Twilit

I started this before my current hardships began. I don't know if I'll find the heart to care to finish it:

As much as I’ve decried the series for its Mormon allegory, I’m not going to focus on it in too much depth as I examine the story here (rather, I’ll refer interested parties to this article for the LDS allegorical discussion as well as to invite readers to simply Google “Twilight Mormon allegory” if they so desire): http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=22-08-024-f .

The preface.
As I read through this short bit of text, I’m left wondering if anyone took the time to tell the author the difference between a preface and a prologue.

First Sight (also known as chapter one).
Here on the first page is where Bella really starts to lose me: “Neither of us was what anyone would call verbose.” Prolixity (from Latin prolixus, extended, also called verbosity and garrulousness) in language refers to speech or writing which uses an excess of words. Adjectival forms include prolix, verbose, and garrulous. Which, for the layman, means a person who is verbose talks or writes a lot. A lot. If Bella is not verbose, why do we have a 245 page (my edition) novel told in her voice? Ostentatiously, why do we have four such novels in her voice? At some point I’m going to end this exploration with a return to this statement: if she’s so not-verbose why couldn’t she just shut the fuck up then?
Two more pages in I’m convinced that at least the character of Bella has no clue what verbose means because she and her father are displaying it in spades (and by page eight I’m convinced Stephanie Meyer should have fired her copyeditor). I leave the first chapter not at all enamored of our primary antagonist. She comes off as either ignorant or a liar (see the verbose statement above), and she’s shown to be a bit of a bitch, where she can’t be bothered to retain the names of the other girls she meets, nor can she be bothered to pay attention to any of their prattling until they start talking about subjects she herself initiates, rather than any of the other subjects that instead interest them.

Chapter one also resonated heavily for me as an allusion to the newly adult LDS male going on his mission: like Bella wanting to go while simultaneously dreading the upheaval of their life, missing “home” and even the suggestion that remaining would be a hardship for the parent (as Bella suggests staying in Phoenix would be bad for mom, and an LDS child-man turning away from their mission would be a socially damaging action for their parents).

At this point I’m having trouble deciding whether I simply dislike the writing style, or if there’s nothing necessarily off-putting about the style; rather the main character is thus far just so unappealing that I lump my dislike for her into my dislike for Meyer’s prose. We’ll see how far along I can force myself through this.

Bullseye

The last year or so has seen me grow into a less enthusiastic or dedicated reader. Between life in general, paying more attention to kids spouse and friends, video games, wasting more time online, whatever. . .I'm just not setting down as much to give myself a good amount of reading time. Typically I now take 2-3 weeks to read a book I'd normally finish in 1-2 days, and that's for books I'm finding myself enjoying (this reminds me I need to ask Chris if he's done with that Gaiman book so I can forward it to Micah). Right now I find myself struggling through the morass that is Charlaine Harris' book series on her character Sookie Stackhouse (the basis for HBO's True Blood series); I'm midway through week three and barely a quarter in to the second book (I stopped reading the first book when I figured out the mystery/killer's identity on page 56 and skipped to book two) and it's just not doing it for me. . .but my OCD need to finish it is keeping me from starting anything else. Argh. I don't see what Denise, Chrissy and Lynn see in these books but if I ever can get through this, I need to remind myself not to start book three (unless, that is, my enjoyment skyrockets between now and the end of book two). I need to start that other Gaiman book and finish off the last two books of Laurell K Hamilton's that I've been avoiding starting.

I'm curious to hear--if you're a fan, what's the appeal for you? Something's missing the mark for me and I'm curious to see what makes it a bullseye for others.

Crying

Ok, spoilers abound.

Let it be known that I have never read the book Bridge to Teribithia, so I'd had no idea what was in store as we sat down as a family tonight to watch the film version of it. Right now I'm surrounded by a bunch of crying kids and crying Denise.

Part of me is tickled that a movie is making Denise cry; another part of me is pissed that nothing in the way of all the previews I'd seen for this movie warned me it would be a sad movie and make my kids cry. I don't like it when things make my kids cry. Everything I've seen has made this out as a kids fantasy movie, which it is, and leaves out the interlacing of death (which I did see coming miles away).

Hmph.

Weekly Update

It's been a week...

Spent Monday morning freaking out thinking I had a paper due that I wasn't ready for. Thankfully, I was wrong. I have two more weeks on the paper.

Tomorrow I have the appointment with the oncologist that I was supposed to make back in September. I know, I'm a dumb ass about taking so long on that. On the bright side, I continue to feel very well, breathing-wise. I have a cough, but it's just this flu circulating around Chico.

I finally finished all the races on Burnout: Revenge, so that leaves me two weeks to beat Dead Rising before I take the 360 back to Rent-A-Center. My latest ebay round isn't going so well, so it might be a while before I can swing a real one.

We met with the DA and a bunch of other folks attached to helping our side in the coming trial. Right now, it's fairly definite that Lash will be testifying--twice. We're supposed to find out the date of the preliminary trial (the jury trial comes much later) on Thursday afternoon.

Had to write another cento for poetry class. Don't know if I'm going to share that one here--it's a little racy.

I hate typing on this laptop. It gives my biceps a cramp--bad angles. I can speed hunt/peck like I can on he desktop.

50 Book Challenge: completed book #3: Sylvia Plath; Collected Poems. Next up is some book of essays by Robert Haas.

Congrats to Chrissy on her new job. I'm happy that someone in my circle is finally able to do something they actually want to do, career-wise.

We're having Aeia's birthday party this Saturday, but let her open our gifts and Aimee's gifts on her actual birthday. She liked everything, even the socks and underwear. I have to help her paint this cute dragonfly wind chime that Aimee sent on Thursday.

Netflix latest: Sherrybaby. I liked it, but was a bit annoyed at the character of Sherry and the decisions she makes. Mindhunters. This FBI, whodunnit was a good deal better than I ever expected, but still no better than just rental fare. Dungeons and Dragons: the Complete Animated series. The first childhood cartoon that's held up for me as entertaining. And the kids dug it. Next up is Last Kiss. I hope Zach Braff's as good in this as in Garden State (one of my favorites).