giddy like an 8th grader

so for the past month or so, my extracurricular reading activities have consisted of this:

and the three other books in the twilight saga. i was lucky enough to borrow them from a co-worker, and several of us in the office have been passing them around as we finish them.

typically, vampires and werewolves are not my preferred reading choice. in fact, they tend to be my last choice. but i got caught up in this series and flew through the books, finishing the last one on christmas night. always careful not to read them too close to bedtime (or at least giving my mind time to get other, more pleasant, thoughts in my brain), i fell headfirst into the story of bella, edward, jacob and the rest of forks and la push.

i have this thing about books turned into movies. rarely am i impressed with the movie versions of books. i LOVE reading--always have--and i'm a stickler for details. there are some movies that are done well, and they allow me to more accurately picture the characters, or they at least fit the ideas that i had about them. another guilty pleasure, "sisterhood of the traveling pants," was definitely an example of this. i had big issues with "the notebook," as there were major discrepencies between the book and the movie. i always read the book first, though, so as not to ruin my first impressions with the book. purposefully, i chose to wait to see "twilight" after i had finished all four books.

let me put a disclaimer here--i'm not saying these are well-written, complex books. we're not talking about "war and peace" here, folks. they are written for adolescents and are wondeful "fluff" books. they are entertaining, they are addicting, but in the same way that you secretly enjoy eating cotton candy. you know it's not good for you, but it's just so darn good.

(i also don't believe that reading about vampires in any way affects my faith or religious activities. just like reading about wizards with "harry potter" didn't convert me over to witchcraft. )

so today, as we had a relatively relaxed schedule and one of the theaters had a matinee showing, i decided it was time to see what the fuss was all about...

i will say that i'm glad justin didn't come and i somewhat pity anyone who attends the movie without reading the books beforehand. the storyline stayed very close to the book, as did much of the dialogue. there were snickers and reactions from people who had obviously read the books throughout the theater, and it set up well for the next book/movie (not leaving you hanging like they do in the book.)

however, it moved slowly and i felt like there were erratic pauses and gaps in the dialogue that were attempting to be dramatic, but more just seemed to make it drag. since i had read all of the books so closely together, i forgot when some events occurred and kept waiting for the whole "crazy jasper" scene that apparently happened in the second book. the casting also surprised me with some people--i guess i pictured jacob as being bigger and older looking since i've read the whole series, and some of the friends that they put in the high school scenes weren't what i had imagined. and i always thought of alice as a blonde. not sure why, but i just did.

there were also some very cheesy special effects that just didn't translate to the big screen. the "sparkles" and wild vampire jumps/running just looked better in my head than trying to do it in real life.

so if you've read the book(s)--go see it. it's worth it. it allows me to look forward to future movies like an excitable middle school girl. i can't wait to see how they show the werewolf transformations (though i'm realistic now that it could look incredibly stupid--but i'm at least interested to see their attempts.)

if you haven't read them, well... take your chances. but don't expect an oscar-worthy flick. this is for the "twilight" fans and it's worth reading the books first.



p.s. also read "marley and me" over the holidays. READ THE BOOK! this one is well-written, touching and worth the box of kleenex you'll need by the end of it.