I really should be posting my review of Eclipse, since I just finished it today, but book reviews are challenging and I'm warming up to work on my story some more, so I'm going to be relaxed and write a fun post for once. Everything has to have a non-serious side, right? Even a serious blog? ;)
I took a friendship quiz on www.blogthings.com, and here are my results:
You Are A Good Friend You're always willing to listen to your friends.And you're the first to lend a shoulder to cry on.You're there through thick and thin. You won't stop being friends with someone when times are tough.In fact, you're such a good friend that many people consider you their "best friend"!
Aww! And yet, it is an internet quiz...hmm. Well, I was going to give the link, but the window very mysteriously went away...:( Guess I should be more careful.
I have officially played the dorkiest, most amusing game ever. It's a version of "blind date" made by the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind). I wasted a lot of time that could have been used more productively playing with it, but it really was highly amusing! I got to date an Elvis impersonater who really needs to work on his acting skills, how lucky am I? LOL Oh yeah, and a geek who sounded like he was reading his lines right off a paper. Probably was. *sighs* Alas for my luck. LOL
I have found a new favorite singer: Brandon Heath. I've had one of his albums on my computer for a while now, and I always liked it, but the other night, when I was listening to it after a really miserable day, it took on new meaning, and I realized that he really has an uncommonly fine tenor voice. Not many Christian artists can pull off what he does: good music *and* meaningful lyrics *and* a really lovely voice. If this catches anyone's interests, check out "Beauty Divine," "The Light," "Love Never Fails," "Sunrise," "Red Sky," "I Will Lay You Down," "Steady Now," "You Decide," "Let's Make It Last," and "I'm Not Who I was." Yes, I have a lot of favorites. :)
I was playing the piano after supper tonight, going over the three versions of the lullaby that Edward composes for Bella in Twilight, unable to decide which one is really going to be it. I like the music from the movie, but it's just not a lullaby. The last one (of mine) is too dark, but still would make a cool vampire theme or something. The first one is almost too light. I think the second one is going to be it. My nine-year-old brother was listening to me play it and first asked right away if it was a lullaby, and second said immediately after that it made him feel sad in a way, and that it "has a lot of emotion." My brother constantly surprises me. But I did realize why I've been having difficulty - because I've been trying to compose from the perspective of someone who would be almost a hundred years old, though he never physically aged past seventeen. Kind of interesting to really contemplate that. Still, I think I've settled on the right one. I really wish there was a way to put it up on this blog after I get it recorded...if I ever get it recorded. It's incredibly hard to play. And while I'm talking about that, here is another fan's rendition, with lyrics, posted on YouTube. It is so amazing. It makes me cry and gives me goose bumps every time I hear it. I don't even know what it is that strikes the cord, but something definitely does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpjqj7tktUU
Okay, well, now that I'm all teary-eyed, that's all for now.
Showing posts with label Bella. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bella. Show all posts
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Book Review: New Moon
This is the second book in the Twilight Saga. The first time I read it (I think I'm on the fifth now), it was the hardest book of the four, but this time I was actually anxious to get to it.
I read once in an article about what editors and agents hate that one should never open a book with a dream, but Stephenie does it here with great effect, showing us right away that Bella dreads aging because Edward never will. But soon that becomes the least of her worries. When an accident gets out of hand at Bella's eighteenth birthday party, Edward realizes anew how much his and his family's presence in her life endangers her...and a few days later, they are gone, as if they'd never been - except, of course, for the ripping agony of grief in which Bella drowns for the next months. When she finally begins to resurface, she renews her acquaintance with Jacob Black, and with him, werewolves come onto the scene. But just as things are starting to settle down again, Edward's psychicly gifted sister Alice shows up, having seen Bella jump from a cliff and interpreted it as attempted suicide when it was, in reality, a nearly fatal attempt at cliff diving. She finds Bella alive, but before she can tell the rest of her family, Edward's other sister Rosalie, who has never liked Bella, informs him of Alice's vision. Following up on his earlier declaration that he cannot live in a world where Bella does not exist, Alice sees him making his way to Italy to ask for death at the hands of the Volturi (a kind of vampire royal family, the ones who enforce the rule of secrecy and anything related to it). Alice and Bella go after him, but if they don't make it in time, they will likely die, too.
Things I Love
1. The characterization of Bella that gets accomplished while Edward is mostly out of the picture. She's not orbiting around him anymore, so we see more of what she's like.
2. Again, the atmosphere, though it's slightly different from that of the first book. In New Moon, the focus isn't on the world that still lives on in modern Forks but the town itself and the area around it, saturated with quiet magic that no one feels except those who are a part of it.
3. Charlie. He was in the background during Twilight, but now he becomes a more fleshed out and developed character. He's an ordinary guy, never guessing that his daughter is dealing with some very extraordinary things, just loving her and trying to protect her. There's something about his and Bella's relationship that is really poignant.
