About three things I am absolutely positive.

First, the movie was bad. While I was home for Thanksgiving break I went with some of my family to see the movie Twilight. I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to movies -- not that I love every movie I see, but there is usually something that I like about most. But when I left the theater after seeing this one, I sincerely struggled to find something I liked about Twilight. The acting was unconvincing, the visual effects were laughable, and the action was too short to be satisfying. (Sure, Twilight is a love story so it's not about special effects and fighting, but c'mon, when the acting is that bad you've gotta give us something.) How could a movie with no redeeming qualities be so popular? (OK, so I liked Jacob, but a character with ten minutes of screen time hardly saves the movie.)

Second, the book was better. They usually always are. I was curious to see what the hype was about. I've been interested in reading Twilight before, but after an attempt to read The Host by the same author, any desire to try Twilight was extinguished. But this time curiosity got the better of me, so while at the airport last Friday I picked up a cheap paperback copy at one of the newsstands. I finished it yesterday. It was OK. I'm hesitant to say that I liked it. I didn't hate it, it wasn't terrible, and I might even go so far to say that parts of it were better than I had expected. But I'm not gonna lie, it didn't take long for me to get sick of Edward's smoldering eyes and marble forearms. The characters were OK. I think the only one I really liked was Carlisle. And maybe Alice but probably because I imagined her being a superbabe. As far as the writing goes, at the beginning it seemed like she was just reading off some list, "I did this, then this happened, and after that this person said this and this is how I reacted." I found less of this happening as the story progressed, which was good. But overall, there was nothing in the book that made me say, "Wow, she's such a good writer." The book was OK. I'll probably end up reading the others but not anytime soon.

And third, I think I somewhat understand the hype of Twilight. Yeah, I can understand why a teenage girl would be into this book. It's easy to read, it's about a girl in high school who falls in love, Edward is a dreamboat, etc. and so on. Do I think it merits the hype? Not really. Other than a good story (which is arguable), it really has little value to the world of literature. It's not thought-provoking and the characters are bland; in short, it doesn't really offer anything that hasn't already been given. Which is completely fine, I read and enjoy plenty of books like this. It simply goes to show what people are looking for in books these days: fluff.