twilight-hype!

new moon started in austria like a week ago and a lot of my friends got caught by the hype. Don't understand me wrong I actually like twilight, I mean it's okay. Well, I read all the books and I also watched that first film. But I came to a point were I just can't understand anymore why people are so crazy about it.

At this point I must admit that there are some very good arguments against twilight. I would like to quote a forum discussion I was reading:

It's from: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081112220227AA5Ars2

-Bella needs constant supervision.
-Her domineering, chauvinistic boyfriend is constantly breathing down her back, -kidnaps- her, and she writes it off as love.
-Jacob -forces- himself on her, and the girls still fight over who's better, Edward or Jacob. I'd kick both of them to the curb.
-Not to mention Jacob has threatened to -kill- himself if Bella doesn't admit she loves him.
-Bella can't be happy unless she's with a vampire that she fell in love with moments after meeting. And he even hated her then.

I enjoy reading vampire and werewolf books and I also read some other books, that are kinda like twilight (as twilight isn't anything new actually).

So I started asking myself and others: "What is so different about twilight and what makes it so catchy?" 

I thought about that a lot since the second film started, which I actually decided not to watch, cause the first one wasn't that good and I'd like to stay with the books.  So I kinda have a few "theories" by now:

• Maybe, as there are basically only girls/women who like twilight, the idea of a completely normal girl, who is way from perfect, can get a marvelous vampire-guy and then actually also has a werwolf fighting for her love. 

• Also the fairy tale like ending gives young girls the hope of a happy end with a perfect guy like Edward.

• Some girls may be caught by the fact that it is so easy for them to associate themselves to Bella.

• Also the book is, as many people have to admit, written in a very exciting kind of way (my congrats to Meyer).

• Since years and years vampires, werwolves and other fable creatures have amazed us, though especially vampires (Dracula, Anne Rice, Van Helsing etc.), humans are always amazed by things we cannot understand and twilight offers us the idear of an unbelivable and amazing world with the perfekt guy and is also written in a very close way (by close I mean, that you can easily connect the book with you daily live).

Anyway. , I think Stephenie Meyer is a good writer, you can really see how good she is when you read the host (I actually liked the host way better than twilight, so if anybody who knows Stephenie Meyer reads this: Please tell her to write a continuing novel!!)

If you are other oppinion than me, you can comment, but if you just want to complain without thinking, let it be!!

Music

YES, YES, I know music has nothing to do with books, but who cares.

I'm just listening to... wait a sec... know I am listening to Gavin DeGraw. Do you know him?)

I really like his songs, although I only have 5 of them on my computer. My favorite one till now is: I Don't Want to Be

Maybe you know that song it is also the intro song from One Tree Hill.

If I listen to music I always pay attention to what the people sing, I like to think about what they are trying to tell us with this song. So here are the lyrics:

"I Don't Want To Be"

I don't need to be anything other

Than a prison guard's son

I don't need to be anything other

Than a specialist's son

I don't have to be anyone other

Than the birth of two souls in one

Part of where I'm going, is knowing where I'm coming from

[Chorus:]

I don't want to be

Anything other than what I've been trying to be lately

All I have to do

Is think of me and I have peace of mind

I'm tired of looking 'round rooms

Wondering what I've got to do

Or who I'm supposed to be

I don't want to be anything other than me

I'm surrounded by liars everywhere I turn

I'm surrounded by impostors everywhere I turn

I'm surrounded by identity crisis everywhere I turn

Am I the only one who noticed?

I can't be the only one who's learned!

[Chorus]

Can I have everyone's attention please?

If you're not like this and that, you're gonna have to leave

I came from the mountain

The crust of creation

My whole situation-made from clay to stone

And now I'm telling everybody

[Chorus]

I don't want to be [x4]

I made my favorite part bold, well it's also the corus, but... This song really has a meaning for me. I often look at others or at me and think: Who am I actually? Or: Who do I want to be? Who do they want to be? Do I see them as they see themselves?  For me this song tells you:

To be yourself and believe in what you are or that you can be who you see in yourself and to not let anyone change that. The song also reminds you to not forget your roots and that they are with you all the way. But it also warns or points-out that there are many people who are fake. The bottom-line would be: Don't change for anybody else or for what they could think just be yourself.

