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In an effort to embarrass myself in as many international bookstores as possible, I decided to hunt down and photograph the Twilight series last week when I was in Japan. (I can't even express how difficult it is to locate a specific book when you don't speak the language or even understand the script!) I was actually kinda' surprised at how little was devoted to the Twlight series...it basically on a discount shelf (or at least that's what I'm assuming it was.) In fact, this was the only Western YA book I recognized (but then again they may have had more somewhere I didn't see...)

What was amazing was the fact that almost half the bookstore (and it was a large bookstore) was devoted to Manga. I had hoped to visit one of the Manga museums, but sadly, I didn't have time for that on this visit.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

I must say, I'm quite surprised that one of my blogmates didn't beat me to the punch of reviewing Stephanie Meyer's newest book. Now, I will first admit that I am NOT a fan of authors adding to a completed series (I never even read Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard - though based on the poor circulation stats, I'm not alone in that!) However, since the Twilight Saga is the very standard by which I judge all other YA literature, I felt I'd be a little remiss if I didn't at least give The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner a chance - especially seeing as how it's available free online!

Sadly, I can't say that I enjoyed Bree Tanner's story. I found the first half of the novella extremely grating; it seems like all of Meyer's female characters have this annoying whiny helplessness, which was particular unattractive on Bree. (I guess I could stomach it more from Bella because it was more central to the original storyline.) Fortunately, Bree eventually forms a friendship/relationship with another vampire, and together they begin unravelling some of the vampire "mysteries".

The second half of the novella is definitely much better - but then how could preparing for battle not be. My only major complaint towards this part is that Meyer's almost completely glossed over the battle scene. I understand she could only write what Bree actually witnessed, but I would have enjoyed a stronger parallel to the original story in Eclipse.

YA in Korean

Since my blogmate always updates us on the Polish book market, I thought I'd check out what was available in a Korean bookstore. First, let me say I have never seen so many Graphic Novels in my whole life! There was partically an entire floor devoted to nothing but Manga. I'm also proud to say that our two favorites were front and center (though it took me FOREVER to find the Twilight series since I was looking for the traditional black covers I've seen on all other editions.

I did notice a boy looking at "The Hunger Games", and it was all I could to to control myself and not gush about how wonderful that book is! (I didn't want to give the Koreans the impression we American librarians are complete crazy or anything...)

Robert Pattinson on "The Daily Show"

See it here.

I love Jon Stewart.

Twilight Questions

Since so many of you have requested these, I've decided to post the questions I created for my Twilight Ball. Before my trivia contest, I divided these questions into 3 seperate groupings: questions that were fairly simple; questions that would be difficult; and questions that I felt were practically impossible to answer.

When I began asking the questions, I started with the middle category; I quickly learned that these were far too easy. In fact, of the 40-50 questions I chose as the most difficult, only 4 resulted in wrong answers. (I believe the only questions that when unanswered were:

• On what streets was Bella's old dance studio?
• When Edward broke up with Bella and she got lost in the forest, why couldn't she find her way back?
• Where did Carlisle teach upon leaving Forks?
• How many vampires did the Volturi send to clean up the mess in Seattle?

I'd also like to warn that some of the Phoenix specific questions are a little more difficult due to the fact that my audience is from the Phoenix Metro Area. I hope these are helpful. I'd love to hear from anyone who actually uses these!

It's Stephenie Meyer Everywhere!

Lately, it seems like I've been drowning in the world of Stephenie Meyer! With my Twilight Ball less than 3 weeks away, I've been working fanatically trying to get all the details worked out! Right now, I'm re-reading the series to create questions for a trivia contest I'll be having during the Ball (I'll post the complete list of questions here so that everyone can test there Twilight knowledge!)

I've also started reading The Host last week. I can't exactly say I'm enjoying it as much as Twilight as this point (but note that I'm still in the first 150 pages!) I do enjoy how much of the book is taking place in Arizona; I feel like I have this special little connection with Stephenie by knowing the secret landmark clues she discusses (Picacho Peak, Four Peaks, etc.) I'll write a full review once I've actually completed the whole novel.

