Oh, Edward.

Back in November of '09, I wrote a post (see Twilight comments) about my rather out-of-character interest in the Twilight books and the subsequent movie series.  I like to read a few young adult books every year and it just so happened that last year, one of the youth-oriented series I read (and, to my surprise, liked) was the four-part Twilight series.  Now, I will be the first to say that these books are not well written from a literary perspective.  Keeping in mind that my first uni degree was in English lit, you'll perhaps appreciate that as I read the first of the books, I often found myself cringing at the (really, quite) poor grammar and sentence structure; I thought the book screamed for a better editor.  In addition to the poor literary quality of the books, the books are (obviously) completely unrealistic...even for books revolving around a vampire storyline!  The storyline gets crazier and crazier as the books progress; there were a couple of times in the fourth and final novel when I actually found myself saying out loud, "oh, you've got to be kidding."

And yet...

...and yet...

...there is something about the books that captured my interest.  Caught my imagination.  Brought out the still-youthful side of me.  I remember thinking somewhere in the middle of the series that they reminded me of something.  Some time later, while in conversation with my sister about the books, I realized what it was - they kind of reminded me of a modern day version of Pride and Prejudice, that old Jane Austen classic that I did think had many literary attributes (both in its written form and its various cinematic adaptations).  There's an kind of innocent, youthful romance that flows through the Twilight books, interspersed with the hero figure's chivalrous acts and enduring love that ultimately conquers all.  What's not to like about that if you're a woman who's never completely said good-bye to her girlishly romantic heart?  I'm still one to clasp my hands together over my heart (if I'm by myself!) when I sit through a well-written-and-directed romance movie - have you seen the stormy proposal or coming-out-of-the-mist scenes in Keira Knightly's cinematic version of Pride and Prejudice? oh, sigh. I need to dig that movie out again. Tonight.

And so, I hereby confess:  in the coming day or two or three, or as soon as I can get myself out of the house for an evening by myself, I - and about forty million teenage girls - shall go once more to the theatre and watch the third instalment in the Twilight series, Eclipse, which premieres at midnight tonight (no, I won't be going to tonight's viewing...I'm more mature now than I was in November).  Even knowing that the quality of movie will likely be as poor as the second movie (the first one was great!), knowing that my fix is just around the corner brings me just a little shiver of anticipation.  I know already that I will go by myself rather than with a friend (at least the first time) because I will want the freedom to clasp my hands over my heart without fear of mockery, in the event that there are any truly romantic scenes.  And I'll get there early, too, so that after I buy popcorn I can settle into my seat with plenty of time to get  comfortable and in the right mood. Oooo, now I can hardly wait.

I find myself humming that old Bonnie Tyler song I used to love...

* Thanks for the comments.  Jessa, if you love vampires so much, why on earth is so hard to believe that someone would love Twilight ??  Are you trying to tell me that there is such thing as vampire snobbery, where one distinguishes between the various classes of vampires???? If so, I'll stick with Edward's class.  Oh, Edward.  And Alicia, Alicia, I'm totally appalled - how could you be a Jacob fan???  Is it the baring of his chest (in which case, I'd have to say you have at least one point in your favour...but no, still...).  Just when I was loving you as part of this blog, Alicia, I find I may have to ban you from it as a consequence for having Jacob-love.  lol.  You did, however, introduce me to a new word:  Twi-hard!  Thanks for the fun, guys!