!
The meadow, so spectacular to me at first, paled next to his magnificence.
Paled! Is that a joke? Oh, she's serious? I was afraid of that.
As I had just that once before, I smelled his cool breath in my face. Sweet, delicious, the scent made my mouth water.
This to me was the most disturbing aspect of Edward's inhuman perfection. It's just weird. And gross. And weird.
Edward: "There are other hungers. Hungers I don't even understand, that are foreign to me."
Um, Ed, babe? You were seventeen when you were turned. I highly doubt those "hungers" were foreign to you.
I could smell the unbearably sweet fragrance coming off his chest.
He pressed his cool lips to my forehead, and the room spun. The smell of his breath made it impossible to think.
Because, through the heavy water, I heard the sound of an angel calling my name, calling me to the only heaven I wanted.
He leaned in slowly, the beeping noise accelerated wildly before his lips even touched me. But when they did, though with the most gentle of pressure, the beeping stopped altogether.
...EDWARD KISSES HER AND HER HEART LITERALLY STOPS. I just...I don't even know what to do with this. Other than laugh hysterically while I beat my head against the table.
+++++++
From now on, I'm using the word "Edwardian" to refer to something inhumanly beautiful or perfect. For example: "Joe is totally Edwardian. Did you see his abs?"
And, because I am going to laugh at Edward Cullen for the rest of my life - because why, if you are immortal and so gorgeous that women faint at the sight of you, would you enroll in high school? wouldn't you have better things to do with your time? - I decided to start by writing a short parody of Twilight. When I finished, I realized it wasn't quite as much of a parody as I'd hoped, because the writing is actually like this. It's hard to make it even more ridiculous, but I tried. I'm pretty sure every adjective I used is already in the book. Multiple times.
Note: This contains a ridiculous theory of mine regarding the Twilight cover. Why is she holding an apple? Why? I get the color scheme, but an apple? Thus was born my vampiric fruit theory.
Note 2: Also, I think the funniest thing in the world would be if Edward actually ate Bella. I'd, like, frame that passage. Sadly, at the end of the series, I have the feeling Bella will have yet another tragic accident, only this time, the only way Edward will be able to save her is to turn her into a vampire - just as she's always wanted! And I will mourn the death of teen literature.
And now - the parody!
+++++++
Duskiness
Edward leaned toward me, his perfect face inches from mine. His sweet, delicious breath ghosted over my face. His golden eyes glowed with love.
“How do you like it?” he whispered, his velvet voice purring in my ear.
I couldn’t respond, so dazzled was I by his sparkling skin. He shone like a diamond in the sun, a godlike creature before me.
He smirked at my befuddlement, but then his face darkened and he thundered, “Don’t be difficult, Bella!”
I cringed, but he instantly softened, chuckled his bell-like laugh, and leaned toward me again. His cold, pale fingers brushed my cheek. I stopped breathing.
“Come here,” he said, bounding up in one of those blindingly-fast movements I’d grown accustomed to. “I want to show you something.”
He led me to a small creek and sank gracefully into the grass at its edge. I tripped over a pebble and landed on my face in the mud. Edward laughed. How could he love me? He was so beautiful, gorgeous, and perfect. Like the statue of David come alive. Like Adonis, a god, an angel.
Edward removed his shoes and rolled up the cuffs of his jeans, and I gasped at the sight of his white, smooth ankles. Sunlight reflected off his toenails, each an ivory glint of perfection. I’d never seen Edward’s feet before. I hadn’t realized he could be more beautiful than he was, but there seemed no end to his beauty.
My heart beat madly in my chest, bounced up into my throat, ricocheted off half a dozen ribs, and finally settled somewhere in the vicinity of my kneecap. I collapsed.
Faster than a speeding bullet, Edward had lifted me in his marble arms and cradled me to his granite chest. “Bella? Bella!” he screamed. “No!”
The sight of his perfect, glorious face so twisted in anguish sent waves of torture through my body. “Edward!” I gasped.
His cold, unyielding lips pressed to mine, but I dared not move for fear of breaking his control, so irresistible did he find the scent of my blood. I could not bear knowing I had caused Edward pain by forcing him to eat me. My heart fluttered around my kneecap.
The kiss done, Edward set me on my feet. Without moving, I tripped over a stick and would have fallen in the stream had Edward not caught me in his iron embrace.
“Will you answer a question?” I asked.
“Of course, my love, my life, my forever,” Edward said, casually tearing boulders apart with his toes. I watched, spellbound for a moment, before remembering myself.
“I once asked if you could turn into a bat, and you just laughed.”
Edward smirked. “Because it was a stupid question. We don’t turn into bats. Why would we want to turn into bats?”
“But can you turn into something?”
“Of course.” He stood, stretched, and his shirt rose enough for me to catch a glimpse of his sculpted abs above his waistband. I hyperventilated and passed out.
When I awoke, Edward was speaking.
“—for disguise.”
“What?” I asked breathlessly.
“I said, we turn into fruit. It’s great for disguising yourself.” He watched me carefully, to see if this revelation would finally be the one that convinced me he was a monster, that sent me screaming from him.
