Wow, and I thought I was a cynic when it comes to romance.

Yes, their comments were completely stupid and out of line...to the point that I wasn't even going to acknowledge them.

And yeah, that probably is why these books exist, but it drives me crazy. Twilight presents sexual relationships as this completely idealized, pretty, perfect fantasy, and I find that both silly and even kinda sad that some women--grown women, like the girl in this video-- seem to lose themselves in the fantasy. Real-life sexuality is not sweet and pretty--it's messy and dirty and complicated and awkward and more often than not involves people who are less than physically perfect specimens. That's just life. It is what it is. You're not going to find some godlike man who worships you unconditionally for all eternity and says such ridiculous shit as "When I said I didn't want you, it was the deepest, darkest blasphemy" or whatever the hell.

And honestly, I don't believe that girls who are not "hot" are barred from real-world sex. They may not end up with the dude with gelled hair and 6-pack abs (and who wants that anyhow? So many of those guys are total douchebags), but they can find someone. I'm no great beauty, and I'm fine with that. My ex is short and chubby and losing his hair, and I didn't mind a bit. I adored him, and I still do--he's one of my best friends.

Fantasy--including sexual fantasy--has its place, but some people just seem to lose all perspective.

I completely agree that Meyer idealizes immaturity to an almost creepy degree. I think I wrote a blog post a few years in which I categorized the series as the anti-coming of age tale. Bella's obsessive fear of aging, even her disgust at turning like 18 or something is just kinda weird. And I've not read Breaking Dawn, but from I understand it's a total hot mess. I think Bella ends up a Super Special Mary Sue vampire with a fairy tale cottage and a perfect baby and a closet full of fashionable clothes and all the time in the world to have lots and lots of hot sex with Edward. It's like a 13-year-old's idea of the perfect adult life.

Again, Meyer doesn't seem to see anything weird about Bella's desperate desire to become immortal. There's no self-awareness about the fact that immortality and eternal youth is creepy and literally unnatural. (I wanted to be all, 'Girl, didn't you see Death Becomes Her?') Meyer could have taken her Twilight premise and ran with it. It could have actually been like Wuthering Heights, instead of just name-checking it--a story of two messed up, batshit crazy people who form a connection. (Cuz lord knows, they're both pretty nutty characters.) Instead, Meyer plays it straight as this beautiful love story.

(They should really have a way to edit these things.)

Just think about Stephen King--he's pretty much the King heh of the anti-canon movement. He's had to fight for respect within the industry, and he's big on people reading what they want to read. And he caused that big hullaballo by stating publicly that Meyer was a terrible writer. And I think he's absolutely right.

I'm not a huge fan of King's fiction, although he has written some pretty powerful scenes in a few works. I have a lot of respect for him. And I absolutely love his criticism and nonfiction work. I love what he has to say about the horror genre and writing in general, and I often agree with his literary criticism. And King didn't hold back from saying that he thought Meyer couldn't write "worth a darn." Damn straight.

Um....look at my screen-name. Do I look like someone who's been brainwashed by the canon? I worship at the feet of Neil Gaiman, who's probably best known for the Sandman comics. I don't solely read books that are "canon" approved, if by canon you mean the Dead White Male classics list. I read many genres: graphic novels/comics, YA lit, fantasy/sci-fi/ and some mysteries, along with prize-winning literary fiction. I just tend to go for high quality fiction within any genre--not because I'm setting out to be a snob, but b/c it's what I geniunely enjoy. Wonderful fiction moves me and inspires me. I just get bored of crappy writing-I can't read it, understand it, or relate to it. And Twilight is crappy writing, period. It's essentially emotional porn for teenage girls. It's like porn in that it's designed to gratify urges and emotions-total wish fulfillment to the nth degree. Edward's not just hot, he's inhumanly beautiful. He's not just well off, he's ungodly wealthy. He's not just athletic, he's invincible. Bella's got not one godlike creature lusting over her, but two. And the list goes on....

And for whoever said that Twilight is written better than the HP series...seriously?? Not that HP is perfect, but Rowling has that wonderfully dry,humorous, "British" narrative voice. She's got a great eye for detail and a lovely sense of whimsy (kinda like Gaiman actually). And her actual storytelling skills and ability to hold a plot together are incredible.

Granted, it's all subjective, but I don't think Twilight holds a candle to Harry Potter.