Updating =)

I thought it would be time to give a little update on what is new. Well, as I have no folowers it doesn't matter but still...

I'm in a lot of stress lately. Still trying to read the book about Anita Berber, it is so boring...
At the same time I started reading a lot of books about homosexuality (I have to do a debate about that in school and I have to arguement against it). As I am a "pro person" and accept people that are different then me it is very hard for me to find good arguments. So if one of the people reading this can think of something good please write me a comment.

In the moment I am sitting at school (I know I shouldn't surf the net during class, but...). The people in my class are quite enjoyable. So if any of my classmets (what I don't think) read this:
I lov you all!!

Anway, I'm going to a concert tonight (Mando Diao) , maybe I'll put some pic on, if they are nice well see. Well, actually as this blog is about books, I shouldn't, but who cares, I can do what I want it's my blog!!

So I wish you a nice day and I have a little quote for the way (oh, that rimes)

Every one is unique, like everyone else.^^

just some thinking..

Always those titles. I never know what title to give my blog, cause I never know what I will write before I start writing (or at least I don't know that 80% of the time).

So... I actually have no idea why I started this post, I guess I just felt like writing something. I am siting at home having another boring weekend. Just started reading a new book it's the biography of Anita Berber, a famous german dancer, she was one of the first naked dancers in Germany. I have to wright an essay about her so thats why I am reading the book.

In the last weeks, months  all the books I get to read are for school, I think that kinda sad, I mean I like to read almost every book, but I am a little behind with my personal reading. 

I am trying to read some of the classics at the moment, e.g. I am reading Ulysses by James Joyce. Well I am not really reading it, it's laying around waiting to be red. This is a fascinating book as it is 900 pages long and only about a single day in the life of a guy called Leopold Bloom.

Jugend ohne Gott by Ödön von Horvath

I don't know if this book was ever translated to english  so I have the german title for it. I had to read this for german class (my mother-tongue is german). Usually if I have to read a book for german I get really suspicious, my german teacher has a strange book taste. But, oh wonder, this book was really interesting. I actually almost read it in two days (it isn't very long though).

The book takes place shortly before the beginning of WW2. It is about a teacher, who doesn't think the way he is supposed to think during that time, but acts as if he does to avoid loosing his job. Not long after the beginning of the book he goes to a kind of camp with his students (where they learn to march and shoot, like a training camp for young soldiers).

Anyway, in the second or third night of camp a camera from one of the pupils is stolen. The teacher decides to watch camp the next night and sees how on of his students receives a letter. In order to find out about the letter he reads the students diary and gets to know that his student is having an affair with an outlaw girl from the woods. He is planning on teaching the student a lesson, but all his plans break when one of his pupils is murdered.

The outlaw girl is accused of the murder, but for the teacher it is clear, that she is innocent. So he starts looking for the real murderer himself.

Just a little note

This blog was planned to be a place for book reviews, because I read a lot and I like to write. But I don't like the idea of it beeing so serious with just reviews and nothing about me, what I think and what the books have to do with my life. I want to show the people, how books change the way I think and feel in my daily life. And I want to give people the possibility to see what I see when I open a book and dissapear between the pages.

