Anonymous asked:
bookgeekconfessions answered:
You know what, Anon? Good question.
It’s not about thinking girls are stupid, or gullible, etc. And I don’t know every girl in the world, but I know me. And, my idea of romance, of love, of my perfect guy comes from movies, TV and books.
Writers, even bad ones, have a way of tapping into fantasy, dreams, etc. They have a way of finding your pleasure centers and pushing them.
I started reading romance when I was about 12. I was staying with my Dad in Florida and I got my period. (not my first, luckily). So, I couldn’t go in the pool and I was moody and I hated everything. And i literally sat around, eating doritos and reading my stepmothers books.
My step mother had harlequin and historical romances. I FELL in love with the idea of the rich guy on the white horse who would come and make me a millionaire. Honestly, her books were from like the 80s and earlys 90s. Those books are all about rich pirates, Counts, dukes and billionaire businessmen. I am 25 years old and I have never discriminated against guys that I know, that I’ve crushed on or loved, but I have an ideal.
My ideal guy, is Mr. Darcy. He’s Curran from Kate Daniels or Adam from Mercy Thompson. He’s taller than me, and smart and physically strong. He can literally beat the hell out of anyone who messes with me. Was promiscuous in a past life, but I have personally made him monogamous. He’s protective, but not possessive. He’s domineering, but never dominates me. He’s rich, but doesn’t care about money. We will argue as much as we will love and he will move me into Pemeberly while supporting everything I do.
And this is me. Ms. Feminist, independent, work my way to the top Naomi and I still have a romance novel idea of romance.
So, when a 13 year old reads “Twilight” and Edward is all obsessed, and watches his girlfriend sleep and makes decisions for her based on her own good,etc etc, yes, I believe that many 13 year old girls get the idea that this is love.
I think that “Dinner With A Vampire” is a perfect example of the effects of books like Twilight on a young persons mind. That book is written by a teenage writer. Her name is Abigail Gibbs and her book was published when she was 16 or something. Kaspar, her hero, is probably the worst romantic hero I have ever read. As in, kidnaps, hits, verbally abuses, etc the heroine. Ok, this 16 year old wrote this book. This 16 year old believes that she has written a love story. I actually had a long discussion with another 17 year old , who with all her heart believed that this was a romance. When I questioned her, she would say things like “i’m 17, with the world at my feet, i’m allowed to runaway in fantasy.”
I don’t think that girl is stupid. I think that we get a lot of what life is supposed to be like from our families, our friends and our culture. Right now, our culture is saying that guys who are “misunderstood,” “intensely possessive,” “Dark,” and violent are romantic leads. You can just look at the “Ignite Me” reviews on goodreads. Girls are gushing about Warner. Who abused, and tortured and killed, the entire series. All of a sudden he’s the love of their lives and people are saying “I want me a Warner.” Same can be said for Travis Maddox, Christian Grey and dozen other abusive men. Terrifying.
If he is not intense and hates others guys around you and doesn’t call you every moment, doesn’t sneak into your room and watch you sleep, then he isn’t invested. He doesn’t love you. Never mind that Edward Cullen’s actions mirror those of abusers. Never mind that it’s not OK, to dictate to your girlfriend who she should hang out with. Never mind that Edward literally wants to kill Bella and drink her blood for the entire Twilight book. Not like, “oh i’m a vampire, i like blood and you have it,” no. Edward wants to drink specifically Bella’s blood.
Nevermind that Twilight tells you to fall apart when your boyfriend breaks up with you. To risk you life in order to feel that thrill that being with him gave you. Oh and to change literally everything about yourself and give up your future, your family and your friends for love.
I think that sends a message that young people are receiving and accepting.
LOVE THIS! (I’m stalking your ‘opinions’ tag right now because I have no life.)
This really made me sit and think about how my idea of a perfect love story has changed since I really got into reading. When I first started really reading, I was about 14 and I was reading straight up Urban Fiction.
The Coldest Winter Ever was what kicked it off. A book about a black/hispanic drug dealing family and a young girl falling in love with her fathers main dope boy. And from that point on for almost three years, I was just demolishing these books. Story after another about these girls who lived in the projects being ‘saved’ by these dope boys who were unfaithful yet possessive, violent and manipulative and I LOVED it. There was one scene in a book where the main male character shot the driver side window out of the main female characters car because she didn’t want to talk to him and was trying to drive away and I thought it was so romantic! HE COULD HAVE KILLED HER!
So when I saw Twilight and then read the book at 17 it was something different for me. Instead of a dope boy who justifies his cheating by ensuring his girlfriend that she was “wifey” and buying her a Mercedes, there was Edward who had this single minded focus on Bella and literally could not think about anyone else and again, I LOVED IT!
Thankfully that didn’t last very long. While I did get swept up in the Twilight Pandemonium— I own every DVD, two copies of the first — my idea of what a great romance is changed and became what it is today. ADAM HAUPTMAN! Valek! Po! Brigan! Lord Maccon! All guys who fit the description of your ideal novel romance. (And mine as well. Spot on with that.)
Right now the Twilight series still has 4-5 star ratings on my goodreads because I KNEW when my ideas of love changed and I knew/know that if I read those books again, or even talk about them in depth again, those ratings are going to drop tremendously. I can’t even watch the first four movies anymore because Edward annoys the hell out of me.
The point of this, if there is going to be a point, is that hopefully, with experience and age and reading different kinds of books, these warped ideas of what love and romance is in novels will change over time to something a bit healthier and as realistic as fiction can get.
Also…Still haven’t read Ignite Me because I see what Tahereh is doing..and I DON’T like it. And its been six months since I read Unravel Me.
In Iceland, books are exchanged on Christmas Eve, and you spend the rest of the night reading. People generally take their books to bed along with some chocolate. How cozy and wonderful does that sound?
(More fun facts: Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country, and new books are typically published only during the Christmas season—the frenzy is called Jólabókaflóð, or the Christmas Book Flood.)
this is amazing (via awelltraveledwoman)
There is actually a fantastic planetmoney podcast that explains more about the Icelandic fascination with books. Listen here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/05/23/135846192/the-friday-podcast-a-city-on-the-moon
(via bookoisseur)
She is always sitting with her little nose burrowing into books. She doesn’t read them, Miss Minchin; she gobbles them up as if she were a little wolf instead of a little girl. She is always starving for new books to gobble, and she wants grown-up books—great, big, fat ones—French and German as well as English—history and biography and poets, and all sorts of things.
People wonder why the novel is the most popular form of literature; people wonder why it is read more than books of science or books of metaphysics. The reason is very simple; it is merely that the novel is more true than they are.
When writers die they become books, which is, after all, not too bad an incarnation.
Do not discourage children from reading because you feel they are reading the wrong thing. Fiction you do not like is a route to other books you may prefer. And not everyone has the same taste as you.
I see now that dismissing YA books because you’re not a young adult is a little bit like refusing to watch thrillers on the grounds that you’re not a policeman or a dangerous criminal, and as a consequence, I’ve discovered a previously ignored room at the back of the bookstore that’s filled with masterpieces I’ve never heard of.
Nick Hornby, quoted in this excellent article Young Adult Literature Is Better Than You Think (via hapfairy)
there’s hope for grownups yet.
I’m not a very big fan of prologues. I haven’t found many books that nail it. Most prologues either confuse me or irritate me and I always wonder how publishing teams even let them pass.
If you look at classic literature you’ll find that some amazing novels don’t have prologues…
What are the best books about money, cooking, happiness, and magical amphibians? Here are some of our recommendations (and some of yours, too) for literature to help you survive the adultpocalypse!
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