posted by
nekare at 10:33am on 07/08/2007 under book rec, recs, s.meyer's worlds of sparkle and dazzle, the libertines, twilight
So Pete Doherty is a brunette again and THANK GOODNESS because the blond was SCARY, YO. Like, really. I don't know what he was thinking. That with the thankfully normal-again hair and the disappeareance of the bint that was always hanging from his arm (i.e. Kate Moss, attention whore extraordinaire), he can now go and win Carlos back. If, you know, Carl would get away from his new wife. (I kid, I kid, Annalisa looks awfully sweet and Carl's finally smiling again, so.)
Anyway, I'm halfway done with Twilight. I do have to say, the book's catchy, at least, even if not very good. Thing is, I signed up for vampire books (yay, vampires!) and so far (I'm in chapter 12) it's been all 'blah blah blah Bella is emo blah blah she goes shopping with her friends!!1! blah blah oh, yeah, and Edward's a vampire blah blah'. Er. I've left 'high school' books behind me, and I really don't want to read about poor Bella's Biology class and how much she pwns at, er, everything.
Don't get me wrong, it is somewhat of an interesting read, or I would've given up on it a long way ago. But still, it reads far too much like a cheap romance novel, with just a spice of the supernatural to keep it interesting; check the facts: Bella is so tragically sacrificing herself because she's so ALTRUISTIC and yet she's EMO and she thinks of herself as kinda worthless and the likes BUT it's not true! Her radiant beauty has actually dazzled every single male she's come across AND the tall, dark and mysteriousgreek sex god popular kid has fallen for her out of the blue! OH BOY, WHERE HAVE I SEEN THIS BEFORE? [/sarcasm]
Bella is annoying. God knows why the author decided to make her narrator, and worse, in first person. While I have a mad love for second person, first person annoys me a lot in big books, the exception being The Time Traveler's Wife because that one's MADE OF AWESOME AND CAN DO NO WRONG IN MY MIND. *cough* Okay, back to the subject in hand: The fact that Bella's so damn clumsy (and I can smell something hidden in there because, you know, it's kinda obvious) is what I like best about her. Er.
Edward's better, but I kinda laugh everytime there's a mention of his 'well-formed rippling muscles underneath his tight sweater' because, OMG, WTF, LOL. XDDD
ANYWAY, the real reason I wanted to read these books? (apart from fiding out who the fuck Edward was and why everyone was swooning about him) THE COVERS. The covers are wonderfully designed and constructed, and they give off an air of mystery and darkness about them (as well as temptation, that with the apple and stuff). The colors invoke vampires so well, and the typography is edgy and interesting. I have mad LOVE for the covers. BUT, the cover sells a dark story of cross-stared love in an evocative and heady dark atmosphere and the book is rather, rather different. AND THAT, KIDS, IS WHY I LOVE GRAPHIC DESIGN SO MUCH. It plays with one's mind and makes one make assumptions and then, well, it's kinda late to turn the book back, isn't it? It's the covers that have sold the book, no one would've bought it otherwise and okay, people started liking the writing later, but it's that first look that catches your eye what really makes the book.
*This rant was brought to you by the obligatory, 'hi, I wanna be in Editorial Design when I grow up' front.
Anyway, I'm halfway done with Twilight. I do have to say, the book's catchy, at least, even if not very good. Thing is, I signed up for vampire books (yay, vampires!) and so far (I'm in chapter 12) it's been all 'blah blah blah Bella is emo blah blah she goes shopping with her friends!!1! blah blah oh, yeah, and Edward's a vampire blah blah'. Er. I've left 'high school' books behind me, and I really don't want to read about poor Bella's Biology class and how much she pwns at, er, everything.