4. The werewolves. Again, a departure from the norm, but I can't say much on that lest I give too much away.
5. Alice, when she enters. I just love Alice; I always have.
Things That Could Have Been Better
Again, only one: the portrayal of Bella's grief. I've never loved and lost, and it occurred to me this last read-through that maybe the difference, the physical sense of pain, is partly because she loved a vampire - no normal teenage relationship, to say the least. The description of a hole in the chest works a few times, but after a while it loses its effectiveness. Still...
Five stars!
I read once in an article about what editors and agents hate that one should never open a book with a dream, but Stephenie does it here with great effect, showing us right away that Bella dreads aging because Edward never will. But soon that becomes the least of her worries. When an accident gets out of hand at Bella's eighteenth birthday party, Edward realizes anew how much his and his family's presence in her life endangers her...and a few days later, they are gone, as if they'd never been - except, of course, for the ripping agony of grief in which Bella drowns for the next months. When she finally begins to resurface, she renews her acquaintance with Jacob Black, and with him, werewolves come onto the scene. But just as things are starting to settle down again, Edward's psychicly gifted sister Alice shows up, having seen Bella jump from a cliff and interpreted it as attempted suicide when it was, in reality, a nearly fatal attempt at cliff diving. She finds Bella alive, but before she can tell the rest of her family, Edward's other sister Rosalie, who has never liked Bella, informs him of Alice's vision. Following up on his earlier declaration that he cannot live in a world where Bella does not exist, Alice sees him making his way to Italy to ask for death at the hands of the Volturi (a kind of vampire royal family, the ones who enforce the rule of secrecy and anything related to it). Alice and Bella go after him, but if they don't make it in time, they will likely die, too.
Things I Love
1. The characterization of Bella that gets accomplished while Edward is mostly out of the picture. She's not orbiting around him anymore, so we see more of what she's like.
2. Again, the atmosphere, though it's slightly different from that of the first book. In New Moon, the focus isn't on the world that still lives on in modern Forks but the town itself and the area around it, saturated with quiet magic that no one feels except those who are a part of it.
3. Charlie. He was in the background during Twilight, but now he becomes a more fleshed out and developed character. He's an ordinary guy, never guessing that his daughter is dealing with some very extraordinary things, just loving her and trying to protect her. There's something about his and Bella's relationship that is really poignant.
4. The werewolves. Again, a departure from the norm, but I can't say much on that lest I give too much away.
5. Alice, when she enters. I just love Alice; I always have.
Things That Could Have Been Better
Again, only one: the portrayal of Bella's grief. I've never loved and lost, and it occurred to me this last read-through that maybe the difference, the physical sense of pain, is partly because she loved a vampire - no normal teenage relationship, to say the least. The description of a hole in the chest works a few times, but after a while it loses its effectiveness. Still...
Five stars!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Book Review: Twilight
I'm sure everyone knows what Twilight is by this time, but for those that don't, or to clear up misconceptions that some might have, I'll introduce it anyway.
This was the very talented Stephenie Meyer's first novel - a colorful and unique burst onto the literary scene. Seventeen-year-old Bella Swan feels that she is holding her newly remarried mother back from much happiness with her new husband, so in an act of supreme self-sacrifice, she leaves her beloved, sunny home in Phoenix, Arazona and goes to live with her father in Forks, Washington, the rainiest, dreariest place she can imagine. On her first day at her new high school, her attention is caught by a boy named Edward Cullen. He is gorgious - too gorgious...and he seems to hate her, though they've never exchanged so much as a hello. The mystery deepens when he saves her from being crushed between her truck and a speeding van one morning before school, leaping in its path and lifting the car out of the way all in a flash, with inhuman strength and speed. This is her first clue that whatever he is, he is not your average guy, and already she feels a strange attraction to him. When it comes to Bella's attention that Edward and his family are not allowed on the local Indian reservation, she asks one of the residents, Jacob Black, about it, and he tells her old legends of werewolves and vampires that are more meaningful to her than he ever guesses. Slowly the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, but it's too late to be scared: Bella is hopelessly in love with a vampire.
I feel obligated to say here that when I first heard this from a friend, I thought it would be the last thing I would ever read. I mean, a girl falls in love with a vampire? How corny can you possibly get?
I'm so glad I was wrong.
Things I Love
1. Bella. Compared to many other YA novel heroines, she is fantastic. She's not ridiculously good or disgustingly bad; she's just your average girl. A little shy, perhaps, and she does have a higher vocabulary than the majority of teenagers today (huge plus for me, because that's just another one of the little things I feel I share with her), different enough to be special, but not so different that she stands out more than she should.
2. Edward. How can I not love Edward? He's everything any girl could want. Well, okay, I'm not really eager to be faced with the dilemma of whether or not I want to be changed into a vampire to be with the love of my life forever, but otherwise, he's amazing.
3. The way Stephenie has made her vampires in general. They are anything but typical. I can't stand the vampire stereotype that was started centuries ago - garlic, stakes through the heart, death by sunlight, fangs...Stephenie makes this look incredably uncreative with her beautiful, perfect predators. Everything about them is designed to attract, from their flawless appearance to the sweet scent that hangs about them. They're also amazingly tough, strong, and fast, and not precisely dead. Some are even gifted. I won't spoil any more of those little surprises, but the creativity put into the vampires alone is worth reading the book.
