TWILIGHT, from a teen's point of view.

[Elianna]

Everywhere I look on campus I see teenage girls clutching "Breaking Dawn" on my campus.

I think it's awesome. Teens. Reading... not picture books. Wow.

Okay. I'm being sarcastic. But... most kids don't like to read. Sarahh's daughter is obviously exceptional and gifted and has probably devoured 500 page books. That normal teens would attempt such things as Harry Potter and Twilight makes me happy.

I've read them. Not written well. Not particularly interesting. But... it's a fun, superficial teenage romance story. Period. And she's making a heluva lot more money at it than me. Good thing I didn't quit my day job, yet.

 

[sweetness6280]

Everywhere I look on campus I see teenage girls clutching "Breaking Dawn" on my campus.

I think it's awesome. Teens. Reading... not picture books. Wow.

Okay. I'm being sarcastic. But... most kids don't like to read. Sarahh's daughter is obviously exceptional and gifted and has probably devoured 500 page books. That normal teens would attempt such things as Harry Potter and Twilight makes me happy.

I've read them. Not written well. Not particularly interesting. But... it's a fun, superficial teenage romance story. Period. And she's making a heluva lot more money at it than me. Good thing I didn't quit my day job, yet.

Taking off my Lit Crit hat and replacing it with the mom hat:

With this point I have to agree. My otherwise very depressed and very disconnected daughter picked up the first book, then proceeded to read the entire series in a little over a week! She's not thrilled that I'm not more impressed with them, but I told her that I don't have to be impressed for her to enjoy them.

She is now reading more, and we are making weekly trips to the bookstore. This is a child with learning disabilities who has thought she was too stupid to read "big books." If she is reading for entertainment, I'm happy.

My earlier "literary" answer aside, , I have my own "superficial" favorites. They may not be classics, but I enjoy them.

 

[manyeyedhydra]

I teach Grade 8 and every single one of the girls in my class is obsessed with the book. I read it simply to know what they are talking about. I have told them that it is poorly written and yesterday actually suggested they read Dracula for another perspective.

Oh God, why would you do that!

All credit to Bram Stoker for creating one of horror's most enduring icons, but boy does that book drag interminably in the middle.

Give them Frankenstein instead.

 

[Guest]

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[Guest]

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[CeriseNoire]

Taking off my Lit Crit hat and replacing it with the mom hat:

With this point I have to agree. My otherwise very depressed and very disconnected daughter picked up the first book, then proceeded to read the entire series in a little over a week! She's not thrilled that I'm not more impressed with them, but I told her that I don't have to be impressed for her to enjoy them.

She is now reading more, and we are making weekly trips to the bookstore. This is a child with learning disabilities who has thought she was too stupid to read "big books." If she is reading for entertainment, I'm happy.

My earlier "literary" answer aside, , I have my own "superficial" favorites. They may not be classics, but I enjoy them.

I agree, it is nice to see my struggling readers read something, and I don't bring up my distaste for the book with those particular kids. I do occasionally suggest other books they might want to check out. It's a nice way for them to start getting the concept of reading for pleasure.

But yes, we all have room for "fluff" reading one in a while.

 

[Elianna]

Yeah. Like, I don't know... porn?

(GASP! Not for teenagers, though. I was just thinking about my own personal fluff. )

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

Our son, on the other hand, has to be dragged to the library.

*sigh*

He's ten. He's a math whiz. But he isn't too excited about reading.

At least he'll read some of the more gory Goosebumps series, but it is always a challenge to get him off computer gaming and into the printed page.

See if he'll give "The Eudamonic Pie" a try. Great story of the math behind breaking the bank at a casino. Math whiz lit. If he digs that we can dig up all kinds of geek lit.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Let's be very careful what we're saying, here. There's reading and there's Reading. All across America there is a great uproar over the discovery that today's boys don't like to read. Horrors! They're growing up ignorant!

Got news fer y'all. Boys do, too, like to read. They just don't like to read what English teachers want them to read. And I'd like to point out that I still don't read what English Lit teachers would like me to read. On the other hand, I'll absorb the print off the back of a cereal box if there's nothing else around. So, Sarahh, if the math whiz would rather read books teaching him to kill more Cylons on Battlestar Galatica, he's just being normal. Males like my partner Jim who take Jane Austin on fishing trips and the odd ones out.

Cracks me up!

 

[Guest]

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[sweetness6280]

Let's be very careful what we're saying, here. There's reading and there's Reading. All across America there is a great uproar over the discovery that today's boys don't like to read. Horrors! They're growing up ignorant!

Got news fer y'all. Boys do, too, like to read. They just don't like to read what English teachers want them to read. And I'd like to point out that I still don't read what English Lit teachers would like me to read. On the other hand, I'll absorb the print off the back of a cereal box if there's nothing else around. So, Sarahh, if the math whiz would rather read books teaching him to kill more Cylons on Battlestar Galatica, he's just being normal. Males like my partner Jim who take Jane Austin on fishing trips and the odd ones out.

Cracks me up!

I have a Jane Austen action figure.

 

[Guest]

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[PrincessErin]

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[voluptuary_manque]

I have a Jane Austen action figure.

Now that's funny! On the other hand, I'm working my way through Walter Goldschmidt's Bridge to Humanity. Otherwise my idea of a good read would be things like Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe, A History of Happiness, Greene & Greene: Masterworks, Maneaters of Tsavo and anything by Terry Pratchett . . . or Walt Kelly!