Don't get me wrong, it is somewhat of an interesting read, or I would've given up on it a long way ago. But still, it reads far too much like a cheap romance novel, with just a spice of the supernatural to keep it interesting; check the facts: Bella is so tragically sacrificing herself because she's so ALTRUISTIC and yet she's EMO and she thinks of herself as kinda worthless and the likes BUT it's not true! Her radiant beauty has actually dazzled every single male she's come across AND the tall, dark and mysterious
Bella is annoying. God knows why the author decided to make her narrator, and worse, in first person. While I have a mad love for second person, first person annoys me a lot in big books, the exception being The Time Traveler's Wife because that one's MADE OF AWESOME AND CAN DO NO WRONG IN MY MIND. *cough* Okay, back to the subject in hand: The fact that Bella's so damn clumsy (and I can smell something hidden in there because, you know, it's kinda obvious) is what I like best about her. Er.
Edward's better, but I kinda laugh everytime there's a mention of his 'well-formed rippling muscles underneath his tight sweater' because, OMG, WTF, LOL. XDDD
ANYWAY, the real reason I wanted to read these books? (apart from fiding out who the fuck Edward was and why everyone was swooning about him) THE COVERS. The covers are wonderfully designed and constructed, and they give off an air of mystery and darkness about them (as well as temptation, that with the apple and stuff). The colors invoke vampires so well, and the typography is edgy and interesting. I have mad LOVE for the covers. BUT, the cover sells a dark story of cross-stared love in an evocative and heady dark atmosphere and the book is rather, rather different. AND THAT, KIDS, IS WHY I LOVE GRAPHIC DESIGN SO MUCH. It plays with one's mind and makes one make assumptions and then, well, it's kinda late to turn the book back, isn't it? It's the covers that have sold the book, no one would've bought it otherwise and okay, people started liking the writing later, but it's that first look that catches your eye what really makes the book.
*This rant was brought to you by the obligatory, 'hi, I wanna be in Editorial Design when I grow up' front.
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it reads far too much like a cheap romance novel
WORD.
Bella is annoying
DOUBLE WORD.
My problem with it, apart from the cheesy/corny/cliche of the book, is what's been chosen to be IN the book. There are PAGES and pages of action that leads to nowhere. Yes, Bella makes dinner for her dad. Do we really need to know the process of her cooking? When she's leaving with whomever, she says she has to go pick up something or whatnut, why can we not skip the picking-up-of-the-thing and GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT?!
You know? There's too much CRAP in it, too much blababla.
I agree with you about the premise being interesting, the book being catchy. I read it in like a day, although I skipped those balblabla paragraphs. I DO like the last say 100 pages. If the whole book could've been like the last 100 pages, wow, this book would be AWESOME. But it's not.
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OMG I KNOW. I honestly don't care about her 'drying her clean hair till it was impeccably straight' (copo/pasted). I really, really don't. Then again, I like to read for the escapism factor.
Oh, so something does happen in the end? That's good to know, I was worried it'll go on describing Bella's homework endlessly. *headdesk* (and what kind of nickname is Bella? Maybe I'm to used to call Isabeles 'Isa', but I'd still mock the hell out of someone called like that in real life. o_O)
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Exactly. TOO MUCH CRAP. And then the Cullens get two pages, pfftt. They're the most interesting characters in the entire book!
Yeah. If I remember correctly, it does. Unless I'm confusing it with New Moon, which is possible because I skipped a lot with that one too. Ha.
It's the Spanish is us! Isabel is Isa or, in Chile, Chabela. Bella is for the anglos. I suppose. I hate it when they make the character clumsy to make it adorable. DOES NOT WORK. Not for me, anyway.
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roflz.
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Bella=beautiful o'course PFFTT.
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DUH SOOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL.
i mean, i like to picture her as the girl from the series of unforunate events books, because thats what SM said, and really, i think that girl is kinda pretty.
but bella still is a moron.
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I think the girl from ASOUE is too pretty, haha, and full of life? I don't know. I know SM liked Ellen Page too, and I love Ellen Page so I picture her. Which is weird, because I hate Bella but I love Ellen. Ha.
Haha. She is.
