YA/Fantasy: “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer

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As a teenager, I think I would have LOVED these books. All fate and destiny and romance and ever burning passion and undying love. Isn’t that always the dream of a 17-year-old romantic. To be declaring “I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.”

As an adult, they were still very entertaining, although there are many facile aspects to them. They look big but the print is HUGE and the margins are WIDE and really you can just whip right through these on a crazy emotional rollercoaster.

Which is my way of saying, yes, I then read the follow-ups New Moon and Eclipse to round out that weekend.

Stephanie and I had a long chat about these. She’s right, there are so many things wrong with the 2nd and 3rd installments, including BAD BAD messages to send to teens and what is likely a bowing to the weight of the author’s fellow mormons’ critiques.

On the other hand, if you just give in and go with Bella’s emotions, they seem to “make sense” emotionally, if that sentence itself makes any sense. Basically: the things they do WRONG didn’t make them unreadable to me.

As a child, I was often obsessed with books that my mom just did NOT like the overall messages underneath the themes that were what pulled me in. (Elsie Dinsmore, case in point. Talk about a restrictive horrible view of religion. Not that I want anything to do with even the nonrestrictive kind but that’s another story. I also had an obsession with books about cults and books about people being “debriefed” after they had been rescued from a cult. Too funny, to me now.) But I think she got comfortable with the fact that I was able to really feel the emotional pull of something without necessarily having it change my rational mind.

However, again, Steph is right, you can’t count on a young reader necessarily being able to do that. I found these entertaining in a whirlwind romance, vampire love, perfect soulmate kind of way. But they weren’t great literature. They were an escape.

It kinda cracks me up how every “new” installment to vampire lore needs to put their own tweak on the legends. Oh no, no, it’s not that we burn up and die in the sun, it’s that when we’re in the sun, we’re just SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL. Oh, OK. Sure. 🙂

Serendipity.

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So a long long time ago I mentioned liking a song by The Changes on a Paste sampler…turns out they are opening for Athlete * tomorrow night. Yay!

p.s. I think that is the same band that a month or so after the post, a dude in the band sent me an email. I remember they were going over to England for a while to hang out and record and stuff…

*one of my favorite bands of the past few years, all thanks to Michele G for introducing me to them!

Song of the Day.

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“The Guy that Says Goodbye to You Is Out of His Mind”
Griffin House
You don’t need to change
A thing about you, Babe
I’m telling you, from where I sit,
You’re one of a kind
Relationships, I don’t know why,
They never work out and they make you cry
But the guy that says goodbye to you is out of his mind
Well I’ve been down and I need your help
I’ve been feeling sorry for myself
Don’t hesitate to boost my confidence
Well I’ve been lost and I need direction
I could use a little love protection
What do you say, Honey, come to my defense
I’d stand up for you if it’s what you need
And I can take a punch, I don’t mind the bleed
As long as afterwards you feel bad for me
You give me all of your attention
I’ve got deep desire and it needs quenching
And I think that’s pretty plain for you to see
Well enough about me and more about you
Because that’d be the gentlemanly thing to do
I hope you like your men sweet and polite
I thought I was done with telling you
But I ain’t nearly halfway through
I’ve got a few more things I’d like to say to you tonight
Get Ready
You don’t need to change
A thing about you, Babe
I’m telling you, from where I sit,
You’re one of a kind
Relationships, I don’t know why,
They never work out and they make you cry
But the guy that says goodbye to you is out of his mind
You always did kind of drive me crazy
And it pissed me off because I let it faze me
But I never wanted my time with you to end
Now I’m back in town for a day or two
But mostly I came back just to see you
I’m leaving now but I don’t want to go
You don’t need to change
A thing about you, Babe
I’m telling you, from where I sit,
You’re one of a kind
Relationships, I don’t know why,
They never work out and they make you cry
But the guy that says goodbye to you is out of his mind.

Spooky!

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Did you hear The Cinematic Orchestra singing “To Build a Home” on one of your TV shows last week? (I can’t remember which one. FNL I think. or DS$.)
I did…but I thought it was Antony & the Johnsons because holy crap does it SOUND exactly LIKE him.

What gets lost.

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A happy love is a single story, a disintegrating one is two or more competing, conflicting versions, and a disintegrated one lies at your feet like a shattered mirror, each shard reflecting a different story, that it was wonderful, that it was terrible, if only this had, if only that hadn’t. The stories don’t fit back together, and it’s the end of stories, those devices we carry like shells and shields and blinkers and occasionally maps and compasses. The people close to you become mirrors and journals in which you record your history, the instruments that help you know yourself and remember yourself, and you do the same for them. When they vanish so does the use, the appreciation, the understanding of those small anecdotes, catchphrases, jokes: they become a book slammed shut or burnt.
-Rebecca Solnit “A Field Guide to Getting Lost”

Risk Taking.

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The young live absolutely in the present, but a present of drama and recklessness, of acting on urges and running with the pack. They bring the fearlessness of children to acts with adult consequences, and when something goes wrong they experience the shame or the pain as an eternal present too. Adulthood is made up of a prudent anticipation and a philosophical memory that make you navigate more slowly and steadily. But fear of making mistakes can itself become a huge mistake, one that prevents you from living, for life is risky and anything less is already loss.
-Rebecca Solnit “A Field Guide to Getting Lost.

Quote of the Day.

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“I’ve always been a sucker for sad songs. I can listen to nothing but Slowdive records and be a pig in shit, so I naturally gravitate to writing those kinds of songs,” Bridwell says.

[click quote to go to full Harp Magazine interview; link via DJBV.]

I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the new Band of Horses “Cease to Begin” [doh]. I find the album totally entrancing and it’s one of my favorites of the year. But admittedly their songs are not super upbeat. Like their lead singer, I’m more than happy to listen to sad songs and wallow.