My missus - and the other books in the series. She stole them from my daughter and she loves 'em, which means I probably won't. We are truly chalk/cheese over such matters.

'Twilight' is quite a phenomenon over here.

I read the latest John le Carré (A Most Wanted Man), captivated, in two days - She read the first two chapters and put it down, bored and full of complaint.

So, Mrs. A, what do you think so far?

I would probably agree with you if I had been able to get past page three.

And thus a little friendly tiff between my daughter-in-law (she's forty-five) and me two weeks ago.

I got it from the library upon her recommendation; she liked it.

Says I innocently (forgetting it was her rec): I took it back after three pages when seeing it had vampires.

And was YA; the writing is too simplistic for me.

Oops.

That's my take of three pages.

Last edited by mishmont (12-16-2008 16:51:52)

aldersmith wrote:

Well, I made the mistake of seeing the movie first with my daughter. She is nutso over the book, read it 2 or 3 times. (The movie was horrible by the way) I'm reading the book and I just don't get it. I mean I get the concept, but I think it's a lot of grinning and butterflies in the stomach and blah, blah, blah. I want to skim over parts and I find myself editing as I read. The author breaks every convention it seems, she always has her characters muttering, smiling and nodding, she does all the things that books on writing tell you not to do. I guess I'm just jealous. "Why is her book such a big deal?" I muttered. Sniff, sniff

I will grab some Twilight at the weekend. I read a snatch of it here and there as it laid upon the bedside cabinet, and was also stunned by all the 'don't do's' being done. It is written to a standard that we are constantly advised and assured would never be considered by an agent or editor?????

I can see the writing (diction) is poor, but the story itself seems to fully engage the target audience, some are obsessed with the series. The right story is obviously strong enough to override poor articulation.

Different strokes - different readers gain entirely different pleasure from literature. My wife is huge Danielle Steel fan; she has everything the woman has ever written in first edition hardcover. HAR! And she is proud of it! HAR! Our bookshelves are at the opposing ends of the house, my fear is that they should collide, the respective collections would contaminate each other and spontaneously combust.

Dillidge Carver wrote:

aldersmith wrote:

Well, I made the mistake of seeing the movie first with my daughter. She is nutso over the book, read it 2 or 3 times. (The movie was horrible by the way) I'm reading the book and I just don't get it. I mean I get the concept, but I think it's a lot of grinning and butterflies in the stomach and blah, blah, blah. I want to skim over parts and I find myself editing as I read. The author breaks every convention it seems, she always has her characters muttering, smiling and nodding, she does all the things that books on writing tell you not to do. I guess I'm just jealous. "Why is her book such a big deal?" I muttered. Sniff, sniff

I will grab some Twilight at the weekend. I read a snatch of it here and there as it laid upon the bedside cabinet, and was also stunned by all the 'don't do's' being done. It is written to a standard that we are constantly advised and assured would never be considered by an agent or editor?????

I can see the writing (diction) is poor, but the story itself seems to fully engage the target audience, some are obsessed with the series. The right story is obviously strong enough to override poor articulation.

Different strokes - different readers gain entirely different pleasure from literature. My wife is huge Danielle Steel fan; she has everything the woman has ever written in first edition hardcover. HAR! And she is proud of it! HAR! Our bookshelves are at the opposing ends of the house, my fear is that they should collide, the respective collections would contaminate each other and spontaneously combust.

What I'm wondering is how a novel grows to 500+ pages after it is edited, I wonder how long it was before the editor got ahold of it. Anyway, I think you hit the nail, it's the clever story line that transported this novel to the top. Yes, I tried to read a Danielle Steel book once, only once.  My hubby doesn't read, in a way that is nice, I don't have to share the bookshelves with anyone.

mishmont wrote:

aldersmith wrote:

I think reading literary fiction has ruined me, I know what I like and it's difficult to settle for less.

I am reading "The Center Will not Hold" by a schizophrenic recounting her experiences.  She is now a Ph.D. professor in two different fields.

But makes egregious mistakes, not only writerly, but plain grammar: "You and I"  when "You and me" is called for.

Damn, how much do editors make?  I could do far better.

The thing that is so frustrating is that some exemplary work will never make it to publication and there is so much mediocre stuff out there. I guess I should turn that thought around--"publishing world here I come," I shrilled.

mishmont wrote:

Dillidge Carver wrote:

Our bookshelves are at the opposing ends of the house, my fear is that they should collide, the respective collections would contaminate each other and spontaneously combust.

I wouldn't worry about that as much as your friends seeing that you had Danielle Steele as part of your collection.

My wife is proud of her collection and shows it off. Shakespeare and Hardy are hidden, save people think us weirdoes.

In her defence, my wife buys only the French language version. Apparently, the overall premise and plot survive but the translators re-write the original American-English into French prose with exquisite elegance, adding both wit and sophistication.

This is often the case. I'm sure that ‘Twilight’ will be ‘written’ to a far better standard when transposed into say, French or German. It is a complete rewrite, not in terms of plot, but articulation.

aldersmith wrote:

Who reads a novel in french?
"I'm out of my league here," I muttered under my breath.

Who reads a Novel in French?"

"The French, half of Canada and South-East Asia; and my wife." he stuttered.

"Me? I live 26 miles from France. I work for a 'global' company. My regional office is Paris." He continued, the anguish panging his knackers.

"My wife is fluent. I'm not. " He spat, rolling his eyes and gesticulating lewdly.

"That is why I crave New Zealand." he growled longingly.

If you get a novel published that becomes popular - The French, Spanish, Italian and German versions are very lucrative. Americans read/buy less books per head than any other literate nation. In terms of medium, they tend to prefer the TV series or the movie.

Last edited by Dillidge Carver (12-16-2008 18:26:16)

I read 'Twilight' and liked Mrs. Meyer's writing style.  I did think it moved too slowly until the last third of the book, but I enjoyed it. 

I'm thinking his aloofness drew her in.  The way he kept to himself, and then after she found out he was a vampire, maybe the 'Bad Boy' element sealed it for her. 

(I haven't seen the movie because I heard it sucked , but I didn't think the male actors looked the part.)

tina_dc_hayes wrote:

I'm thinking his aloofness drew her in.  The way he kept to himself, and then after she found out he was a vampire, maybe the 'Bad Boy' element sealed it for her. 

(I haven't seen the movie because I heard it sucked , but I didn't think the male actors looked the part.)

You are right on target there. I went with my daughter, and two nieces (all in their twenties) and they were laughing through the whole thing, it was so sappy and bad. The main actors were cast pretty well I guess, however they said some of the other characters were not so good.

aldersmith wrote:

Anyway, I think you hit the nail, it's the clever story line that transported this novel to the top. Yes, I tried to read a Danielle Steel book once, only once.  My hubby doesn't read, in a way that is nice, I don't have to share the bookshelves with anyone.

But the story line isn't clever! Have any of you read the second book? Forget the poor writing. The story never budges. She might as well have skipped over Book Two and gone directly to Book Three. The second book is a space-filler. Truly horrifying! What sells it is the teen angst. You don't need a story for teen angst. Just a boy and a girl... or a vampire and a girl.

I never heard of Twilight until just before the movie came out. Haven't seen it and have very little desire to go, or even read the book. Everything I've heard here just reinforces it. If I'm gonna read about vampires, which normally I'm a fan of the supernatural, I want grit.

The best vampire book I've ever read was Sunshine by Robin McKinley. Definitely dark and gritty and gripping.