This is a repost inspired by a recent viewing of yet another New Moon Trailer, which included a teenage boy ripping off his shirt and much screaming from the females in the crowd.
Originally posted Oct 9, 2008
Books are great. I've even been known to read one or two over the years. Even a few without pictures that required the use of an actual bookmark. I don't really keep track of what books are popular aside from I guess Harry Potter and the 976 versions of the Bible that seem to always be for sale at the Sam's Club. It is however, tough to escape the popularity of the "Twilight" series by J.K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyer, . . . it's one of those two. Not that long ago I got my first introduction to the series which is INCREDIBLY popular among women of all ages.
I literally thought my wife was playing an amazingly creative joke on me. She described a tale about a 17-year-old-girl named Bella who moves to Forks, (yes, I said forks) Washington and falls for a boy named Eddie or something who just happens to be a . . . (wait for it) . . .CANADIAN . . .!! Actually he and his family are 
real-life, fictional, VAMPIRES. But not to worry because, as wikipedia points out, this is not that big of a deal because his family has shunned drinking human blood and sticks with meals of animal blood instead.
So my wife, along with 86.7% of other literate females, is suddenly a HUGE fans of vampire books. There are four of them (the books, not the females), but you can ask the lady of your choice for the rest of the plot. And there's another one called The Host that's about aliens possessing people's bodies and taking over the world. (I'm not making that up) Suddenly my wife is into vampires and sci-fi novels?!!!
All that I know is that once the Mrs. HTF picks up one of these books she ceases to, you know, exist in this world. She tunes the rest of us out completely. Here's proof. Also, unless you're living under a rock and/or you're a guy, you'll know that there's also some movies based on the books coming out that will be like an estrogen convention I'm guessing. (not that there's anything wrong with that)
I was recently given an even better reason to be a Stephanie Meyer fan - two females, (my wife and alert-blog-reader, JJ) pointed out - at the end of Mrs. Meyer's last best-selling novel, the Mormon, BYU grad pointed out that she was inspired in her writing by my brother's rock band, Spoon. (if you're paying attention, that's the second utensil reference in this post, and I wasn't even trying!) So maybe, just maybe, I should put down my books about politics, current events, or business management and join the ladies in reading about blood-sucking, alien, body-snatchers who woo teenage girls in logging country.
Or maybe I'll just wait for the movie.
4 comments:
My mother-in-law and sister-in-laws all LOVE these books and LOVED the movie. I didn't read the books. Didn't have much of an interest despite the hype. But I ended up watching the movie since my younger teenage sister was visiting. It was torture. And I'm a woman! When I gave my opinion about the books and the movie to my in-laws they felt like I'd betrayed my gender! Seriously. I really don't get the excitement behind these books/movies. Oh-well. I guess I enjoy real writing. Ooops... did I say that out loud?
I love the books and don't get me wrong enjoyed the movie. But...shall I say they haven't capatured my attention and kept it so much like Harry Potter. No one could really capature that imagination into one. But I did enjoy the twlight books.
I am going to be there opening night along with hundreds of screaming teenage girls I am sure :)
Okay, I admit, the teenage girl in me LOVED the first three books. Only when I heard LDS women explaining how the books could be a bad influence on sweet young readers did I realize the moralistic value and doctrinal (yes, I did say doctrinal) underpinnings of the books. For example, Meyer's use of the vampire motif in the first book allows a reader (especially a teen-aged one) to consider abstinence as a real option, with Edward's strong desire to suck her blood as euphemism for sexual desire (yes, I did say sexual, in the same comment as the word "doctrinal," nonetheless). In the last book, which seems to be everyone's least favorite, I really appreciated Meyer's creativity in explaining the process of realizing newly acquired vampire powers and couldn't help but think of the doctrinal ideas of spiritual gifts as much larger powers in embryo and of what life might be like with a resurrected and empowered body. Besides, reading the books and getting to know the characters of Edward and Jacob was worth the laughing I did reading their interchange in the tent scene of the 3rd book, Eclipse.
Okay, why am I suddenly commented like crazy on your posts? Is it because you just commented on mine, or is it because I'm avoiding scrubbing my toilets?
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