well, i went today to see the second movie of the twilight sage- new moon. new moon was my least favorite book of the four. i fell into the whole twilight thing by chance. i was at barnes & noble one afternoon ordering a coffee & they had twilight displayed on the counter. i picked it up & read it (because i couldn't just stand in line & wait without a distraction- i wonder sometimes where that ability went). the twenty-something girl behind the counter asked if i had read it- she said it was pretty good. the third book of the series was being released soon & they were having a release party. apparently i had missed some sort of cultural event here. she told me the book was very popular with the young adult crowd. i decided to give it a read. i finished it in less than a day & was back to get the second book, which sadly was not yet released in paperback. it would be released in a couple months. i could not wait. then it was the third book. all finished within two weeks. all i had to do was wait for the fourth & final book- i can't remember how long the wait was. i remember going in to buy form my local bookseller- i jokingly asked him to put it in a brown paper bag. it was such a guilty pleasure. many of my clients are young women under thirty- they were all seriously into the series.
for those that are uninitiated, the series follows the highly dramatic & romantic relationship of a vampire & bella swan, a mere mortal. to further complicate the drama, a long-time friend of bella's has been in love with her & it turns out he is a werewolf, the arch enemy of vampires. it's all very passionate & overdone & i loved every minute of reading it. although i did skim a lot. i always say my junk reads are like junk food- they are great going down, although when you're done, you can't remember what you ate & you're still hungry. there have been many breathless news reports following the romance of the two screen stars, in addition to the whole twilight hoopla. & there were a good number of middle-aged women at the movie this afternoon- this phenomenon is not limited to younger women. many of my friends have whipped through the series. interestingly, the only ones who haven't are the ones who have said "i don't like stories about vampires." so not only have us oldsters infiltrated & contaminated facebook, now we've jumped on the twilight train. is nothing sacred? & i do so hate being part of a stereotypical trend- it's kind of embarrassing - i always like to imagine myself as being more original than that.
i must confess that the series does bring back for me the agony & the ecstasy of young love. it was so.... intense. actually, at that time, everything was intense, now that i think about it. although torturous at times (actually, quite a bit for me)- when it wasn't.... it was great! things were so immediate & rationality had no place in my world as a adolescent/young adult. i do miss those times a bit.
one of the things i loved about the twilight series was the creation of a whole world with its own rules & paradigms. how wonderful it would be to be able to create something like that! i loved t he harry potter series & was so sad when it ended. this year was the first july in 6 years that the new book didn't arrive for me to savor. i would so look forward to it. i always pre-ordered (after the first one) so that the arrival would be automatic. i missed my friends annual visit this year. i totally lost myself in the series & just loved the books. i've been reminded of them this weekend b/c they movies have been on all weekend this weekend. i'm captivated by the wizarding world & all the nuances in it. what a wonderful mind to weave for us such a tale.
as a youngster, i liked the narnia series. i was never much of a fellowship of the ring girl- i liked the hobbit- had difficulty beyond the first book. i did enjoy the movies though. other than that, i'm not at all science fiction or fantasy oriented as far as genres go. those series have always intrigued me because, although an avid reader, i've never really liked fantasy or science fiction.
& so now, here i find myself eagerly awaiting the third movie (release date june 2010). no matter what the age or what the form, it's hard to refuse romance.
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