Twilight Movie review update

I think that my initial review would make you assume that I hated the movie. As I try to explain better in my edited version, I'd actually like to see it again. It's just hard to review a 3 out of 5 stars movie when comparing it to a 6 out of 5 stars book and knowing what could have been.

The Twilight Saga

Okay, this book review is seriously overdue.

I love the Twilight books! Love them. I saw them mentioned on Dawn's blog, and ordered the first one from the library without really thinking about it. When I finally picked it up, I was intrigued with the back of the cover, so I started reading. Straight through. And was dying to read the next one. It didn't help that the first book had the second book's cliff hanger of a first chapter in it. I found the next two books at Target the next day and read them in quick succession, then waited...for about six weeks for the last book to come out. The last day that my parents were staying with us. It nearly killed me, and I got very little sleep, but I got that read pretty quickly too. They were so romantic. I had read very little fiction since my kids were born - I used to read it all of the time. I went on a serious fiction binge. Trying to find books half as gripping or romantic as Twilight with little success. So I read lots of books, in between getting all of my girlfriends hooked on Twilight and reading them over and over again.

So that's my story. My review?

These are not Christian fiction, but they are written by a Mormon mother. Abstinence is a big theme here. That said, they are rather steamy. Not in the explicit sense, but in a charged atmosphere sense. Teenage girls all over are addicted to these books, but I would not feel comfortable recommending them to teenagers. The first book, Twilight, is pretty tame, but each one gets more intense. The last one is on a different level, but still not in anyway explicit. So I recommend them to my married friends. So far, everyone has loved them to varying degrees.

I love romantic lines. Beautiful romantic words. And these books deliver. While not written with the quality of classic literature, to me, these books have the feel of a great, classic love story. To me, Bella and Edward belong in a list that includes Elizabeth and Darcy, Romeo and Juliet, Maria and Tony, Anne and Gilbert, Noah and Allie... I loved their story. I loved the characters. I want Emmet to be my big brother, and Alice to be my best friend.

And Edward is the perfect man. The one that's too good to be true. Ya gotta love him. Even if he is a vampire.

Which brings me to another point. These are not vampire books. Are most of the main characters vampires? Yes. But that is the background of the book, and these are not your usual freaky vampires (at least not the main characters, they're good vampires). These books are the love story of Bella and Edward, and the vampire thing is the obstacle to their love. It's all about love...

Job the book ~ powerful

You can listen to or read the entire poem or order the book here.

For those who haven't seen it - the final Twilight trailer

You can view this in high definition at http://www.myspace.com/trailerpark.

The craziness I'm up to now

I'm writing my first novel.

Why do I do this to myself?

What's Alicia been up to?