Black Mirror by Nancy Werlin

I actually had to read this for english class, so this is just the text I handed in:

Abstract:
The book tells the story of 16-year old Frances Leventhal, who is visiting the exclusive Pettengill School. In the beginning of the story we find out that Frances’ brother Daniel has committed suicide by taking an overdose of heroin. Frances feels partly responsible for his death, because she was so busy with her own problems , that she didn’t even notice his. Losing her one and only friend, Frances finds herself alone and lost. To make up for her failure Frances tries to reach out for Daniel’s friends. She becomes involved with Unity Service, a charity organization run by the students of Pettengill, which meant a lot to Daniel. Instead of welcoming her, Saskia, Daniel’s former girlfriend, threatens to make Frances’ life miserable if she will try to enter Unity Service. With the help of Ms. Wiles, an art teacher, and James, a mysterious, small time drug dealer, Frances ignores Saskia’s threats and joins the organization. Soon Frances realizes that something is really wrong with Unity Service. Could it be that Daniel was actually murdered? With the help of Andy, the mentally challenged groundskeeper, Frances starts unraveling Unity’s secrets. With many astonishing facts Frances finds herself in the middle of a huge drug dealing plot, unsure who to trust, as no one is who he seems to be. Soon Frances starts fearing for her own life.

Quotation of scenes with personal comment:


Actually I was surprised, I thought the book would be a lot worse, especially because I usually dislike these types of books. It turned out to be an interesting story, although I find it sad that the author kept the book quite short, particularly in the last couple of chapters. The story starts slowly and introduces you to the characters and then suddenly all happens at once and I started to be a little bit puzzled. I really liked the way of writing and I think Nancy Werlin is a very talented writer. She makes you feel with the characters in the book and she is very good at describing what a person thinks.

“He was still looking at me. Looking right down into my eyes. You.
I wanted to take a deep breath, but I couldn’t. There wasn’t enough air in the cafeteria for anything but a shallow gulp.
Oh. My. God.
Ms. Wiles had been right.
I was in love with a small-time prep school drug dealer.” (Chapter 18, Page 124)

I didn’t like this in the middle of the book Frances suddenly fell in love, I thought it really didn’t fit at that moment and that there was not enough time, enough pages, to really make you feel it. To me it felt like the writer thought: every good book involves love so I have to do that too. Also in the end of the book it wasn’t important anymore it was just put aside, so why put it into the book at all? I especially disliked the scene where she realized, she was in love.

“”Aren’t you afraid?” I said to James. I could hear suddenly in my voice that tears weren’t far away, but I wouldn’t let them come any closer. I said what I wanted to say. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll get infected? Or that, some day, you won’t know the difference between-between-“ I stopped then.
I couldn’t go on. […]

I buried my face in my hands.
Then, in the darkness, James answered. Almost. He said: “I feel good about Patrick Leyden being in jail. Not to mention his ten best pals. I feel good about their probable futures.” Another second, and then: “The world is not a pretty place, Frances- But I know where I stand in it. I do my best out there.”
I looked up. I wasn’t crying. “Fighting evil?” I said hoarsely. I wanted it to sound sarcastic, but somehow it wasn’t. It was just-sad.
A few seconds passed and then James said, ”Yes. That was the idea. Doing what I can. I can’t say I never have regret, but I’m not sorry to be out there trying.” I thought he was done, but then he added quietly: “Every one of us is needed.” […]

“Saskia,” I said eventually. “Do you think she’s heroic? Successful at fighting evil and all?” Could a cold-blooded murderer also be a hero?
I wondered what Saskia’s motives had been, exactly. What was I had seen in her face as I sat across from her, as I looked deep into her eyes? Pain? Regret? Feat? What had she wanted from me? Forgiveness?
Was what she had done evil? All of it? Part of it? I thought so, but I-I had done nothing. What was that? Who was I to judge?
“Is that what you think?” James asked. “That Saskia is a hero?”
“I don’t know,” I said. I turned back toward the window, and watched the darkness outside the car.” (Chapter 34, Page 239)

This was of my favorite parts in the book, the conversation between James and Frances. I really liked it, although, as always, it was too short for my taste. I would have really liked to discuss the same theme with James personally and I thought it was the most interesting conversation in the whole book. Also how Frances thinks about what James says and all the things that have happened. What she asked herself, the reader should ask himself to. She questions what other people in the book may feel and what their backgrounds may be, questions I thought about too.