Talking Point: Book Hangovers

Symptoms

• You feel like crying when you finish a book, not because it was particularly sad, but because you don't want it to end.
• You find yourself unable and/or unwilling to start a new book, because you're not ready to let go of the last one.
• You go back and reread your favourite passages - or, in extreme cases, the whole thing.
• You imagine what the characters are doing now or how they'd react in certain circumstances. Serious afflictions may even lead to fanfiction.
• Everyone you know starts to look panicked whenever you come their way. You're not sure why - you only want to remind them again that they MUST read this fabulous book.
• You squee when you come across others who have a similar love for the book and instantly become their friend.
• You start to lose your ability to form coherent sentences and instead begin to express yourself in gif form (which is not particularly practical in real life).
• You can't concentrate on anything and wander around in a daze for days.
• When you finally do start a new book, it inevitably disappoints you, because it just can't live up to the last one.
• You want to take the book to bed at night and cuddle it.

Hi, my name is Belle, and I'm suffering from a book hangover. You see, ever since I finished Melina Marchetta's The Lumatere Chronicles, no book has been able to satisfy me. Granted, I've only tried three, and they could just be bad books - but I get the feeling that even if there were outstanding, I still wouldn't enjoy them as much as I normally would. My heart is still in Lumatere.

I was trying to think of previous book hangovers I've had, and the one that immediately sprang to mind was when I read Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga - which of course is light-years away from The Lumatere Chronicles (and not in a flattering way). Still, despite all its faults, The Twilight Saga got under my skin. First I tried to cure my hangover with more vampire books. Then I ended up just rereading the whole saga.

Another time I remember is when I finished David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It's quite a hefty book and took me a little while to read, but when it was done I was left wanting more. Not because the ending wasn't satisfying, because it was - rather, I had enjoyed the world of the book so much I wanted to stay there awhile longer. I read some other Dickens books to remedy the situation, and I enjoyed them, but none grabbed my heart quite so much as David Copperfield.

So now, I have this book hangover I need to cure. Do I just bite the bullet and reread the trilogy (though I would feel guilty about all the completely unread books staring at me from my shelves)? Try and find another fantasy series that I may love as well (even though I'm not a massive fantasy reader and wouldn't really know where to start)? Or just plough away through mediocre reads until the hangover lifts? Tell me, dear readers, have you ever had a book hangover? If so, what was the book, and how did you get over it?

The Movie Was... Meh: Breaking Dawn Part Two

 
So. I've ended my relationship with The Twilight Saga. It's over. And not a moment too soon.*

Last night I dragged the Husband along to see Breaking Dawn Part Two, and I can't say either of us were particularly excited about it. I HATED the book, especially the second half, but I felt like I should watch the movie to, you know, get a sense of closure. The Husband just came along because he's a good sport. He subsequently slept through half the movie.**

As I mentioned in my post about Part One, I had a lot of problems with the book, which in turn meant I had a lot of problems with the movie(s), seeing as it's the same story and all. There were a few redeeming qualities,but not many. Spoilers ahead!

What I Liked

• The lullaby was played during the opening credits AND Edward actually plays it again to Bella and Renesmee. It's quite sweet. 
• The sex scenes were OK. Lots of facial close-ups. I guess they had to keep it PG or whatever. Sigh.
• Bella bashing up Jacob when she finds out he's imprinted on her daughter. Though her screaming about the Loch Ness Monster nickname was cringey, as is everything else about that name.
• Unlike in the book, Charlie actually wants to know what has happened to Bella. She refuses to tell him, and he gets really frustrated. I couldn't stand it in the book when Charlie went from a caring father to someone who was all "don't want to know", so I was really glad they changed it in the movie.
• The end, when Bella shows Edward her memories, was sweet, and the flashbacks provided a nice sense of closure.
• It was cool that they featured everyone from the saga in the credits, even if they didn't appear in this movie. It was a nice way to finish it off. Although by the end it started to feel a bit soap opera-ish, with the actors turning and smiling towards the camera.
• There was more action than there was in the book, but...

