Twilight

One of my  favorite quotes from this book: "When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it's not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end." pg 1.

I had just picked up this book from my local library because the movie is now on Netflix, and I want to read the book first before I watch the moive.  I haven't read the book yet and I haven't watched the movie yet either.  I just never had the time to read the book since I heard my friends and siblings talk about it back in 2005.  It sounds like a lifetime ago, but to me, it felt like yesterday. I own a lot of books but I don't know how I never bought this one. So, do you have a copy of this book on your bookshelf?  If not, why not?

My thought on Chapter One:

After reading the first chapter of this book, I can see the appeal of the story to young adults  back in 2005, back before 'The Vampire's Diaries' became the hit TV series that got me hooked to my TV week after week.   Reading the first chapter of this book gave me a dejavu. As I read along,  I had the image of Stefan and Elena in the pilot of 'The Vampire's Diaries'.  I hadn't read any teenage fictions before this one. I didn't do leisure reading when I was a teenager, I watched TV instead.  I guess a lot of these fictions must begin on the first day of school where the handsome cold and mysterious guy meets the girl who has some sort of trouble at home.  Having watched all the episodes of  'The vampire's Diaries', I know very well what Elena's problem at home was.  Bella in this book clearly had her own problem at home.   Or, why did she move herself from Phoneix to Fork in Washington, running away from her mother?  I guess I just have to read on to find out...

My thought on Chapter Two:

It's amazing how technology had advanced since this book was published in 2005.  When Bella was emailing her mother, it reminded me of those days when there was no i-phone.  I hadn't written an email to my friends or family for a very very long time. If the book were written today, Bella's mother could be texting her every minute of the hour.  Even though there was no i-phone in 2005, there was the internet and there was Amazon already.  So, I don't know why Bella had to plan on visiting a bookstore in Olympia, which was a long drive away from Fork.  Why didn't she just go on Amazon and get the books she wanted?  By the way,  Bella impressed me for being a confident and effective cook. Elena in the TV series 'The Vampires' Diary', couldn't cook anything.   When I read about how easy it was for Bella to make the steak and potato dinner for herself and her dad, I remember what a loser I was when I was a teenager. I couldn't even boil water then. Talking about dinner, steak and potato sound like a great idea for tonight.  This is what I'm going to make for my family now, thank you for the inspiration, Bella.

My thought on Chapter Three:

After reading this Chapter,  I can see why this book became the best seller and the great hit in the box office.   There was just something really magical about the chemistry between Bella and her high school crush Edward  Cullen.  There seemed to be this destined bond between the two and there was this big secret that the two of them  now shared after the handsom and mysterious Edward miraculously saved Bella's life from a freak car collision on  that snowy day, at the school's parking lot.  

My thought on Chapter Four:

After being saved by  Edward in the freak accident, Bella had become everybody's concern in her school, particularly Tyler Crowley whose van almost squished Bella. Bella was sort of surprised by her popularity in this new school.  All the boys were asking Bella to go to the Spring Dance. This is like every teenage girl's fantasy escape.  Going to a different school in another small town, and then become popular there sounds like the perfect escape for many of us who grew up , in the mean high schools in big cities. Again, Bella was cooking dinner in this Chapter. She was cooking chicken enchilada this time to keep herself busy so she could keep her mind off Edward.  She had been seeing Edward in her dreams every night since the accident.  But in real life, how many of us dream of the same person every night?  This is why this book is a fantasy, because phenomenon like Bella's dreams can only happen in fictions.  Bella also got her dad's permission to drive to Seattle all by herself on the day of the Spring Dance in her school, so that  she could totally avoid the dance.  My parents would never have allowed me to drive hours from a remote small town to a big city when I was 16.  No way.  I don't think I would let my daugther  do it either.  There are just too many girls and women who disappeared in this country en-route to somewhere, with their abandoned cars found along side the highway...so, no.  What came as a surprise in this Chapter was, the handsome Edward asked Bella to go to Seattle with him. She accepted of course. 

My thought on Chapter Five:

Bella had a fainting episode because of the blood type experiment in her biology class, which Edward had purposely skipped and had earlier suggested Bella to do the same.  While being escorted to the school's infirmery by her classmate, Edward showed up and took over the duty of taking Bella to the infermery by literally carrying her. Wow, Edward looked like the handsome chivarly we all dream about and that's exactly why we expect every romance story to have a guy like this.  Anyway, Edward used the fainting episode to help Bella get an excuse from her Gymn class that she always dragged about.   How nice!  He also insisted on driving her home in his Volvo.  Inside the  car,  Bella recognized that  one of her favorite songs, "Clair de Lune"  was playing.  Now, Edward and Bella even shared the same favorite song. I never knew what this song was until I looked it up on Youtube.   It's actually quite beautiful and I like it too.  I can imagine how romantic it must be, to be riding home in a Volvo in the rain, with a handsome guy who I crush on, while Clair de Lune  is playing.  

