nekare: (The Libertines)
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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 mysterious greek 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.
Music:: The Libertines - Last Post on the Bugle
There are 32 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 
posted by [identity profile] mellafe.livejournal.com at 04:13pm on 07/08/2007
I said I wouldn't comment but I lied.

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.
 
posted by [identity profile] nekare.livejournal.com at 04:22pm on 07/08/2007
Haha, that's just fine, I like having someone else to bitch with XD

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)
 
posted by [identity profile] mellafe.livejournal.com at 04:28pm on 07/08/2007
:D Me too. Haha. I don't get to bitch about stuff so this is fun. :p

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.
 
posted by [identity profile] tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com at 04:42pm on 07/08/2007
bella's italian! obv it means beautiful. duuuh. cuz she's ~sooooo~ beautiful.

roflz.
 
posted by [identity profile] mellafe.livejournal.com at 04:43pm on 07/08/2007
She's italian? I didn't remember that! Hahah.

Bella=beautiful o'course PFFTT.
 
posted by [identity profile] tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com at 04:47pm on 07/08/2007
ahah i dunno if she's italian or not, but i DID take italian in high school, obv i learned a lot. hahah. but i also figured since there was a lot of italian influence in the story (volterra, the whole going to italy in new moon, etc.) that would prolly be where it came from.

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.
 
posted by [identity profile] mellafe.livejournal.com at 04:57pm on 07/08/2007
Oh, they go to Italy in NM! I forgot which one was that bit, because that bit was BRILLIANT. It's the one thing I remember about these books that made me go OMGYES.

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.
 
posted by [identity profile] tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com at 05:00pm on 07/08/2007
i also don't care about any of the decriptions. edward has black hair in my head.

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.
 
posted by [identity profile] skies-of-honey.livejournal.com at 12:45am on 08/08/2007
I'm American and I've never heard anyone shorten Isabel to Bella, usually it's Izzie. I always thought the author chose that nickname because it's more 'glamorous'{not that the character herself is all that glamorous, but whatev} and alludes to her supposed beauty. Just a theory.

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.
 
posted by [identity profile] mellafe.livejournal.com at 12:57am on 08/08/2007
I forgot about Izzie! I have heard Bella, but mostly in movies, I suppose. I do agree with you on why she must've chosen the nickname.

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.
 
posted by [identity profile] skies-of-honey.livejournal.com at 10:20pm on 08/08/2007
Who is the other clumsy character that you don't like?
 
posted by [identity profile] mellafe.livejournal.com at 10:26pm on 08/08/2007
Tonks.
 
posted by [identity profile] skies-of-honey.livejournal.com at 10:28pm on 08/08/2007
Lol, I figured it was her:P Yeah she was kind of annoying.
 
posted by [identity profile] mellafe.livejournal.com at 10:33pm on 08/08/2007
I hate her with the passion of the burning suns. As in HATE. HAAAAAAAAAAAATE. hate.
 
posted by [identity profile] nekare.livejournal.com at 02:11am on 08/08/2007
ARGH, you mean the clumsy thing isn't important to the plot? I thought it was like, something FREAAAAAKY about it and it had something to do with Edward falling like that for her, and that was why it did't bother me. So it's just a pointless thing then, huh? ARGH. Well now she sounds more and more like fail, boo.
 
posted by [identity profile] skies-of-honey.livejournal.com at 10:24pm on 08/08/2007
Yeah it's basically to make her look more human, I think. Now that you mentioned that though, I remember that I thought there was suppose to be something important about it too, just because the author kept bringing it up. But no.
 
posted by [identity profile] nekare.livejournal.com at 12:36am on 09/08/2007
Argh, she rather overdid it, then, because it just makes her look a bit stupid. *shakes head*
 
posted by [identity profile] mellafe.livejournal.com at 10:28pm on 08/08/2007
I bet it's there so she clumsily falls into his arms. Ha.
 
posted by [identity profile] nekare.livejournal.com at 12:35am on 09/08/2007
*headdesk* That sucks so. much. It's all so gratuitous, like the rest of the plot, actually.
 
posted by [identity profile] tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com at 04:40pm on 07/08/2007
i think bella is failsauce. i'm all about edward, because he seems so interesting. i read that one chapter where SM wrote twilight from edward's pov AND IT WAS SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING.