What I Didn't Like

• Of course it wasn't real action, it was just Alice's vision. I knew that going in, because I had read spoilers. The Husband, knowing nothing about the book or movie, said he thought that was going to happen anyway, because there was no "flash" of Alice's vision otherwise. But when the "twist" was revealed, everyone in the theatre laughed and there was more than a few cries of "are you serious?!" and "you've got to be joking!" I don't think many people were very impressed. I certainly wasn't. It's still lame that there's all that build up and nothing essentially happens. They're freaking vampires and werewolves, and no one dies? Yaaaaaaawn.
• RENESMEE. Everything about that character is The Worst, including the CGI - that baby was so freaking unrealistic, it was laughable. Literally. I couldn't take any scene with her in it seriously. When she finally turns into a real girl, she's too big. And the whole Jacob thing is still incredibly creepy, no matter how they try to make it seem like it isn't. The vision that Alice gets of Jacob and Renesmee together in the future is not only cheesy, it also doesn't make any sense - Alice can't get visions of Jacob OR Renesmee, which is why she can't just show everyone it's going to be fine in the first place.
• Bella looks good, but everyone else in the cast looks pretty terrible. The styling, hair and makeup was once again totally off for pretty much everyone. Edward was not hot. Which defeats the main purpose of the movie, really.
• Bella's narration was unnecessary (hello, Captain Obvious!) and distracting.
• Everything turns out perfect. Too perfect. It's boring. I blame Stephenie Meyer.

Rating: 2/5

*Seriously, I'm contemplating getting rid of the books. Maybe I'll give them one last hoorah before I dump them, but I think it would just be painful.
**Random anecdote: Before leaving for the movies, I was mucking around and threw some glitter at the Husband. It didn't really wash off. He had to walk into a Twilight movie as sparkly as Edward. Teehee.

Bookish Buys: Twilight Edition

As you might expect with the massive Twi fandom, there is a ridonkulous amount of merch out there. Unfortunately, most of it is really daggy/creepy/weird/hilariously lame. But I sifted through all the crapola to find the most unfugly items I could...

Edward necklace by Pretty Little Charms

Twilight pencils by Bouncing Ball Creation

Twilight ornaments by In From The Rains

Team Jacob card by Cards By CG

Twilight confetti by Firefly

Renesmee's locket by Midnight Sunn

Vampire skin ring by The Crafty Sprite

Bite Me necklace by Charms 4 You

Bad wigs mug by LTT/LTR

Breaking Dawn necklace by Enchanted Leaves

The Movie Was Better: Breaking Dawn Part 1

So. I just got back from watching Breaking Dawn Part 1. As I've mentioned a few times this week, I haven't been that excited about watching it - I especially haven't felt the anxious excitement that I experienced with the first film (and, to a lesser extent, the second and third). Part of this I think is because it's been so long between movies, and my interest has naturally subsided. Another part is the fact that it's split into two movies, and I knew I'd have to wait another whole year to get the complete story... But mostly I think it's coz I really hated the book. It makes me ragey.


All that being said, the movie was... OK. It was pretty much what I expected it to be. There were a few things I LOVED, many that I laughed at, a couple that I hated, and still more that left me feeling not a lot at all. I'm going to break it down below, so if you don't want to read some massive spoilers for the movie STOP NOW.

The first and probably last time I'll use car-related humour. (Source)

What I liked

• Bella's wedding shoes and the back of her dress are gorgeous. I wasn't a fan of the front though. 
• The wedding vows were adorable - especially because they played "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" by Iron and Wine in the background as they said their vows and then as they kissed, with the camera panning around them. It was a lovely, unexpected echo of the first film that tied it together nicely and reinforced the fact that Bella is getting exactly what she wanted when she first danced with Edward to that song.
• Jessica is a welcome voice of reason and hilarity - "Do you think Bella will be showing?... Please, why else would you get married at 18?!"
• The lullaby is back! After going missing in New Moon and Eclipse, Bella's lullaby is played not once, but TWICE in Breaking Dawn Part 1. The first time is when Edward is doing his speech, and the second is towards the end, in a flashback montage of Bella and Edward's relationship. I was so happy to hear it again and thought they used it really well, especially the second time.
• The honeymoon is pretty cute. There are some sexy scenes, though nothing too graphic obviously. But it was MUCH better than the fade-to-black in the book. When I read it, I hated how Edward freaked out and Bella practically had to beg him to have sex with her again, but it's not as annoying in the movie. It's actually kinda cute, with scenes of them having fun together as Edward tries to tire Bella out, she tries to seduce him and he tries to resist. Their interactions are pretty sweet. Then she gets pregnant, and it's all downhill from there.
• There were a few things that were cut from the book that I was so glad not to see, especially the term "little nudger", and Edward's request that Jacob give Bella "puppies". Ugh.
• Edward actually gets some balls and becomes really angry with Bella. He even yells! He apologises later, naturally, but at least he wasn't a total wimp like he was in the book.
• They kind of made a joke out of the fact that Bella (read: Stephenie Meyer) chose the worst name ever for her baby. WORST. NAME. EVER. They all looked totally embarrassed to say it out loud. Which was pretty hilarious.
• The part where Edward "hears" the baby (I'm avoiding that name as much as possible) for the first time happens when he's alone with Bella, and it's actually quite a touching, beautiful moment between the two of them.
• The fight with the wolf pack at the end added some much-needed action.