My thought on Chapter Six:

Bella and her schoolmates went on a social outing in First Beach at La Push.  The author's description of this beach is exactly as scenic as the beach is in reality.  Out of curiousity, I went online to look up the direction to get there from my town.  I learned that I'll  have to fly into Seattle and then rent a car to drive almost 4 hours to get there.   I looked around for food near that beach, there is this restaurant that has this beautiful ocean view.  Can anyone tell me if this restaurant is owned by the Quileute Tribe? Anyway, Bella met a young boy whose name is Jacob. He was from the native Quileute Tribe in La Push, who happened to be the son of her father's best friend Billy, who sold Bella's father her truck that she adored.  Jacob told Bella that legends said that the Quiluete Tribe were descendants of the wolves. He also told Bella the history about his great grandfather and the Cullan clan, who were alledgedly vampires.  

My thought on Chapter Seven:

Bella couldn''t stop thinking about what Jocob had told her.  She did many things to dsitract herself from thinking about the possibilty of  Edwards Cullan being the Vampire, like listening to the music, taking a shower, going for a walk, doing homework, and cooking etc, etc.  These are actually the stuff that many of us do when we need to keep our mind off something. But what most of us won't do is to go take a walk into the creepy woods when we want to take our minds off our creepy dream, like Bella did. Why did Bella want to walk in that creepy woods on a gloomy and rainy day after she had a scary dream about Edwards Colluen and Jacob?   I guess one rule for writing fictions is, the author has to make the characters do things that normal people don't do.  At this point of the book, I can clearly see that Bella is a very competent and confident cook.  I admire her ability in putting together dinners with such ease.  Anyway, because of her upcoming trip to Port Angeles with her schoolmates Jessica and Angela,  I became curious about the place.  I really want to put together a trip to visit all these places where Bella had been to.  Then I found out from my research online that Port Angeles is rated F in terms of being a safe city in the USA.   Why are there so much crime in so many places in the USA? What's wrong with our country?

My thought on Chapter Eight:

So even in a fictional world years ago, Port Angeles was not  any safer than its crime rating depicts as of now in reality.  This is so sad.  Anyway, Bella was followed by a group of thugs when she was looking for a bookstore in Port Angeles. In many developed countries, one can't imagine the danger of merely going to a bookstore. But in America, there is no guarantee on whether one can safely return home after a trip to a bookstore.  This bad possibility isn't ficitional, it's real. This is why it saddens me. But lucky for Bella, the handsome Edward came to her rescue as he was reading the minds of  Jessica, Angela and other passersby. By detecting the evil inner voices of the thugs, Edward was able to locate Bella and rescue her.   It turned out that Edward had followed Bella to Port Angeles. So, he was stalking her?  But why? Edward's rescue of Bella was followed by a dinner at an Italian restaurant where Bella had a glass of coke and a plate of mushroom ravioli that came with a basket of breadsticks. This reminds me of Olive Garden. No boy ever took me to an Italian restaurant for a dinner date when I was 16.  It would only happen in my dream.  No boy even treated me to a McDonalds.  Bella just had the dream dinner date that many teenage girls dreamed about.  I can see why this book is beloved by so many teenage girls. 

My thought on Chapter Nine:

This whole chapter is about the time that Bella spent inside Edward's Volvo on the way back home to Fork from Port Angeles.  I'm always impressed by the fiction writers' ability to make a chapter out of ordinary mements that I go through everyday and yet,  I never noticed anything special to tell people, let alone writing about it on so many pages.  Bella and Edward had the longest conversation in this Chapter thus far,  because I guess there was really nothing to do inside a car but to talk.  This is the Chapter where Bella tried to find out what Edward was.  Bella was guessing that Edward was a vampire, but she didn't have any detailed information on Edward's vampire life in his vampire world. Other than confirming Bella's suspicion of him being a vampire, Edward didn't give much more infomation.  I guess this is how the author lured me to read on to the next Chapter.  So far, I still like this book. I think this book is a page turner, and if only I had read it the year it was first published, I would have continued to read on. But now in this day and age, I have chores in the house to do; the kind of responsibility that I didn't have back then. So, I have to stop reading here.  

My thought on Chapter Ten:

This chapter is all about the coversation between Bella and Edward during lunch time in the school cafeteria.  I'm so sick of the high school cafeteria.  It's because I've been watching Dawson's Creek on Netflix for the first time in my life, and I have been seeing a lot of scenes and chichats in the high school cafeteria.  Now I have to read about how Bella and Edward walked up the line in the cafeteria and put food on their trays. I'm just bored by the cafeteria scenes.  If I'm writing  a fiction about highschool kids, I don't want to write any of the cafeteria scenes anymore. I want them to go somewhere more fun for lunch for Christ's sake.    

P.S. I'm now giving a bunch of magazines and books that are like new in condition to make space in my cluttered bookshelf.  Feel free to click here to check them out before you head to the bookstore to spend money to buy any of them.