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Old 11-21-2009, 10:32 PM
 
Location: Chicago
6,025 posts, read 15,316,723 times
Reputation: 8152

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ketabcha View Post
I loved the Twilight series of books.

I'm a huge fan of Stephen King. I'd like to know the source of that quote because it does not sound like him at all. I've never heard of his being unkind and I've been a loyal fan since his first book came out which was years and years ago.
it was from his Entertainment Weekly article, I believe (he writes a lot of articles for them). SK has made it no secret that he loves JKR and isn't a fan of SM. a lot of authors have said similar things, but most keep their mouths shut b/c SM is a cash cow at this moment

ETA: correction, it looks like it was from an interview he did w/ USA Today. one link below. don't think he was being unkind, per se, I just think he was being brutally honest and he's sharing an opinion MANY in the field have of SM but are to scared to share (b/c she is a cash cow and very popular right now and many young adult fantasy authors would likely love to have her blurb review on their books)


http://blogs.usaweekend.com/whos_new...ive-steph.html

Last edited by eevee; 11-21-2009 at 10:47 PM..
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Old 11-22-2009, 09:41 AM
 
Location: Michigan
89 posts, read 201,253 times
Reputation: 113
I resisted reading the Twilight books at first because, well, why would I want to read something about vampires and secondly everyone was acting so crazy about it. My friend gave me the first two books, and feeling that a book is a terrible thing to waste, I began to read. I too finished the 1st 2 books in about a week, much to my husband's dismay. :]

My definition of good literature is when I am not distracted by the author's writing. If they decide to be all artsy and leave out all the punctuation for example, I usually throw the book down in disgust. Or if the dialog is unrealistic and poorly written. Whatever distracts from my ability to being immersed in the story, I consider bad writing.

In Twilight, I was only distracted maybe twice. A couple of Bella and Edward's lines were too cheesy not to notice. So to me, it was not bad fiction. I loved reading the books and I understood why everyone was so crazy about them. Except for the 10 year old girls, that seems a little young to love the books, but I guess not....

That being said, Stephanie Meyer herself says she thinks her writing is a lot better in her later books like Breaking Dawn and The Host.
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Old 11-22-2009, 01:08 PM
 
Location: So Ca
26,658 posts, read 26,627,701 times
Reputation: 24712
Any book that gets teenagers to read is all right by me. My sixteen-year- old niece told me that "the writing isn't that great" so I haven't expected much (I'm half way through). I think Stephen King's comment is very telling about what many teenage girls are looking for, and it sounds as if he meant it in a positive way.
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Old 11-22-2009, 06:03 PM
 
8,228 posts, read 14,185,562 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FreshFresh View Post
We know the movies stink but are the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer any good?
"Why that's the same story, different chapter girl" snap

Thats an obscure movie quote, but to say (IMO), I read the first book, thought it was awful, have no desire to see the movie - and I'm a huge vampire fan, have been for 40 years and have a pretty high tolerance for vampire schlock
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Old 11-22-2009, 06:16 PM
 
Location: Whoville....
25,386 posts, read 35,466,787 times
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The question of whether or not a book is well written is answered in whether or not it appeals to its target audience and it does. My daughter couldn't put the books down. I, sort of, read them. I found them very long winded and skipped whole sections. I hate when authors ramble and Meyers rambles a lot. Just tell the story thank you.
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Old 11-22-2009, 06:36 PM
 
Location: So Ca
26,658 posts, read 26,627,701 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Giesela View Post
I'm a huge vampire fan, have been for 40 years
I agree that these don't quite fall into the same category as Bram Stoker's Dracula, which is such an incredibly well written book that it can't, of course, be compared.

I agree with the poster who said that you truly do have to skip whole sections. (At least with Twilight, but I don't plan on reading any of her other novels.) But we're adults....maybe this long-winded writing would have appealed to us as teens?
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Old 11-23-2009, 06:48 PM
 
Location: Chicago
6,025 posts, read 15,316,723 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CA4Now View Post
I agree that these don't quite fall into the same category as Bram Stoker's Dracula, which is such an incredibly well written book that it can't, of course, be compared.

I agree with the poster who said that you truly do have to skip whole sections. (At least with Twilight, but I don't plan on reading any of her other novels.) But we're adults....maybe this long-winded writing would have appealed to us as teens?
eh, not really. from what I've been told, kids and teens appreciate straight-to-the-point storytelling more than adults. plus, there are a lot of books written for kids that even as an adult I love
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Old 11-24-2009, 07:44 AM
 
5 posts, read 9,192 times
Reputation: 18
I really hated these books. I wanted to go through with a red pen and just make corrections. The end of the fourth book...what a let down. I hate the relationship between Edward and Bella. It is nasty, clingy, and totally unhealthy and the scary thing is is that this is portrayed as the ideal. Meyer had such an amazing topic that she could have done so much with but instead she takes 200 pages to say something that any good writer could have said in 2. The second book by the way. I almost didn't finish reading it because it was 200 freaking pages of bella saying how lonely she was. GET OVER IT!!!
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Old 11-27-2009, 03:38 PM
 
1,422 posts, read 2,299,459 times
Reputation: 1188
Quote:
Originally Posted by googler9 View Post
I really hated these books. I wanted to go through with a red pen and just make corrections. The end of the fourth book...what a let down. I hate the relationship between Edward and Bella. It is nasty, clingy, and totally unhealthy and the scary thing is is that this is portrayed as the ideal. Meyer had such an amazing topic that she could have done so much with but instead she takes 200 pages to say something that any good writer could have said in 2. The second book by the way. I almost didn't finish reading it because it was 200 freaking pages of bella saying how lonely she was. GET OVER IT!!!

Good for you for attempting New Moon - I struggled to get through Twilight as I found Bella so annoying!!!!!!!!! It was one of those books that "Once I put it down I couldn't pick it up"

I felt that Meyer created her as an "empty vessel" into which her readers could project themselves - as a character she is flat and frankly irritating.

This made me laugh :

If 'Twilight' Was 10 Times Shorter And 100 Times More Honest | Cracked.com

Last edited by London Girl; 11-27-2009 at 03:46 PM..
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Old 11-27-2009, 03:40 PM
 
6,034 posts, read 10,664,043 times
Reputation: 3989
Quote:
Originally Posted by FreshFresh View Post
Are the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer any good?
Honestly, it took effort to slog through all three of them. The characters are all so incredibly shallow and emo that I just wanted to slap all of them and let the "bad" vampires have them.
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