Twilight (SPOILERS) v Harry Potter WAS: Re: Torrents

[cubfanbudwoman]

SSSusan:
> > FWIW, I do think the movie did a decent job of showing Edward 
> > struggling against his blood lust when Bella was attacked by 
> > James.
 
Kemper now:
> I have not read the books, but the wife is hoping I start so we can
> talk about it.  Gotta love a fangirl!
> She told me of a scene where Bella gets a paper cut at the vampire
> house and everybody goes ape dooky.

SSSusan:
"Ape dooky"?  I knew there was a reason I love you, Kemper! ;)


Kemper:
> I asked why the vampires didn't lose it at a high school where 
> there would be more than a few girls menstruating in every class.  

SSSusan:
YES!!  I asked the same thing of my daughter & a couple of my friends 
who've read the books.  Now, we know JKR has trouble with her maths 
and has had an occasional inconsistency problem <w> across her seven-
book series, but this is a great example of something that's so 
freaking obvious but isn't addressed in the books by Meyer.  

And yet...

Kemper:
> She said "yeah... it's not well thought out, but it's fun!"   

SSSusan:
This is just it.  For some, the series it TORTURE -- they hate the 
obsessive love, they see real unhealthiness in the Bella-Edward 
relationship -- but for others, it's pure escapism and can really tap 
into that "Ah, romance!!" side of us.  Parts of it are damn good 
adventure, too.


Kemper:
> Vampires are my first love in unreal fiction, and I fear to read a 
> watered down version.  The wife said I should start with the first 
> 200+ pages of Midnight Sun which is from Edward's perspective.  (

SSSusan:
I've gone to the site to see her remarks about this, but I have only 
read the first couple of pages of it.  I have to wonder about reading 
that first, given that SM herself has reservations about its 
unpolished state.  Still, if the wife said you should start there, 
she oughta know.


Kemper:
> My wife likes the Twilight series because she liked the horrible
> girl-books growing up.  An example of one is twin girls in high
> school.  One good, one bad.  The bad one sneaks out in the middle of
> the night to meet and make out with the bad guy.  And the guy tries 
> to go for a little under the shirt action, and the bad-but-
> apparently-not-naughty twin runs back home crying that he would do 
> such a thing. wtf.  What kind of message that send?!?  The wife 
> knows they sucked now, but she liked them growing up.  

SSSusan:
See, this is the most legitimate criticism I've heard of the Twilight 
books -- that whole "WTF?!? What kind of message are they sending?" 
thing.  I guess, just be forewarned if you do read them, that this 
may bug the crap out of you.

Siriusly Snapey Susan