Book stuff.

[amadeupname]

I brought three English-language novels with me to Germany, and ever since I finished A Feast for Crows I've been dying to find some more. The other books are Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and a collection of short stories by H.P. Lovecraft, and while they're both good, neither author's writing style really lends itself to light reading. (I often have to read a section multiple times in order to fully understand it. Lovecraft's prose is a few shades purpler than I'm used to, and Hugo, much like Tolkien, is guilty of being incredibly wordy and throwing in fifty-cent words here and there. Also, the French names keep throwing me off.) I also brought two books on German culture, which - while interesting - are rather dry in places, a copy of The Little Prince in German, and a couple of my German textbooks. So I've been a little desperate the last couple days to find something that interests me and is fairly easy to pay attention to, and in that desperation I remembered that some kind denizen of LiveJournal had emailed me a typed copy of Stephanie Meyers' Twilight during fall semester.

Now, initially, I had some trepidation about reading this book. Most of the feedback I'd gotten on it was either fanatical and glowing (from people whom I know like the sparkly, Sue-ish fantasy/romance stories) or hateful and full of vitriol. I've also been told a couple things about the two main characters, which reinforces the "Mary Sue romance" I'd initially thought of. I also asked Kitty her opinion of the book, since she said she'd read it on the plane, and when I mentioned that Stephanie Meyer is a Mormon she said, "Well, that explains a few things," which didn't exactly fill me with a lot of confidence about the book.

I've read the first five chapters, and so far it seems like fairly straight-forward YA brain candy. I pretty much lived on the stuff from late elementary school to early high school, so it's familiar territory that doesn't leave too bad of a taste in my mouth as of yet. The foreshadowing is pretty clear without being TOO horribly obvious - it would be easy to tell what Edward was even if I hadn't already been told before I started reading. And while I'm not extremely fond of Bella, she hasn't yet filled me with annoyance. Then again, I'm only five chapters in - page 71 out of 334 - so there's plenty of chances for me to start hating her and Edward and every single character and plot contrivance, etc.

At the worst, it'll be pure dreck that I can delete with no regrets, and at best, a guilty pleasure. I'm fairly positive that there is no way it could ever be worse than what Laurell K Hamilton writes.

Comments

[moldypotatochip.livejournal.com]

The Little Prince is awesome <3

I really haven't heard anything about Twilight other than I have heard of it by name. I like YA books for the most part.

[stille-hoffnung.livejournal.com]

The twilight series is....well, I have the books but I'll be giving them away (if that says anything, since I tend to try and keep my books for as long as possible). I just really don't like Edward and Bella. Edward is too controlling and really pisses me off in all three books, and Bella is a fucking idiot. The only character I like remotely is Jacob Black. The series, as a whole, is just too mary-sue and sparkly teen romance for me. Woo, vampires. Woo, werewolves. If only they could be made a little cooler. Not to mention there's a big to-do about Romeo and Juliet in the second book, which is ridiculous. Romeo was a vapid character much like the male characters in Shakespeare's comedies...ad;fkalhdf[/rant]

Okay, done with that. I'm glad you've got some reading material. You can always trust the bookstores here to have at least a little English section, though must of the times it's full of popular books. The Little Prince is fantastic, let me know when you finish it ^_^

[thesaneminority.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's pretty much the reviews I've gotten that weren't from people falling all over themselves to praise Meyer.

I'm totally cool with pop fiction, as long as there's something I'm interested in - even if it IS the sparkly Mary Sue teeny-bopper romance crap.

[magiclad2007.livejournal.com]

One thing you CAN do is subscribe to the Tor e-newsletter which comes out quite often. A free e-book comes attached to the message, as well as links to nifty wallpapers.

I haven't downloaded or read any of them myself, but I thought it would be a good option.

[thesaneminority.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks for the tip!

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

"YA romance as written by a Mormon" is pretty much the most apt description for the books.

I refuse to read about sparkly vampires, myself.

[thesaneminority.livejournal.com]

I.... I got to the sparkly-ness last night. It's, uh... It's pretty special. Also, Edward is a freaking stalker and Bella is too stupid to realize it.

I don't know if I can finish this book, mostly because it's really freaking boring. I should not be bored reading about vampires, damnit!