My favorite Twilight Book from a Mom’s point of view June 14, 2009
Posted by irisia in books, mom.Tags: bella, breaking dawn, Cullens, edward, Edward Cullen, inlaws, jacob annoys me, moms reading twilight, skimming over the Jacob parts, Stephenie Meyer, twilight books that moms like, twilight new moon, twilight series, twilight supportive inlaw family
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I don’t know if me and my friends are typical of the mom generation getting to the Twilight series later than the teenagers. Perhaps the parents who had teens reading the books as they came out, read the books also at that time to make sure they were suitable. But now, all my friends are reading the books and of course loving them as much as the kids did. The love story is so timeless and so beautiful. It’s just very pure love. Edward’s family is so supportive which is another thing that really appeals to me as a married person. Howard’s family is great but I’m sure like most inlaws, I still stand on the other line of the “blood” fence. Everyone else in my home is a blood relative to his side of the family except for me. And some times, at the important times, this is painfully evident. It hurts. So in the Twilight series, the Cullens accept Bella into their family completely. There is only one reluctant family member but she is a sibling and not the parents. Their love for her is truly unconditional. They do everything for her that they would do for a real daughter. They move away, move back, risk their lives, change their lives, and more just for Bella.
So when I started reading the books, my friend who got me into the series went on and on and on about Eclipse saying it was her favorite. She was the one who encouraged me to keep reading New Moon even though Edward wasn’t in it most of the book. But Breaking Dawn is by miles my favorite book of the series. Perhaps it’s because they are married. Yea, I guess that’s what I like. Even though they are newlyweds, their love is so pure that it’s inspiring. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book a second time but I’m most of the way through reading this book again and it’s the longest one. Another thing I like is that often these stories get boring as the main characters get together or get married. Granted they are within the first couple months of marriage in this book. But, Stephenie Meyer starts to develop the other characters so well that the story just keeps getting better as we experience the love story not only between Bella and Edward but between Bella and her new Cullen family. This family relationship continues to grow in depth.
I do have to admit that the first time I read the book, I barely skimmed through the Jacob parts earlier in the book. Like, it was really interesting that Renesmee’s birth was from Jacob’s POV. But, I skimmed over everything werewolf. On the re-read, I read all the Jacob parts and they were good. I just couldn’t read them without already knowing the love story. They’re a good afterthought but during the process, they’re annoying. Perhaps when I watch the movie, they will make the Jacob character seem more lovable. I knew the author has to have a little yin and yang but nobody could come up against Edward and be a believable yang. But, this is another good part of Breaking Dawn. Because of the way the relationship dynamics change, Jacob is finally more part of the yin and his character inserted into the story is much less annoying.
I Finally read Twilight. Loved it! Here’s what I love. April 18, 2009
Posted by irisia in books, mom.Tags: amazon prime, amazon prime membership, amazon.com, books free shipping, Mom reads twilight, moms read twilight, stephanie meyer, twilight book, twilight for parents too, vampire books
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When my early 40-something friend came over ranting and raving about Twilight, I thought maybe there was something to it. I had heard so much about it but I’m just not into the whole goth, vampire thing. It seems like the whole vampire thing is so big right now. So I bought the book on amazon.com. I LOVE Amazon. They’re so good to me. I buy this free 2-day shipping program called their Prime Membership for $79.00 each year. Then, I get free 2-day shipping all year long. So, I guess I need to place 10 orders or so before it starts paying for itself. But, it was a master-minded marketing ploy because I shop there all the time knowing I have the free 2-day shipping. I was able to snatch up the Twilight paperback for only $6.99. I read it in a weekend. it’s 500 pages and I couldn’t get enough!!
My friend said that this is a book that both mothers and daughters could read. I thought, pshaw, there’s no way that it would equally appeal to mothers and daughters and still be appropriate for daughters. Not that it takes filth to appeal to mothers, but a little smut never hurts:). Indeed it is.
So here is what’s so wonderful.
1) It’s an old fashioned love story.
He has to quell his animal instincts in order to be with her. She has to love him for who he really is to be with him. Isn’t that the classic story of teen love? Nowadays, that’s not the classic story. Our girls are growing up too quickly. It all becomes about what base they’ve gotten to or how far they will go. In the entire 500-page first book, the characters never do more than touch lips with each other. They hold hands, touch each others hands and such and the writing transforms those experiences into the most wonderful experiences. Go Stephanie Meyer. I bought book 3 along with book 2 because I didn’t want to be out of Twilight series books for long!!
2) There’s no drama!!!!
He doesn’t play games. She doesn’t play games. No drama. Period. I can’t really remember relationships without drama. Maybe it’s just that the buzz word drama that’s used so often now makes it seem like the level of drama is ever escalating. But, it does certainly feel that way. Stephanie Meyer stayed away from this.
3) It’s clean.
I said it in point 1 and I’ll say it again but the romance is all emotional. It’s not a physical romance at all. Their love appears and feels greater than any other teen love affair – and the two main characters barely even kiss. How wonderful is that?
I had not watched the movie before reading the book. We’re watching American Idol now and all I could picture with the main characters was Allison Iraheta and Adam Lambert. I watched the movie yesterday and the characters couldn’t look any more different from Allison and Adam but Allison and Adam could make a great Bella and Edward.
I think Jack & I came up with a great theme for Briar Rose by Jane Yolen April 3, 2009
Posted by irisia in books, jack.Tags: briar rose, briar rose theme, dreaded lecture, I am my father, i am my mother, I thought I would never say that to my kids, jane yolen study guide, parent lecture, parent talk, what my parents said
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I guess I can see why Howard says my lectures to the kids are torturous because when I was young, I would give anything not to get the torturous lecture from my father. What was even worse when when the dreaded lecture started leading him to these vast sweeping conclusions that I had been “bad” or “swayed perilously off the path” or worse yet, “disappointed him so many times recently that he was losing faith in my integrity”. So here I come again. From saying “I will never use that line on my children” or “I will never do that to my kids” to being smack dab in the middle of it and the words just come spilling out of my mouth. “I just don’t know about you lately. What will be next?” But this event this week justifies a post of its own for sure.
So what’s worse than the lecture? – Da du dum… The mother-child whiteboarding session -spearheaded by da mom.
Howard says something that inspires bone-chilling fear is me getting out the white board marker. Even worse, a couple different color markers, the eraser, and erasing a vast amount of space on the oversized white board to make room for a fantastic brain-storming session or overly long explanation. I love white boards. I wish my whole office was covered in them!
So last night Jack was writing his all-important book review on Briar Rose. He is doing a Holocaust section in Social Studies and he had to read an entire book. Jack is NOT one of my readers so this was, I’m sure, quite torturous. He and I were both working in the office on different computers. He started to type on his paper that there wasn’t much of a theme in Briar Rose! Gasp! How could he even say that. Worse, how could he read such a wonderful book and fail to grasp the theme. So, when I started to question him about it, he grasped at a couple could-be themes thinking he would get by easily with those lame ideas for themes. Since the book revolves around a fairy tale, he spits out “fairy tales do come true” and a couple other ill-thought-out grasps for a quick answer.
So, I got out the giant white board and said “let’s think out loud and take some notes”. In Jack’s mind – I will never mention to Mom again that there was no theme. His eyes rolled back in his head and he flopped his back to the back of his chair in utter despair that we would have a brain-storming session on his book theme.
But, in fact, it didn’t take long and we together came up with what sounds like a great theme. I’d love to hear some evaluation to see if we got it right. But we came up with:
Behind every story are meaningful events, and even more meaningful realities. Huh. Not bad.