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BECAUSE I LIKE BLACK HAIR.
ellen page is cute too. i think i that other gal's sort of funny face. something about it to me is funny.
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And I totally agree about the clumsy thing. It's like she just added that in so the character wouldn't be totally MarySue, but it honestly doesn't work.
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I'm glad you agree! I thought I was being mean for not liking her clumsiness. This is the second clumsy character I don't like, so.
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funny thing, POV. thats why i take it into account so much.
now, why i read the book? the covers, of course! i was working at the school and i stepped into the library with some of my students and i saw it on their rack for READING COUNTS! (it's the school's i work at way to get kids to read more, they have certain books that gain them a certain amount of "points" they need a certain amount of "points" to pass the marking period, but they also have special parties and gifts for those who go over 100 and such. and YES. this book was on THE MIDDLE SCHOOL READING LIST.
GAHHH)
it seemed more or less interesting so i went out and bought it. trust me, i was pretty skeptical, i was like "hrn nytimes bestseller? hrmm..." but all in all, it was great to HAVE SOMETHING TO TALK TO MY STUDENTS ABOUT. since they all loved it so much. i think what we really have to reemmber is that it's written for that audience.
and why i swoon over edward?
i like the way he talks.
i'm not about bronze muscled guys at all.
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Wait, so you're saying that this book was written for adolescents? I didn't know that.
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so yeah, it's written for adolencents. which i think makes everything make more sense if you read it with that in mind. i feel those notsowell written pieces and boring blather about her life really hit home with the kids, so they can feel like they exemplify more with bella, that she's more like them then someone like edward's family (who don't eat, etc.) are. it really puts the diving line between them. (plus, since it's her first set of books, she prolly just fails at literally moving the characters around the stage. i find she gets a bit better at it in new moon. i'm hoping she really has a handle on it in eclipse. i'll see in 2 hours when i get over to work and buy it)
i LOVE edward's family. i want some really great stories written on them,
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I know. I love the Cullens a lot. They're so interesting. I was really into it when I read about Alice and her partner. It was really cool.
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preferably really dirty. uhh.
haha yeah. i always feel i'm really lowering my intellegence when i read teen and under books anyway. i mean, i just read artemis fowl, and while it was hilariously fun i'm like "wow now how can i write an epicly gay cyberpunk romp if i'm spending all my time reading this"
thats why i figure anything in the twilight-vein is strictly timeconsuming, fun reading. for the fluff, luls and cheap romance.
becuase if i was writing twilight, edward would be kinda slutty and sleeping with jasper or something. ahaha.
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The coooovers. They make me wish the inside were worthy of their magnificence.
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You don't get that with the blank, smooth covers of most German editions.
Second: German edition of MacBest had the same cover as Mort (which I still find funny, though.) And seriously, the Bachman books? Who the *frak* thought of these covers?
(Note: No, several German covers are better. I simply can't remember which. Yes, I am German.)
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It's just when I'm in my parents bookshop I look at the German books and some are so pretty and then I look at the English ones and most of the are dull. Also the material is worse. The paper is thin and just not as good.
dont know the Bachman books.
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Oh yes. That's something where I like the idea of Buchpreisbindung (books in Germany have fixed prices) - you get something out of it.
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And now I'm kind of frustrated by these books. I can't stand the fandom. But I love Meyer's vampires.
Word to what
Also, lol, Bella. Her name has always made me feel weird because we had a dog named Bella when I was a child, and the cat of my sister's best friend was called Bella too. Isa is much prettier, imo.
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For some characters (Private eyes, people on a journey to find themselves) I think 1st person is extremely adequate.
2nd person, while *can* be cool, is certainly the most difficult of the three.
(By the way, let me point you towards Bungle in the Jungle on FF.net. You'd have to live with manipulative!Dumbledore, bitch!Hermione and bitch!Ginny and overpower-learning-to-the-max, but it's still one of the best independent!Harry fics where he doesn't go dark, and, well, it's 2nd person. Like, entirely.)