I may or may not have become a Twilight nut.
It all started out innocently enough some months ago when me and Martin wanted to rent a movie but couldn’t agree on anything (he likes horrors, I like chick flicks) and ended up getting Twilight because it “looked interesting”. Well, I absolutely loved it. When the end credits rolled over the screen I had “post-watching depression” and then made myself forget all about it.
Until Thursday when I was on my way home from visiting my mum, and yet again my train to Herning was cancelled. That left me with 45 minutes to browse the huge department store connected to the central train station in Århus (Bruun’s Gallery) and I figured “I’ll just pop by the bookstore. I won’t buy anything, I’ll just look!”. ‘Just looking’ is not something I do very well and since I’d just finished “Lost in a Good Book” by Jasper Fforde, I needed something else to read. I almost bought the first of the Sookie Stackhouse books (I only ever buy fantasy books) but then I noticed the huge Twilight display. The first book in that series was actually cheaper than the Sookie book, and I figured that if I didn’t like it, I could probably pass it on to someone else.
I finished the book Friday noon after rushing home from school to read the remaining 150 pages. I’d finished the other 300 the day before while waiting for the train, riding the train, and after getting home. I got completely caught up in that universe and I now have “post-reading depression” and can’t wait to get my hands on the second book. Fortunately, my SIL (who is actually Martin’s step-brother’s girlfriend, but SIL is easier to write) has the whole series in English and will lend me the last 3 on Tuesday!! I also just purchased the Twilight DVD from Amazon (so much cheaper than buying it in Denmark) so I can watch the movie again.
I will say this, though. I love the story. I (most of the time) love the characters. I love the scenery and the plot and everything. I accidentally spoiled the rest of the books for myself by accidentally reading some stories about the cast of the books (couldn’t remember what half of them looked like in the movie) and I think some of it sounds ‘out there’, but still pretty good.
However… let’s just say it’s not the greatest piece of literature in the world, mkay? I’d like to give Stephanie Meyer a thesaurus and suggest a few alternatives to describing the colour of Edward’s eyes, the way his lips set in his face, or the way Bella moves her hair down to create a curtain between them. Fortunately, though, I’m a very visual person. I don’t need a lot of cues before I can see it all in my mind, so whenever words or scenes are repeated I kind of skip those passages and just see it in my head instead. Same goes for all those weird silences between them, or when I don’t really get why Bella gets so angry or why Edward thinks it’s so funny.
I’ve read a lot of people don’t “get” the whole Twilight thing, and honestly, I don’t really know what it is myself. I like good stories, and I’m willing to let poorly written scripts go if the plot is absorbing. I fill out the blanks myself. And then there’s the whole fantasy thing. I only ever read fantasy books because I don’t want to read books about real life. I really rarely do (can’t remember the last time I did) and my only exceptions are historical novels – they happened so long ago that they still seem fantastical to me. If I wanted to know about real life, I’d turn on the news, read a newspaper or just go outside. It’s the whole escapist thing, I think. It lets me get away from everyday worries and chores and lets me live in a universe that’s exciting and new. It may sound sad, but sometimes they fill that need for (romantic) attention, adventure, being outstanding, or clever ‘inventions’ that stimulate the brain (e.g. the Harry Potter universe) in a parallel universe that’s so close to our own that it almost feels real.
So it’s not a surprise that I feel sad once I’ve finished a movie or book like that. You have to go back to reality, no? Still, I wouldn’t trade those hours of complete engulfment in a book for anything. It’s so rare that I have time to read these days, and even rarer that I find a book that really catches my attention. It’s nice to look up and see that 3 hours have flown by and it’s gotten dark outside without you noticing. I have a bad habit of counting hours and minutes and never getting anything done, so it’s a relief to have something take that away. But now… now I have real-life chores to do. Like shower and possibly clean the bathroom and definitely keep writing on the project. We only have three weeks left until hand-in and I’ve gotten absolutely nowhere. I’m trying to relax this year and keep repeating the mantra “I will do the best I can right now, and if I only get a C, that’s okay too. It won’t impact my future or my relationships with the people I love, nor will it ruin my life. I did my best, and that’s all anyone can ask of me.”
I think it’s helping.







This is a new yarn from BC Garn which isn’t up on their website yet. It comes in three weights like their Lucca yarns – Semilla, Semilla Fino and Semilla Extra Fino. The regular Semilla is a DK weight yarn, the Fino is a fingering and the Extra Fino is a lace.