What I didn't like
I'm not going to list everything, because then we'd be here all night. Needless to say, I've got a lot of issues with Breaking Dawn - much the same issues I think many fans have. As for the movie, its faults are largely due to the crappy plot it inherited from Stephenie Meyer. But there were a few movie-specific things that irked me:

• The hair and makeup. I swear, it's been getting worse with each movie. The one that bothered me most was Edward. He's supposed to be BEAUTIFUL, but his hair was way too dark and flat most of the time, and his face was way too pasty. I know he's a vampire, but it was just not a hot shade of white. What made it even worse was that a few times when, say, he had a top button open on his shirt, his skin was clearly a different colour below the neck. Lame. The one area makeup worked was when Bella is preggo. She definitely looked like crapola, as she's supposed to.
• I don't really remember Renee being so happy with Bella getting married in the book. And wasn't she warning Bella OFF getting so serious with Edward in the last movie?! Her excitement when she receives the invitation just felt a bit wrong to me. Charlie's reaction, on the other hand, was pretty spot on - as was his speech at the wedding!
• It's been awhile since I read the book, so I could be wrong, but I also thought Bella knew long before Breaking Dawn that Edward had killed people. His last-minute confession on the night before their wedding was just weird and out of place.
• The scenes where the pack are all in wolf form and communicating telepathically are kinda, well, lame. 
• I was personally glad not to have to witness Bella spewing up blood, but the birth scene, while not all that graphic, was still pretty gruesome. The director definitely tried to add in some more horror elements in this movie, and I can appreciate that, but let's face it - 99.9% of fans are watching this for the love story. You don't go to Twilight if you want to be scared. It's like McDonald's trying to add salads to their meals. Missing the point!
• RENESMEE. Need I say more? Everything about the name, the character, the whole plotline, is horrible. It's bad in the book, but it was kinda worse in the movie, especially watching Jacob fall to his knees at the sight of a baby. Pretty creepy. It's even creepier when Edward has to explain to everyone that Jacob has imprinted on his daughter. It was icky enough to read about, but hearing it out loud was totally gross. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
• I think I'm going to dislike Part 2 even more, because that was the part I really didn't enjoy in the book. There's so much RENESMEE in it, which I can't stand, and I found it hard to relate to Bella as a vampire. But I still don't want to have to wait a whole freaking year to see it. It's WAY too long between parts, in my opinion. They're just prolonging the pain.

Rating: 2.5/5

If you've seen Breaking Dawn Part 1, let me know what you thought!

My Book Boyfriend: Edward Cullen

 

My Book Boyfriend, hosted by the lovely Missie at The Unread Reader, is a weekly meme that allows book bloggers to showcase our fictional crushes (and drool over each other's). I've avoided featuring Edward Cullen for a long time because it seemed like such an obvious choice, and now the time has come when I'd planned to feature him in honour of the release of Breaking Dawn... and I have to admit, I think I'm over him. I never thought this day would come, but there it is.

Once upon a time, I was full-on obsessed with both Edward Cullen and Rob Pattinson, rereading the books and rewatching the movies over and over again, visiting Twilight blogs daily and plastering my man wall/desktop with photos of RPattz. But these days? They barely muster a smile, let alone a squee. When trying to find quotes for this post, I struggled - what I once found hot now just seems super cheesy and lame. I dunno, I think maybe I've just come across so many awesome books (and book boyfriends) since reading Twilight, Edward just pales in comparison (and not coz he's a vampire). I'm watching Breaking Dawn tonight, so maybe that will reignite my passion. But I'm still picking Edward now, for old time's sake... and for the love that once was [insert sigh and look of longing here].

