the Twilight Saga

Now I don't want to go on about my birthday, but one of the cool presents I received leads me to a topic which I think is worth discussing. I have a rather embarassing confession to make - I am completely obsessed with the 'Twilight Saga'! Now before you start snickering, let me assure you that I am far from alone in this affliction. For a start, a friend of mine, who is at least as, and possibly even more obsessed than I am, made me the birthday card pictured above and gave me the set of novels. She had an ulterior motive, which was to retrieve her own copies of the books, which she has loaned to me and I have had for some months now. I just haven't been able to bring myself to give them back as I keep on rereading them. I told my sister-in-law about this over the weekend and she said "What's with that??? I mean you know exactly what's going to happen!" Of course I couldn't explain myself because I don't understand how I can keep wanting to read them either! Not to mention the fact that I have also seen each of the movies at least 3 or 4 times. The friend who gave me the books signed the card "Love from your twi-hard buddy..." and that's about right - we both know it's pathetic but we just can't help it!



For those of you who don't know much about Twilight, it's basically a story about teenaged vampires and werewolves and their love story. Many of my friends were reading the books and watching the movies a couple of years ago when they first came out and were hugely popular all over the world. At the time I rudely poohpoohed the idea and made comments such as "How on earth could you like a story about teenaged vampires??" That will teach me to judge before I know what I'm talking about!

Then one night a couple of months ago, I was flicking around on the television and Twilight the movie came on and I couldn't find anything better to watch. Well, that was it for me - I was hooked from then on! I ripped through all the books and movies within a couple of weeks - and, as I mentioned, I still keep going back for more. So, I was a bit late for this party. I've tried since to read other books, with varying degrees of success, but still haven't managed to kick the habit.I even read '50 Shades of Grey' - the book of the moment - and I did find it very ummm...shall we say interesting and intriguing...and it certainly kept me turning the pages until the early hours of the morning. But somehow the characters didn't grab me in quite the same way. I probably will read the sequels, but I haven't rushed out to get them. Guess I'm just more of a romantic kind of gal...

Now, as I said, I am not alone in this affliction. Apparently there are countless women my age who have neglected their families and their lives in general just to keep reading. The teenaged girls that I work with tell me that their mothers love Twilight even more than they do. One said that her mother was reading it at traffic lights. Women have even sought counselling to try and cure their obsession. That makes me feel a little bit better I guess...

So, what is it that grabs us? Well, from what I can gather, women tend to fall into two camps - Team Jacob (the werewolf) and Team Edward (the vampire). I am Team Edward all the way. And I don't mean that I like Robert Pattinson's looks (nice as they are)- it's only as Edward that I see him as attractive. Perhaps it is that he treats Bella as a fragile, precious creature who is the love of his existence and who has become his sole purpose for living. I guess once you are married and have a few kids, everyone expects to be looked after by you rather than to look after you. Not that I'd trade my life for anything - but certainly Bella and Edward's love story is a very romantic and compelling notion.

Anyway, who knows? I really can't explain it. But I am certainly very much looking forward (as is my twi-hard buddy) to when 'Breaking Dawn 2' comes out in November - we have a night out at the movies planned in advance. I just wish that Robert Pattinson and Kirsten Stewart would stop airing their relationship problems in the media, because it is really spoiling the illusion of Edward and Bella's perfection for me!