Oh, I love Twilight! :)
And before anyone says it, I'm NOT following the bandwagon. In fact, I helped to set it. I was among the first people in the world to read the book - waay before anyone knew who Stephenie Meyer or Edward Cullen was.
Stephenie Meyer lives in the area, and she's the sister-in-law of one of the teachers at my school. Weeks after publishing Twilight, Stephenie visited our school (she no longer visits schools, she's too high profile now) - and we were her first audience apart from anyone who may have picked the book off the shelves without priot knowledge as to what it was (which is a seldom few). And our school was really the first place she stopped and promoted the book, and within that year, through word of mouth, Arizona had been 'bitten.' And this is what's interesting about the whole thing. See, I get a 'front seat' of sorts, watching the entire thing unfold. By the time she had New Moon out, she was well known in the area and was just barely getting her name out on a national level. When Eclipse came, she was a bestselling author - but still not at the point she is now. But now. Every other girl knows who Edward Cullen is. It's just amazing at how quickly this series became popular. I'm quite proud to say that I was among the first. Very few can say that they took interest in the series before all the attention - before opening the pages with the mindset that it was already a good book.
But noow, I work for a Twilight fansite and two of the staffer attended the premier last night, interviewing cast on the red carpet and from what I understand, it's a good adaption of the book. I guess I'll have to see for myself in the end.
Anyway, I'm a fan of the books through and through. First book was definitely the strongest. Second was the weakest, imo. Third was a good bridge/development for the characters. Fourth was alright
:)
Oh! And in defense of Twilight!
- For those of you who haven't read the books and have already labeled it as nothing but a 'romance novel' with 'another hot guy' (Not quoting from anyone in particular), you may wanna guess again.
If you enjoy making literary connections, then Twilight is a rather great piece to analyze. The first novel connects greatly to the Book of Genesis (partaking of the forbidden fruit/Edward). That one is an obvious connection. New Moon connects to Romeo and Juliet and Breaking Dawn is a loosely based allusion to Midsummer Night's Dream.
-- SOme people may not be into that sort of stuff though, in which case, it would be just another one of those 'vampire romance novels.' :)