Wherein Beldaran flips a bit

[Beldaran]

I'm reading Twilight and enjoying it.

Mock away.

Moocow... I know you're a fan. Now we have something in common! No, I'm not gay. I just like romantic stories, and I read a lot so out of curiosity I starting reading this insanely popular series.

UPDATE: I just finished it. It only took 6 hours to read. I haven't read young adult fiction in a long time, I forgot what a smooth read it is. It's a fun book, very romantic. I may not get around to reading the rest of the series, because I'm too busy, but I can appreciate that lots of people (especially girls) love this series. It's charming.

[SUCCESSOR]

Charming indeed. I read all the books in what must have been a week and a half tops. Not a bad series if you have very little time for reading. Quick and easy guilty pleasure for adults with real taste. Or an obsessive pleasure for teens(and dumb adults) without.

[Pineconn]

Lay off the alcohol, sir.

[The_Amaster]

Yeah, not to my tastes, but don't really see anyway arguing this could end well, so all the more power to ya man.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

Can somebody move this to GB?

I feel as though my response would be more acceptable there.

[Icey]

cad read my mind... I too would welcome a move.

[moocow]

Thank you, Beld, you da man! I know a few guys at work who have read it, and enjoyed it for the story itself. While sparkly vampires are ridiculous, it's still fun to read about something a little different. If you can get around to doing so, read the other 3 books. The second book is a little more of a slow read, it's pretty emo, but the last two books are good. Breaking Dawn is my favorite.

[MottZilla]

Just remember if you watch the movies, then it's time to consult a professional.

[Mercy]

Can somebody move this to GB?
Bloody no. Keep the sparkly pedophi...I mean, vampires the hell out of GB, please, 'kay-thanks.

I could not get past the first page but to each their own. I can appreciate junk fiction for light distraction--I read my share of V.C.Andrews back in high school.

-m

[AtmaWeapon]

I'm reading Twilight and enjoying it.
I don't really care about this part because I spend my free time playing video games about elves that shoot lightning at rabbits and millionaires who put on leather bondage outfits and beat up ladies dressed like jesters. Not sure which of us is qualified to make fun of the other here.



UPDATE: I just finished it. It only took 6 hours to read. I haven't read young adult fiction in a long time, I forgot what a smooth read it is. It's a fun book, very romantic. I may not get around to reading the rest of the series, because I'm too busy, but I can appreciate that lots of people (especially girls) love this series. It's charming.
I'm finding this out (that YA fiction is a hoot) recently too. My wife reads it like crazy and is in contact with a bunch of the authors over Twitter. I got back into it when Louis Sachar came to town; I loved the Wayside School books when I was a kid and I've read There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom, Holes, and his new one The Cardturner this weekend. Good stuff.

A good adult novel can be nice, but sometimes it's nice to have something mindless. When I worked through Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide, I could only read for an hour or so at a time and had to stop to concentrate on what everything meant before continuing. Not so in YA; I can just sit down, read the book, and not worry about digesting it until I'm done.

It's not exactly YA, but I got Aaron Allston to sign my X-Wing books on free comic book day and I've been meaning to look at those too :)

*edit* also ctrl-alt-del you're a big boy, go make your thread about Beldaran in GB if you want. Just remember you've probably enjoyed a video game or something else that's worse than Twilight. People who have to make fun of other people are usually worried their secret will be found.

[Beldaran]

It's not exactly YA, but I got Aaron Allston to sign my X-Wing books on free comic book day and I've been meaning to look at those too :)


That's awesome! I have all the X-Wing books from when I was a kid. I love Star Wars novels. I have a big shelf of them, lol.

I met a bunch of comic book artists on free comic book day, but I had never heard of them and I can't remember their names. It was in Dallas at Madness Comics. Also, I spend way too much money on comics. :)

[ctrl-alt-delete]

*edit* also ctrl-alt-del you're a big boy, go make your thread about Beldaran in GB if you want. Just remember you've probably enjoyed a video game or something else that's worse than Twilight. People who have to make fun of other people are usually worried their secret will be found.

You know why everybody other than you, including Beldaran, took my response as a joke?

Because it was a joke.

Relax a little.

[AtmaWeapon]

THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS OK

I *am* relaxing a little. A couple years ago I would have tried to read all 1,725 posts until I found something. This time I got as far as doing a post search then asked, "What are you doing?" and decided there wasn't an adequate answer to the question. Then I went to the grocery store.

Right now I'm stressing out because I want to make some tea for when my wife gets home tomorrow but I can't remember how long it's supposed to steep. My memory says 17 minutes but that seems pretty ridiculous long. I'm out of books for the moment.

*edit* Yeah, and this post shows me something's broken about how I post on internet forums. For some reason I don't have any fun anymore and just go all stream of consciousness.

[Mercy]

You know why everybody other than you, including Beldaran, took my response as a joke?
Add me to the "didn't know you were joking" list. Now if the question were whether or not you are a joke...then we would have a topic for GB.