5. The atmosphere. I don't even know how to describe it. Reading the book, I find myself smiling and laughing a lot, but the humor is very subtle. The sweetness and intensity are there, all painted across a mysterious background. With each vampire comes a taste of an older world, a former time, and it's really felt, though it isn't stated very often.
6. The spiritual/moral aspect of the story. A lot of Christians hear about these books and go, "Nooo! Vampire romance!" This is just a repeat of the Harry Potter series, which was a deplorable lack of open-mindedness and a great deal of quick, uninformed judgment. Twilight is indeed a love story about human and vampire, but the underlying focus is far deeper than that and goes deeper as the saga progresses. This first book is about temptation and overcoming it. The quote from Genesis in the front truly fits well. No blood has ever smelled so appealing to Edward as that in Bella's veins, but to yield to its lure would mean the loss of everything for him - his and his family's situation in life, his home, and ultimately his happiness...and that's a big deal when you know you're going to live forever. I'm doing a poor job describing this aspect of the story. This particular theme is never stated in so many words, but it's there, the heartbeat of the book, as it were.
Things That Could Have Been Better
Hmm, I'm coming up empty. I suppose Edward is rather too perfect to be real, but he's supposed to be, and he's still amazing in this book. I'm going to have to change my review format to accomodate the rest of these, I think.
Five stars!
This was the very talented Stephenie Meyer's first novel - a colorful and unique burst onto the literary scene. Seventeen-year-old Bella Swan feels that she is holding her newly remarried mother back from much happiness with her new husband, so in an act of supreme self-sacrifice, she leaves her beloved, sunny home in Phoenix, Arazona and goes to live with her father in Forks, Washington, the rainiest, dreariest place she can imagine. On her first day at her new high school, her attention is caught by a boy named Edward Cullen. He is gorgious - too gorgious...and he seems to hate her, though they've never exchanged so much as a hello. The mystery deepens when he saves her from being crushed between her truck and a speeding van one morning before school, leaping in its path and lifting the car out of the way all in a flash, with inhuman strength and speed. This is her first clue that whatever he is, he is not your average guy, and already she feels a strange attraction to him. When it comes to Bella's attention that Edward and his family are not allowed on the local Indian reservation, she asks one of the residents, Jacob Black, about it, and he tells her old legends of werewolves and vampires that are more meaningful to her than he ever guesses. Slowly the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, but it's too late to be scared: Bella is hopelessly in love with a vampire.
I feel obligated to say here that when I first heard this from a friend, I thought it would be the last thing I would ever read. I mean, a girl falls in love with a vampire? How corny can you possibly get?
I'm so glad I was wrong.
Things I Love
1. Bella. Compared to many other YA novel heroines, she is fantastic. She's not ridiculously good or disgustingly bad; she's just your average girl. A little shy, perhaps, and she does have a higher vocabulary than the majority of teenagers today (huge plus for me, because that's just another one of the little things I feel I share with her), different enough to be special, but not so different that she stands out more than she should.
2. Edward. How can I not love Edward? He's everything any girl could want. Well, okay, I'm not really eager to be faced with the dilemma of whether or not I want to be changed into a vampire to be with the love of my life forever, but otherwise, he's amazing.
3. The way Stephenie has made her vampires in general. They are anything but typical. I can't stand the vampire stereotype that was started centuries ago - garlic, stakes through the heart, death by sunlight, fangs...Stephenie makes this look incredably uncreative with her beautiful, perfect predators. Everything about them is designed to attract, from their flawless appearance to the sweet scent that hangs about them. They're also amazingly tough, strong, and fast, and not precisely dead. Some are even gifted. I won't spoil any more of those little surprises, but the creativity put into the vampires alone is worth reading the book.
5. The atmosphere. I don't even know how to describe it. Reading the book, I find myself smiling and laughing a lot, but the humor is very subtle. The sweetness and intensity are there, all painted across a mysterious background. With each vampire comes a taste of an older world, a former time, and it's really felt, though it isn't stated very often.
6. The spiritual/moral aspect of the story. A lot of Christians hear about these books and go, "Nooo! Vampire romance!" This is just a repeat of the Harry Potter series, which was a deplorable lack of open-mindedness and a great deal of quick, uninformed judgment. Twilight is indeed a love story about human and vampire, but the underlying focus is far deeper than that and goes deeper as the saga progresses. This first book is about temptation and overcoming it. The quote from Genesis in the front truly fits well. No blood has ever smelled so appealing to Edward as that in Bella's veins, but to yield to its lure would mean the loss of everything for him - his and his family's situation in life, his home, and ultimately his happiness...and that's a big deal when you know you're going to live forever. I'm doing a poor job describing this aspect of the story. This particular theme is never stated in so many words, but it's there, the heartbeat of the book, as it were.
Things That Could Have Been Better
Hmm, I'm coming up empty. I suppose Edward is rather too perfect to be real, but he's supposed to be, and he's still amazing in this book. I'm going to have to change my review format to accomodate the rest of these, I think.
Five stars!
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