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.
 
posted by [identity profile] mellafe.livejournal.com at 04:46pm on 07/08/2007
I like Edward a lot, and I like his family. I loved reading those bits.

Wait, so you're saying that this book was written for adolescents? I didn't know that.
 
posted by [identity profile] tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com at 04:51pm on 07/08/2007
dude yeah, it's even sold in the teen section of the book store. (i work in a bookstore, i'm such a nerd. we have it on display in the TEEN OCTAGON TABLE). if you scan her website, it talks about how she was hestiant to write it for a teen audience and didn't expect it to come out that way, but that it worked out for the best for her, so she's sticking with it. so it's def for that 13-17 age range (if by 17 you're still reading teen books. which, i know i wasn't). and it's on the booklist for my school which is 6th through 8th grade.

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,
 
posted by [identity profile] mellafe.livejournal.com at 05:00pm on 07/08/2007
Ohhhh. I didn't know that at all. Wow. On one hand, I understand why it's written the way it is now. On the other hand, it makes me go 'why are you reccing badly written stuff to kids?! Make them read better stuff!' Haha. I'm so torn.

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.
 
posted by [identity profile] tokyoghoststory.livejournal.com at 05:04pm on 07/08/2007
yeah from the sounds of it, it seems like jasper's going to be doing some conversating in eclipse? honestly thats something i'm looking foward to. (there was a bit where he was talking in the quotes of the day). now HE'S facinating. his power is awesome. etc. i wanna read a book about him.

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.
 
posted by [identity profile] nekare.livejournal.com at 12:54am on 11/08/2007
Uuuugh, I can just imagine middle schoolers gushing at how incredibly romantic it all is. Ew. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm jaded and that I was reading books far too mature for my age when I was in middle school but still...

The coooovers. They make me wish the inside were worthy of their magnificence.
 
posted by [identity profile] i-hate-music.livejournal.com at 06:28pm on 07/08/2007
I love covers. German book covers are alot better than British ones but American ones can rock, too.
 
posted by [identity profile] swedish15.livejournal.com at 07:55pm on 07/08/2007
Veto. Most. Sincerely. Veto. a) Do I like the reliefs on several British paperbacks; the feel is something cool for me, the ability to in a way fondle and trace the symbols and motifs while reading the story about them, getting a haptisches feedback to the things my mind's eye imagines.
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.)
 
posted by [identity profile] i-hate-music.livejournal.com at 08:33pm on 07/08/2007
I know what you mean about the feeling of it but I meant the look.
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.
 
posted by [identity profile] swedish15.livejournal.com at 08:43pm on 07/08/2007
Regarding paper: Oh, yes, I know what you mean.
Oh yes. That's something where I like the idea of Buchpreisbindung (books in Germany have fixed prices) - you get something out of it.
 
posted by [identity profile] pourtant.livejournal.com at 06:50pm on 07/08/2007
I don't know what happened. When I read Twilight I absolutely loved it, and then I read New Moon immediately after that and I liked it less, I felt like skipping some things, but still. I had enormous love for the series.
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 [livejournal.com profile] mellafe said up there about the unnecessary crap. I read the first chapter of Eclipse and that flaw was still there. I got annoyed and I stopped reading.

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.
ext_2631: (bad fic 101 || mrmonkeybottoms)
posted by [identity profile] sasha-davidovna.livejournal.com at 07:12pm on 07/08/2007
I totally got it for the covers too. False advertising. ~grumbles~
 
posted by [identity profile] swedish15.livejournal.com at 07:50pm on 07/08/2007
Hm. 1st person? May I point you towards Simon R. Greene's Nightside books? Because, yes, later on our protagonist becomes a Gary Stu, and yes, they're pulp, but they're entertaining, and Taylor's snark is good.

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.)

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