You Imagine discussion

Some books last the test of time. It looks like Stephenie Meyer's books are going to be among them. They have been phenomenally successful.

What makes her books so great in your mind? What makes them memorable for you? Feel free to pick them apart so everyone can learn what works and what doesn't.

I got 2/3 of the way through before it mysteriously disappeared while my daughter was visiting :O)

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that vampires + 'perfect guy' + smart + fantasy = great. That upholds my theory that when people find something that is meaningful to them, the story becomes great in their eyes, even if it's not great in a literary sense.

This definitely isn't a literary read. But, the plotting, pacing and character development were fantastic in this book.

I almost hurled it across the room when I got to the part where Edward was glittering in the sunlight.(I'm sorry, but vampires are basically walking corpses. They should not be beautiful in the sun. Sorry, I've become cynical about vampires.)

But I recommend it highly to my middle school students because it's about something they're interested in and I don't have to worry about language and content. (Well, except for the kids whose parents disapprove of vampires ... and they just borrow the books from their friends and read them at school.)

I think the pace and the action made it great for escapism. You could just jump in and enjoy the story.

sometimes you just need a good story to take you away from the tedium of everyday life.

I don't know exactly what drew me into this one. I love vampires, so that helped, and then there was the basic plot... I'm just not sure! I tend to read stories where I feel like one of the characters, which this book did for me, so maybe that was it. I just don't know for sure.

I agree. I don't really know for sure. It's just that it pulls you in, and you can't help but like it, though I had my doubts for the longest time and didn't read them, claiming that i didn't like vampires. I thought they were sorta stupid, and why can't they go out in the sun? i didn't like them at all
now, i do. now, i'm in love like practically everyone is.

In answer to your question about the sun, Allie (and not wanting to give a looong lecture that'll leave you yawning)-- There have been a lot of debates about the "not going out into the sun" busines. Supposedly an "accursed creature" can be touched by the purifying light of day. In my novels, vampires have X-P or PMLE, which simply means their DNA can't repair the damage done by UV light. I have a doctor working with them to affect a cure. Can you imagine an entire species with the same hereditary disease? Wow! My mother had PMLE (Poly Morphic Light Eruption)and was unable to stand exposure more than a hour or she looked as if she's been placed on a barbeque grill.

If we look closely, there are probably a lot of medical answers (now available) to many ancient myths.

Bwaah, Twilight.

It was kind of good, I guess. But I really don't think that it deserves all the hype that it gets - there are a lot of fantastic books out there, some better in my (humble) opinion, but Twilight is what is gathering up all the attention. There's an entire shelf of Twilight stuff at the Barnes & Noble in my town, and really, I find it distressing.

But that's just me. XD