Most of the time, when something is a huge trend, I buck the system because that's just who I am. When I think of trends I think of clothing: leg warmers, name-plate necklaces, waterfall bangs, and "The Devil Wears Prada". But in this case I'm not talking about clothing...I'm talking vampires.
When Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series started flying off the shelves of bookstores everywhere, the library too, I decided to sit back and see what all the fuss was about. Mind you, I didn't dare purchase or even borrow a single book from the series, I didn't even hit the movie theater to see the series' first installment, "Twilight". I figured it was a bunch of hype, plus, I'd only seen kids reading the jumbo, Bible-sized books. Which, in and of itself, was a big turn off for me. Five hundred pages? About VAMPIRES? Yeah, not so much.
So once the "Twilight" movie hit the Red Box, Babe picked it up for us to watch and we hoped it was a tasty little treat. He was not impressed. I thought if I could get more bang from the 'Edward-Bella' love story I would enjoy the story more. Why did I go and say this very thing to my favorite neighbor?
"Yeah, I thought there was a lot to the teenage romance, but the movie didn't give me enough of that...do the books get into it more?" I asked.
From that moment I started looking for book one. Who hasn't experienced teenage love? I won't even put quotation marks around love because teenage love is so real to the teenager feeling it that it's cruel to apply adulthood cynicism to it. Teenage love is so pure and innocent that it's typically the time in life we learn to guard our hearts from such pain in subsequent relationships.
I looked for it at the library - the most wonderful place on Earth to get a book or other reading materials - but there were at least 200 holds placed on 7 books. So I checked the store, but I don't like buying books unless I know it'll be good - worthy of its place on my bookshelf. Finally, I moaned about wanting to read it on Facebook (ah Facebook) and had a few offers to borrow from friends.
Well, the weather got bad and I couldn't seem to hook up with my friend who wanted to loan it to me and I surely wasn't going to ask my newfound neighbor friend. I waited, hoping to meet and get this book but it didn't happen. So when my neighbor offered to loan it to me I was thrilled!
I must say "Twilight" the movie followed the book so closely that it was hard for me to really get into it. But there was enough romance and anticipation that I finished it and was off to book 2. Now this is when I really got hooked on "Twilight". I didn't care that they were vampires and humans and even werewolves, the author's ability to take you into a world mixed with reality and fantasy had such a draw that I couldn't stop reading these Bible-sized (and growing) books!! Needless to say, my kids are acutely aware of "Twilight" when they see the books or the characters! I was in pretty deep.
In two-months' time I had completed the entire series. I know that's an eternity to others who have read it in two weeks, but I tried to keep my reading time as my reward for getting housework done and I didn't want it to keep me from spending time with the kids. It was tough. The books would sit and call to me, but I knew once I was reading there was no putting it down.
So here I am, 30 years old, and a lover of all-things "Twilight". It truly is second to none with regards to the vampire world. I must say I love "True Blood" on HBO and should have read that series before watching the show, but I hear the Charlaine Harris series (which did come out before "Twilight"!) is a grown-up "Twilight".
For now, I'll enjoy the innocence of teenage love and anticipate reading the entire series again before year's end.
1 comment:
Oh, Twilight, can't wait to get back to it, but sookie did a good job getting me out of my Twilight box and on to other things. Thanks for bringing her to me. And I'm glad that I sucked you into Twilight with me. It's no fun to be a Twilight nerd by yourself!
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