I still pull out some of my YA books now and then. Some were whimsical and some still make me ponder life's deeper questions. Labeling literature "Young Adult" is more of a marketing ploy anyway. Writers such as Mark Twain and Roald Dahl may be marketed to the young adults, but they were not strictly writing for children. "A Separate Peace", a personal favorite, is shelved as YA but I have seen adults seriously moved after reading it. And then there are all the writers of "grown-up" books who write like juveniles.

Atma, iced tea? I usually steep about ten minutes for iced tea unless making sun tea or herbal tea. Do not squeeze the tea bags or it will be bitter.

-m.

[AtmaWeapon]

I really didn't like A Separate Peace. It wasn't so much the man-on-man action as I really hate a book where the protagonist is someone I don't like. (I guess one could argue the narrator may not have been the protagonist; in that case I say I hate a book where the narrator is someone I don't like.) That kid was a really big jerk and I kept hoping that maybe he'd die in the end.

Oddly enough school is what turned me off to reading. I used to read tons of books, not all Star Wars novels and YA fiction either. Junior year of high school was a block of some of the most depressing books I'd ever read:

The Grapes of Wrath
Ethan Fromme
Jude the Obscure
The Scarlet Letter
Their Eyes Were Watching God
As I Lay Dying

The only book we read that year I enjoyed was Of Mice and Men; it was the *least* depressing of the group and took Steinbeck back off of my "do not read" list. After that year, I think it was 3 years before I read a book for fun again (Wicked), and even then I read less than one book per year. Thanks, school!

Oh and maybe I screwed up the tea. Lipton's website said 5 minutes so I did that. I guess the worst-case scenario is it will be sugar water.

[Mercy]

Not a fan of Steinbeck. Too "on the nose" for my tastes. I just reread The Scarlet Letter two weeks ago. I was really in the mood for Hawthorne and unfortunately it was the only one I had handy.

As a Wilde fan, I am used to the protagonist being as an unsympathetic character. It is all a matter of perception...some people read Twilight and think, "ooh, sparkly vampires," and some read it and think, "ew, pedophiles with some sort of viral condition." Not exactly my idea of sympathetic characters but then I root for bulls during bullfights.

I am about to start the second book in Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series. Some has to have suggestions for better reading.

-m.

[SUCCESSOR]

17 is fair game.

[Mercy]

17 is fair game.
Explain, please.

-mercy

[Beldaran]

I am about to start the second book in Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series. Some has to have suggestions for better reading.

If you don't already know, let me warn you. I have read the entire Sword of Truth series. It is heavily laced with thinly veiled promotions of Objectivist philosophy. I am not an Objectivist, especially not of the Ayn Rand/Leonard Peikoff school, but I am enough of a rationalist that it didn't bother me. It bothers some people.

That being said, I happen to like the series.

If you like science fiction, I am currently obsessed with Vernor Vinge. You should read a Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. Note: You will hate these books if you do not like science fiction.

[Mercy]

I have read the entire Sword of Truth series. It is heavily laced with thinly veiled promotions of Objectivist philosophy.
I read at least a couple of her books (Anthem is my favorite) every year since I was fourteen or fifteen. They are like holiday interludes with old friends for me. Each time I view something differently than before due to some new bit of information or experience that occurred since the last reading. There are a few other books/writers I reread with same or near same frequency. I am a big Heinlein fan but as I tend to lend those out (I never lend books I expect returned) a lot, I cycle through his Future Universe books about every two years or so.

For the record, those who take Rand word-for-word as gospel...just as bad as anyone who takes any book word-for-word as gospel.

I am trying to like it; so far I have read The Wizards First Rule and Debt of Bones. The series is what piqued my interest in the books but that may be a detriment. It is not so much the differences, although I prefer certain aspects in the first book over the series. Maybe it is because I find it easier to go along with the less rational moments in a Sam Raimi production than in a novel. Then there is the angsty matter of Richard and Kahlen not being able to be together and blah, blah, blah. Getting a little old on the series. There is only so much of that I can take else I would still read vampire novels. Waah! I have super-human strength and senses, am practically immortal so long as I don't frell up, and am irresistible to whichever/all gender(s) I am into *sob* but I have to drink blood to survive...oh, the humanity!! I am about to start Stone of Tears so I will get back to you in a day or two.

Vernor Vinge...name is familiar but cannot recall why off the top of my head. I will check him out after I finish posting this. Sci-fi is fine with me. Contemporary pulp fiction set in space/future can get a bit sketchy but some of it is fun. There are not many genres I avoid (sub-genres, yes...as per previous comment re: vampire fiction) which has lead to some rather unfortunate reads in the past but plenty of gems.

-m.

[Glitch]

The Twilight movies are an insult to all good vampire movies.

Dunno about the books, they could be different, though I doubt it.

[Dechipher]

17 is fair game.

Depends on the state :)