• I've been stuck at home for a month since Brian's car suddenly had engine failure (at ten o'clock at night while I was driving it, no less). We thought to replace it, but it seems used car prices have doubled in the past couple of years, so it's been in the shop since Wednesday with no word yet on its prognosis. But it's bad...very bad. Edited to add: for just a little over the amount we originally paid for the car, we will now have a repaired car. Uggh.
• Ethan has had a mild, but lingering stomach bug for nearly two weeks. Brian had it for about five days.
• My family was supposed to arrive on Sunday, but my Grandma's cardiologists are continually trying to kill her by putting her on new drugs to control high blood pressure brought on by ...new drugs and their accompanying side effects. She passed out again and is in the hospital. As soon as she fires the cardiologists and drops the new drugs (which, btw, is not just my opinion, but the internists' at the hospital as well), she should be fine. Hopefully she'll be released this morning. I really hate doctors!
• Oh, and my parents van had the newly replaced compressor go bad the day before they were supposed to leave, so that's been rereplaced too now. When it rains...
• Despite all of this, I'm not the least bit depressed.
• Partly because I'm in the middle of a very long, very torrid love affair - with my husband. Keeps life fun and interesting.
• I also read the Twilight series about the same time the car engine died. Stayed up three nights in a row to read the three books, getting my sister hooked on them too, in the process, then was totally obsessed with them for at least two weeks, reading all 1625 pages of them about five more times. This is the real reason I quit blogging - I was busy reading! Don't think I'd recommend them to the young adults they're marketed for, but if you're older a love a good romance that get an emotional grip on you, is well-written, and has great lines, this might be an unexpected pleasure for you too. I'm ranking it right up there with Romeo and Juliet and The Notebook. The last book in the series is due out August 2, and the first movie is coming in December.
• This Twilight hang-up resulted in my listening to Stephanie Meyer's playlists that go with her books, and becoming readdicted to music as well. I've found lots of new music to love as a result, and these days find me exploring new artist on youtube and organizing my favorites into playlists. I'm enjoying Secondhand Serenade, in particular, these days.
• I also ended up in a scramble to find some fiction half as good, so that I could quit reading the same books over and over. I reread some Francine Rivers and Lori Wick and a bunch of new books. Some were pretty good. After skimming through mostly non-fiction for the past few years and reading mostly just blogs for the past year or so, I've really enjoyed reading fiction and have read more books in the past month than I have in years (if you count the massive number of rereading I've been doing).
• Oh, and another Twilight side effect is the huge quantity of Twilight flair on facebook got me readdicted to facebook as well. Good grief. :^)
• We also celebrated Rosie's third birthday and our eleventh wedding anniversary this month. I'll get her birthday letter up soon. I've got to get her official pics too. And I know that I'm miserably behind on pics for the blog, so watch out - if I start I might not stop!
• We've had some other stuff going on as well that I'm not quite ready to share here yet. It was stressful for a time, but right now, at least, I feel peaceful about this unknown in my life.
• And, who knows if this will begin continuous blogging again or not. My fam is (probably) coming in tonight or tomorrow for the next couple of weeks, and then it's going to be a mad scramble to get my school year going (no, I'm not ready, I've been reading!)

Ethan's first book review

is posted at his blog. Check it out!

LitLovers

Did you notice the pretty newish button on the sidebar? Leslie is starting a book club! The first book will be The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. If you think that you're a pretty good wife, this book was written to shatter your illusions. Just kidding. Sort of. Honestly, it is the best book I've ever read on what a wife should be and do, and it is basically straight from Scripture. Not a lot of personal preference or opinions. You will learn and you will be convicted. So hurry and buy or borrow a copy, and join in. It will be starting some time after Easter. Go to Lux Venit for more details.

Favorite Childhood Biographies

My 2 year old decided to make a path out of the books on one of the shelves today. She had great fun while the rest of us read A BEKA's first grade history book (the whole thing - it really didn't take that long and we enjoyed it and got some great ideas for later study). Later, as I was picking them up, I saw one of my childhood favorites, Helen Keller's Teacher, a biography of Annie Sullivan. I read it over and over.

I thought it would be fun to share who you enjoyed reading about as a girl (elementary school). I loved the Little House on the Prairie books (and the show for that matter - I even named my cat Laura!), and I read every juvenile biography I could find on Clara Barton. I also enjoyed Shark Lady: True Adventures of Eugenie Clark, and was thrilled when I ran across it at the thrift store last year and was able to read it to my kids, who also enjoyed it.

Another book that stuck with me was Tortured for Christ. I checked it out of my Christian school library in third grade. Looking back, I think that it's kind of odd that no one questioned my reading it at that age, but I did, and although I haven't reread it since then, I still remember many details.

So who were your favorite people to read about or favorite biographies when you were a girl (or guy)?

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

Collecting Books

Tonight I enjoyed flipping through a newly thrifted book, Celebrating Family Traditions : An Idea and Keepsake Book by Helen Baine Bland and Mary Seehafer Sears. Books about holiday and family traditions are one of my favorite genres to collect. They always inspire me to enjoy each new day and make the days special for my family and friends.



