Let's Talk About Vampires- Part I

I was never a fan of vampires or paranormal fiction.  I never read Anne Rice, nor did I watch Buffy and I never gave vampires much thought.   It's not that I didn't like them, I just wasn't interested.  That was until, after much pleading by the girls on an online book forum I used quite often, I was introduced to Edward Cullen. 

Oh my Edward.... the perfect "man". He is the object of all my desires and the main character in the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer.  Unless you have read the books you won't understand (and please don't give me the crap about "well I've seen the movie and I just don't get the hype" because the movie means nothing unless you've read the book, so I don't want to hear it) so I won't bother trying to describe all things wonderful about my Edward, but I will say this; From the moment I cracked the cover of Twilight in May of 2008 I have been OBSESSED! I read the first three books in less than a week (the second in 1 sitting- although 1 and 3 were the best) and had a long 2 month wait for the 4th book.  Seriously, for a long time these books became my life.  I dreamt about them, I thought about them, I talked about them all.the.time.  I told people that I was "in love with a fictional character" and it was (and still is) true.  These were easily my favorite books of all time. 

I'm not the only one that feels this way. I know many, many, many adult women, some avid readers and some not, that were just as sucked in and obsessed as I was.  It became so bad that my forum created a seperate Twilight only board our posts were taking over.  Edward, quite simply, is the man of a lot of women's dreams and even before the movie caused many well educated, professional women who are wives and mothers... to go a little teen crazy over a character who is 17 and didn't exist.  At this point he hadn't even been personified on the big screen.  We only had the Edwards that we had created in our heads.

Some say the writing is poor... and although I do agree that it's not perfect (who is?) I wonder how those same people will, in their next sentence, say things like, "however, I have never been so sucked in to a book in all my life... AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING"??  My question is, if the writing is as bad as they say, how could they possibly have been sucked in and "involved" with the characters so effectively?  My opinion... I don't give a crap that it's not written to the standards of other great literary works.... reading is my thing, my escape, my enjoyment and hobby so if you can write a set of characters, a plot and location that literally has me obsessed within 50 or so pages and still obsessed one and a half years later.... you're a pretty freakin' awesome writer in my books.  That's just my opinion though.  I still love these books so much that when I see strangers reading a copy of Twilight I get jealous thining "how dare they read MY book"... but what I'm really jealous about is the fact the they are likely experiencing it for the first time, and I will never have that back.

I really enjoyed the movie adaptation of the first book and am eagerly anticipating the release of New Moon in 1 month (I already have my tickets).  I have to say though... I don't think you can fully appreciate the movies unless you've read the books.  There is so much that the movie doesn't tell you that is so key to the love of the story.  You get so much more out of the movie when you know the backstory.  Although I had a hard time with the casting in the beginning, now that I have seen them work as the characters, I think they have been cast very well.  It must have been extremely difficult thing to do considering how important these books and characters were to millions of people around the world. I haven't become Robert Pattinson crazed, but I think he does an extremely good job as Edward.  The differences between on screen Edward and book Edward come in the way the script was written, not in the acting of RP.  I look forward to seeing the exciting twists of New Moon play out on screen.  From what I have seen so far, the previews look amazing and I can't wait (see my countdown widget if you need proof).

I look so forward to the next time that I can take a break from new books and revisit Forks to love on Edward and hang-out with the rest of the Cullen family.  If you haven't read these books yet, please do.  No matter what you've heard... just give them a chance.  Millions of people (of all ages, not just YA) can't be wrong.  If it helps.... the author didn't write these books with intention of a YA audience.  That's just who picked them up based on the age of the main characters, but honestly.... most people don't read them and say "it's so young".  It's meant for everyone and worth every minute.

I can't show you my personal Edward (since he only exists in my head from the pre-movie reading days and is far too perfect to liken to any IRL movie star)... but I can show you the below for your viewing pleasure.

"Edward", "Bella", "James" and "Jacob"

How hot are they???
"Bella" and "Edward"- Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewert