I’ve been mulling over this Twilight phenomenon for the past few days. With the movie is coming out midnight tonight, the press/media/web has been awash in vampire reports. Just this morning NPR did a story on Forks Washington, the primary setting for the books. Entertainment Weekly has been on this like white on rice for the past month now, they’ve done two covers and a tone of articles. And while they didn’t give glowing reviews they’ve been full of ads and pictures that fawn over the lead characters.
We are in vampire mania…
The soundtrack/album for the movie has topped pop charts at number 1. There are girls (with their moms) by the hundreds lined up outside Hot Topic to get a signed poster from Edward. These girls (and their moms) are swooning and screaming and fainting. They are tattooed with references to the book. (And folks I mean literally, the NYTimes article mentions one girl with an apple tattoo and the word “lamb”).
And I don’t get it. I’ve read the books. They’re fun. It’s light escape reading. It’s 300 pages of wondering if Bella and Edward will ever kiss or if he’ll end up sucking her blood. But…
I’ve read better romance.
I’ve read better YA.
In general….I’ve read better.
But perhaps I just missed the wave on this one. It could be one of those things that you can sweep you up if it hits you at just the right time.
(I remember a study from one of my college classes that argued women were more aroused by porn while they were ovulating. Maybe if my hormones had been tuned right, I’d be more likely to try and go see the new movie…or at least finish the series.)
Maybe all those Harry Potter readers are growing up….
For more reading on Vampires
Jezebel
Gawker
NYTimes
Lessons in book selling
Science Fair
by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Peter and the Starcatchers by Berry and Pearson totally rocks. It’s just the kind of young adult reading I love, action adventure, humor, and a little bit of magic. It’s a wonderful adaptation of a classic that was in desperate need of retelling. And in all fairness I’m happy these Berry and Pearson have found so much success with the series. The book is now part of a 4 (5?) volume series, and the Disney machine has expanded the world they created to include early chapter books and a young reader series.
Being a fan of this dynamic duo, I was already inclined to like this book. The plot has hints of M.T. Anderson’s series Whales on Stilts (2005) and The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen (2006) – some of my favorite YA, humor/adventure/sci-fi. Plus it’s go the page turning suspense that I found familiar from the Peter Pan series.
This book is your average plucky kid who gets picked on by the rich-kids and has a couple friends (a boy and a girl) who goes on an amazing wacky adventure that involves everything from the wacky to the miraculous: a chase in an Oscar Mire Weiner Mobil, a hard-core Star Wars fan dressed as Darth Vader, threats to national security, an iphone with magical capabilities, a levitating frog, and the largest Mentos in Diet Coke experiment of all time. These guys through everything in including the kitchen skin, and it’s pure joy. The plot kept me turning the page and the humor was non-stop. This book is the reason I’ve been ignoring chores. This dishes didn’t get done until I could finish.
I can’t say it’s brilliant YA; it’s not going to open minds, but it is 400 pages of pure fun.
Here are a few preview links:
Dave Berry’s column
http://www.miamiherald.com/283/story/18921.html
Science Fair Video, book preview thing on youtube…
Watching this felt like seeing an ad for a book on tv. I felt a strange dislocation and the preprogrammed consumer in me didn’t know I was supposed to go buy a book….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3Cl7OeE3Zs
In my minimal downtime today, I managed to come across this interview with the author of Thin is the new Happy. I was stuck by how honest and forthcoming the author was.
Most of the women I know have struggled or are struggling with issues surrounding body image. They range on a sliding scale of intensity: sever eating disorders, obsessive dieting, and emotional eating. Body issues seem to be like bad habits, everybody’s got ‘em.
And this book isn’t another Oprah inspired “love your body” message. If loving your body was simple, we would have figured it out by now. Our relationships with our bodies is complicated and really strange, and Mrs. Frankel seems to explore the complexity in a honest/brave way.
I’m putting this book on my radar, and looking out for more from Valerie Frankel.
Check out the interview here.
http://jezebel.com/5074409/body-image-beauty-mags-and-the-biggest-loser-an-interview-with-valerie-frankel