I have a particular thrift store that is my favorite. Children's books (no matter how small, large, inexpensive, or valuable) are 50 cents and adult books are 75 cents for paperback and $1 or $1.50 (they keep changing their prices) for hardback. You really can't beat that. I usually spend too much, but I actually added up the retail price of my last cache - $85. I paid $7.50. My family traditions book, a book of patterns and ideas for shrinky dinks, a good quality workbook/activity book on outer space (that I have another brand new copy that I picked up a few months ago there - 2 new workbooks for $!), a hardcover storybook of the Sleeping Beauty ballet, about 6 Level 1 or 2 easy readers that didn't have dumb story lines (or no storyline), a hardcover If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, a large knock knock joke book for Ethan, and I think a few more. Considering that I also got practically new Land's End and American Eagle shirts for Brian for another $7.50, I didn't feel too guilty.



I also collect good parenting/tips books, beautiful storybooks, and lots of other children's books, especially nonfiction and classic fiction ( and right now large quantities of early readers). I love Trixie Belden, finding them at a low price can make my day - I only have a couple. Also some cookbooks, historical and good Christian fiction, Christian marriage and romantic idea books, books on home education, or just education in general, music books, homemaking books, and other Christian living, theology, etc. books - anything that intrigues me and doesn't look like fluff. I try to hone in on my kids favorite stuff too, so I look for bug books and ballet books, and if I ever find any Max and Ruby books I have a two year old who will be very happy with me and a library that will be relieved to have theirs back in circulation.



What kind of books do you like to collect and where do you find them cheap? And for that matter, if you're like me and love all of the books you have too much to part with them - where do you put them???


graphic from Anne's Place

Redeeming Love

Okay, here's the question of the day. Have you read Francine Rivers' book Redeeming Love, and do you think it's appropriate for young (unmarried) ladies?

First of all, I love this book. It's one of my favorites. But I have seen it being recommended for teenagers, and I have serious qualms about that.
It is a Christian book. A retelling of the book of Hosea, set in California during the gold rush. A man led by God to marry a prostitute and show her Christ's love. A story of redemption.

There are no explicit scenes in this book, but it is definitely dealing with sex and prostitution and the intimate side of marriage throughout. It is not the least bit offensive to me, but I believe in guarding the purity of young minds and not leading them in directions they are not ready for. I run a sort of lending library to my young friends, and turned down a 16 year old's request for this book today. She told me that a pastor's daughter at her school had the book, had read it, and had a waiting list of friends eager to borrow and read it. That didn't change my mind, but it did make me wonder. I suggested to her mother that she read it first and decide if she found it appropriate for her daughter.

I grew up in a very sheltered home. I didn't date - wasn't allowed to. But I also chose innocence for myself. I chose to remain ignorant of many things until I had a reason to know them. And I am glad of that decision. On the other hand, I realize that most girls cannot be this sheltered from outside influences and it is far better to be taught things from the right perspective by your parents, than to learn things elsewhere. I will also say that while I had never read secular romances, I was (and still am) a serious romantic, and devoured any Christian love stories within reach. And I wonder what type of daydreams are really appropriate for a young lady that is wanting to keep her mind pure. I have never found any of these books to be a stumbling block since marriage, but I have often wondered how to make good judgments for my own girls as they grow older. I don't want to be ridiculously overboard with caution, but I'm just not sure that being "clean" and Christian automatically makes it appropriate.

So tell me what you think about this topic in general, as well as this book in particular.

And after all of that, I'll leave you with a favorite thought from Redeeming Love.

He watched Susanna pace back and forth, plans gushing forth like a fountain. Angel was laughing and tossing in her own ideas, one on top of the other. They were both so beautiful, it was hard to look at them. Light shining in the darkness.
Jonathan closed his eyes. Oh, God, it's not the way I had things planned.
But then, what of real, lasting value ever is?

I just was reading the reviews at Amazon when I created the hyperlink and many people were recommending it as required reading for teen girls to see what a godly man and marriage should be. In contrast to what the average teen is bombarded with from Hollywood and attending their local high school, this might be true. But then, I'm not sure that I want to rear average teens. I'm pretty far from the teen phase, though, and if I've learned anything from being a parent, it's to never say that I or my child will never do something. Because you haven't been there yet, and your perspective is so different. So tell me what you think...