Swoon-Worthy (And Occasionally Laughable) Quotes

"I have always loved you, and I will always love you. I was thinking of you, seeing your face in my mind, every second that I was away. When I told you that I didn’t want you, it was the very blackest kind of blasphemy.”

“If I could dream at all it would be about you.”

“For almost ninety years I’ve walked among my kind, and yours…  all the time thinking I was complete in myself, not realizing what I was seeking. And not finding anything, because you weren’t alive yet.”

“Then you were nearly crushed to death in front of my eyes. Later I thought of a perfectly good excuse for why I acted at that moment - because if I hadn't saved you, if your blood had been spilled there in front of me, I don't think I could have stopped myself from exposing us for what we are. But I only thought of that excuse later. At the time, all I could think was, 'Not her.”

Manip Madness: Breaking Dawn

Your regularly scheduled Mag Monday post is interrupted today because a) Nothing in magazines this week particularly caught my fancy, and b) Breaking Dawn Part 1 is released on Thursday, and I thought I should kick off Monday with something Twilight-related to generate some excitement (coz I gotta be honest, I'm weirdly not feeling any). I was going to feature my favourite Twilight magazine covers, but they're kinda old news, so I thought it would be way more fun to look at fan manips instead. Behold, Breaking Dawn as the fans (with Photoshop) see it...

The wedding

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The sexy times (a.k.a. the honeymoon)

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The pregnancy

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The demon spawn (a.k.a. RENESMEE)

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 The "let's pretend Rob doesn't have a pasty, scrawny, Englishman's body"

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And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Let's just say Twilight fans are very... creative.

Top 5: Gateway Books (Plus Follow Friday)

This week for TGIF, Ginger asks "Gateway books: Which particular books opened you up to a new genre?" Here are my top five...

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. My gran gave me a copy of this book when I was little, because I was so obsessed with the musical Oliver! Obviously it went way over my head, but it was the first classic I remember attempting to read. Later, my grandad bought me a whole heap of abridged classics that gave me an even greater taste, and as I got older I returned to them and Oliver Twist and quickly fell in love. By the time I was 17, I was a fully-fledged classic lover, going on to study English Literature at uni.
 
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I've read dystopian novels before - such as George Orwell's 1984, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and P. D. James' Children of Men - and while I did appreciate them, I still wasn't a massive fan of the genre as a whole. Which is why I was resistant to The Hunger Games for a very long time, until finally the hype became too much and I caved. Thank goodness I did, because I freaking loved the series - so much that I decided to give dystopian books more of a chance. 

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares. When I was at uni, I had a friend who was really into YA. Not gonna lie, I judged her on it. I thought she was too old to be reading silly teen trash, and saw it as, well, really dorky (clearly I was going through a pretentious stage or something). Then, for my birthday, she gave me Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, one of her favourites. I'd seen the movie and enjoyed it (for some reason, I didn't turn my nose up at trashy teen movies as much as books), so one summer day I decided to give the book a go. I LOVED it, and devoured the whole series within a week. Needless to say, it caused me to do a complete 180 in my views of YA , not to mention made me feel pretty damn guilty - and silly - for being so judgey.

Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding. This was the first adult chick lit I read, and what a book to start the genre with! It made me laugh out loud more than any other book I could remember reading, and it still makes me giggle every time I read it. It's such a fun read, and Bridget's inner monologue is so easy to identify with. The experience of reading BJD has made me pick up many a chick lit book, with mixed results.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Ah, Twilight. I have a feeling I'll see this on many lists in answer to this question. It seems that Twilight introduced a lot of people to a lot of things, whether it be reading in general or a particular genre. For me, it was the first paranormal romance I really read. I picked it up not long after I started working at Girlfriend, curious to see what was sending so many teen girls (and, for that matter, adult women) ker-razy. Like so many others, I got completely sucked in, and went on a binge of vampire/paranormal romances for the next few months. Too much of a good thing meant I went off the genre completely for a while after that, but now I like to mix the odd PNR with contemporary, literary and other types of fiction.

P.S. This weeks Follow Friday question from Alison Can Read and Parajunkee's View is: "We want to see what you look like! Take a pic with you and your current read! Too shy? Boo! Just post a fun pic you want to share." Because it's 11.15pm here and I'm not exactly ready for my close-up, here are some pics of me with my favourite author, Charles Dickens, instead. Or the closest I'll ever come to him, anyway.

At Madame Tussauds

At Dickens' house in London

Happy Friday everyone!