 

[PrincessErin]

.....

 

[sweetness6280]

Oh God, why would you do that!

All credit to Bram Stoker for creating one of horror's most enduring icons, but boy does that book drag interminably in the middle.

Give them Frankenstein instead.

Frankenstein is phenomenal... on every level.

I suggested that to point out that this is not the first vampire novel. I actually preferred Dracula to Frankenstein. I'm happy they are reading but I'll be happy when the fad wears off.

Erin

I actually prefer Carmilla by Le Fanu. Many believe it is this novella that inspired Stoker.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I never mention his dislike of reading to him.

But he does read the gaming manuals - we have many. He does read books about dragons and ghosts and the Guiness Book of gross records - we get that every year, too.

See? It's just like I said. He doesn't read novels. And why would we expect him to? Novels are about people and their relationships. That's foreign country to boys, especially Asperger's boys. How's he feel about Robert Heinlein? I never read any fiction at all until I discovered Farmer on Ganymede. I read nothing but SciFi for a couple of years and then one day I discoved . . . The Hobbit!

 

[Guest]

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[starrkers]

Just read your first post to my teen (just turned 16). Her comment:
"I like her!" She then launched into her own diatribe on the evils of this "romance, sappy crap shit story" (I think that was it).

 

[Guest]

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[jomar]

Coolest vampire? Catherine Deneuve. Period.

And the hottest.



I skipped Twilight and Australia in favor of Quantum of Solace. And I didn't squeal once!

 

[Just-Legal]

Hehe, this reminds me of getting into a fight with my Eng Lit teacher at school over having to read "To Kill a Mockingbird" for my GCSE. The majority of the class was trying to get out of reading it because they thought it was too "hard". I was trying to get out of reading it because I'd read it before and wanted to punch the author - it drove me INSANE. I absolutely hated it and I just knew the GCSE questions were going to be along the lines of "praise the author's ability to demonstrate x".

It got to the point where she'd have the rest of the class reading it aloud while I was sat in the back with another book hidden in my copy. She knew damn well I was doing it and never pulled me up on it once. I still passed the GCSE with flying colours.

I also managed to get out of watching the movie because, again, I'd seen it and I REALLY didn't want to have to watch it again. It's one of my mother's favourite movies (she adores a lot of the old B&W stuff) and she sat me down to watch it as soon as she heard I was studying it. At least I had popcorn.

Looking back, I think one of the reasons I hated the book so was because of the inherent unfairness. I remember asking my teacher "How can people be so *dumb*? There's no way that guy could have done what he's accused of? How can hatred *blind* people so much?" I think that's how she knew I'd read it properly hehe.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Hehe, this reminds me of getting into a fight with my Eng Lit teacher at school over having to read "To Kill a Mockingbird" for my GCSE. The majority of the class was trying to get out of reading it because they thought it was too "hard". I was trying to get out of reading it because I'd read it before and wanted to punch the author - it drove me INSANE. I absolutely hated it and I just knew the GCSE questions were going to be along the lines of "praise the author's ability to demonstrate x".

It got to the point where she'd have the rest of the class reading it aloud while I was sat in the back with another book hidden in my copy. She knew damn well I was doing it and never pulled me up on it once. I still passed the GCSE with flying colours.

I also managed to get out of watching the movie because, again, I'd seen it and I REALLY didn't want to have to watch it again. It's one of my mother's favourite movies (she adores a lot of the old B&W stuff) and she sat me down to watch it as soon as she heard I was studying it. At least I had popcorn.

Looking back, I think one of the reasons I hated the book so was because of the inherent unfairness. I remember asking my teacher "How can people be so *dumb*? There's no way that guy could have done what he's accused of? How can hatred *blind* people so much?" I think that's how she knew I'd read it properly hehe.

See? That is exactly my same complaint with assigned Greyte Lyt'rachure. The books seem to be peopled by the sort of human that makes me avoid the monkey cages at the zoo. They blunder through the author's anxieties, totally clueless, and I, the reader, am supposed to applaud them for it.

And intellectuals decry that boys "don't read".

And that fewer males are attending college.

Helloooooooooo . . .

 

[JagFarlane]

See? That is exactly my same complaint with assigned Greyte Lyt'rachure. The books seem to be peopled by the sort of human that makes me avoid the monkey cages at the zoo. They blunder through the author's anxieties, totally clueless, and I, the reader, am supposed to applaud them for it.

And intellectuals decry that boys "don't read".

And that fewer males are attending college.

Helloooooooooo . . .

-chuckles- One other point for guys....how often do you have a male English teacher? I can say through 12yrs of public school...I had one...and because I voluntarily took extra English/Lit classes, 13 female teachers. Very rarely did I run across any books in SciFi/fantasy/action type books. Instead they were dramas, romances, classics.
While I have nothing against reading Shakespeare, there are other genres that aren't necessarily being introduced into the classes, and honestly, sometimes makes it hard. My teachers usually cut me a touch of slack, but thats because they knew, through conversations [and my decimating reading contests] that I actually read quite a bit, and was reading at a college level when I was 10.
As far as Twilight goes, if its encouraging kids who didn't usually read beforehand to actually try books, then its all good. As far as it being too fluffy, look at what they're watching on tv and in movies. Ever watch Saved By the Bell or Bring it On? -Gag- You could make fluffernutters with them.