“Oh.” I said. “What kind of fruit?”
He looked frustrated, annoyed, euphoric, scared, nervous, grumpy, amused, sleepy, and sad. Like an archangel come down from heaven to bless me with his presence. “An apple.”
“Oh. Can I see?”
Rage colored his features. “No! Why can’t you understand? I’m a danger to you! I could kill you! I should leave you forever!” He threw himself forward and wrapped his arms around me. “I should go – right now! It’s the only way to keep you safe!”
Despair settled over me, so thick and heavy I could hardly see. “No, Edward! Don’t leave me! I know we’ve only been together for three hours, but I want to spend forever with you! Please!”
He pulled back and looked at me, thousands of emotions roiling in his liquid topaz eyes. “Do you mean that, Bella?”
“Yes.”
“Very well.”
His perfect, glorious, heavenly face dipped toward me, and he touched his cold lips to my neck. He growled deep in his throat, a sound that traveled up and down my spine like lightning.
Then came a sharp pain. His grip tightened. I gasped his name. My sight dimmed until all I could see was the sparkle of his skin, calling me to paradise.
Then nothing.
****
Edward looked down at the body of Bella Swan, pale and lifeless in his pale and lifeless arms.
“Oops.”
His sobs shook the forest for six long seconds, and then he stood, wiping a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth.
“Yum.”
He sprinted for the edge of the forest, moving faster than any living creature, and wondered if that Angela girl would be his new lab partner.
The End!
And now you don't have to read the book. Your brain will thank you.
+++++++
EDIT 6/14/2008:
After the sudden slew of reviews to this entry, I've decided to add a little postscript. I wrote this for a few people on my flist I knew would enjoy it and never intended to post it to any comms or in anyway try to get it out to the mass-Twilight-reading public. I amused myself and some others, and that was all I intended.
That said, for all of you who have stopped by in the last month, read, commented, and enjoyed, I'm glad I was able to bring a little laughter and humor into your day, and thank you for enjoying this so much that you shared with others. I am humbled and honored by your attention.
Two small things, and then I'll stop making this epic post even longer.
1. Shortly after I posted this, someone pointed out the apple=forbidden fruit thing to me. I felt really stupid for about five minutes, but couldn't be bothered to edit the post. Rest assured that I am firmly aware of the cover's symbolism at this time.
2. Apparently I spelled Stephenie Meyer's name wrong. Sorry 'bout that.
-Yoni
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us"
Re: The Twilight Series
Just wait til you see the video! 
When God can do what he will with a man, the man may do what he will with the world. ~George MacDonald
Re: The Twilight Series
Steve, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE upload the video soon! We're all waiting on baited breath, or is it pins and needles? Either way we can't wait!
Re: The Twilight Series
Youtube doesn't seem to do it justice, but it's the best I can do on the family discussion board. Of course, any video footage of Twilight burning is still quite satisfying...enjoy:
EDIT: You can up the quality by clicking the HQ button inside that "up arrow" menu in the bottom right corner after hitting "play".
Link
EDIT: You can up the quality by clicking the HQ button inside that "up arrow" menu in the bottom right corner after hitting "play".
Link
When God can do what he will with a man, the man may do what he will with the world. ~George MacDonald
Re: The Twilight Series
steve, i was thinking about your comment that youtube doesn't do the video justice, and i noticed that you use vimeo on your website, so i added a tag to embed vimeo videos (in case you or anyone else ever wants to do that).
so let it be written... so let it be done.
Re: The Twilight Series
Wow, Ian. I...I don't know what to say. For me? You really didn't have to do this. Haha, you make me sound like some kind of Vimeo snob! 
I just like that Vimeo supports higher res if/when I take the time to finally upload high quality vids. Thanks! (In the meantime, here's a sample to see what our digital camera's video looks like on this site with this sweet new feature. 
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/2962943[/vimeo]
I just like that Vimeo supports higher res if/when I take the time to finally upload high quality vids. Thanks! (In the meantime, here's a sample to see what our digital camera's video looks like on this site with this sweet new feature. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/2962943[/vimeo]
When God can do what he will with a man, the man may do what he will with the world. ~George MacDonald
Re: The Twilight Series
like, seriously. who even uses youtube anymore. vimeo is like totally better. youtube is so old, lol.
so let it be written... so let it be done.
Re: The Twilight Series
oh and by the way i'm totally excited for the next twilight book that's coming out, i heard from my friend that it's going to be from edward's perspective, that's like so cool, and i've seen the movie like ten times it's really good.
so let it be written... so let it be done.
Re: The Twilight Series
Hehe, and since we know Edward is 10 times cooler and more beautiful than that clumsy Bella, this time around oughtta be even sweeter than the last! Do they give out verbal Caldecott's? Cuz Edward's language skillz are so pale and gorgeous, this book'll deserve one! Oh man, I'm gonna go read the whole series over again to prepare myself...
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_When God can do what he will with a man, the man may do what he will with the world. ~George MacDonald
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