Finally, congratulations to Ms. Meyer! In addition to having The Host top the New York Times Best-Seller list, Stephenie was also named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2008! Wow, I don't know how things could end up any better for her!

Twilight Movie Stuff

Billy Burke is playing Charlie. And Twilight Moms bombarding the film set? I mean, what adults would possibly be interested in following the making of the Twilight movie? What weirdos. ;)

Pics of the filming here.

Twilight Ball

This summer, I'm going to throw a "Twilight Ball" at my library....the only thing is that I need help! Any good ideas about what to do to keep the teems occupied?

I'm thinking that I'll begin with punch and cookies (or something like that.) Then, I want to have a trivia contest over the 3 books...with hard questions! (What year did Edward "die"? Where did Edward and Bella have their first date? etc.) I'm thinking I'll give copies of the books for prizes. After that, I'm thinking of getting pizzas and playing music for awhile. Oh, I'll also end with a costume contest with two prizes....one for best dressed and another for the person with the best character costume.

So far, that's my program? What do you think? Do you think the will teens enjoy that? Would they actually dance? I'm completely open to ideas/suggestions!

Latest Twilight Movie News

According to this MTV blog post, Anna Kendrick has been cast as Jessica Stanley and Justin Chon as Eric Yorkie. Not the biggest parts, but I am still dedicated to keeping informed. Seeing as how they are supposedly starting filming this month, I can't believe they don't have more parts filled. The post mentioned that they're going to be announcing the casting for Sam and Emily. I'm going to assume this is for the subsequent movies since Emily didn't appear in Twilight.

Various Things

I have just a few random things going on in my mind today, and rather than post separately about each, I think I'll just combine them all here, especially since none of them are particularly exciting in and of themselves.

1. I posted the other day about how Kristen Stewart is going to play Bella in the Twilight movie. Supposedly filming starts in February, but when are they going to cast the Cullens??? Shouldn't they have done that by now? I once posted that I thought Jonathan Rhys Meyers would make a good Edward, but he does/did drugs and that turns me off. Still . . . . (Last time I made the mistake of posting a picture of JRM and then we kept getting all this traffic from Google image searches for him.)

2. Amazon has voting for the best teen books of 2007. The candidates are the top ten best selling books for teens on Amazon.com through October 2007. I am really surprised at some of the books on there (Math Doesn't Suck, for instance - - was it really that popular?). The editors' picks are kind of interesting. I don't think I've seen anyone talking about Arrival by Shaun Tan.

3. I wore my "Sam Hellerman is a Genius" shirt last Friday because I was booktalking King Dork. It was fantastic! Someone in every single period asked me about it before I even started talking about books. "Who is Sam Hellerman? "What does your shirt mean?" I need to get/make some more fun book shirts. (Un)fortunately, I checked out King Dork in the very first period, so I could only kind-of describe the book and not check it out to anyone.

When you know your Twilight addiction has gone too far...

At my library, I am known as something of a Stephenie Meyer fanatic! My coworkers often joke about how bad it is....and trust me, they've had to sit through many of my rants on the glories of Ms. Meyer and her works!

Well, one of my coworkers happens to collect police insignia (I know, the library attracts all kinds of weirdos!) Anyway, when I mentioned to him that Forks and La Push are actual towns, he said he thought his collection included police patches for both of those towns. Well, what a pleasant surprise this morning when I discovered these two patches on my desk! My blog mates may have gotten Stephenie's autograph at the Texas Library Association's Spring Meeting, but we now know who the biggest Twilight fan is here at ATR!!!!

Forks in '08!!!!

Ok, the other day I was browsing the wikipedia pages on Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight series...when I discovered that Forks and La Push are actual towns. While the pictures of the towns leave a lot to be desired, the forest surrounding the towns...and the ocean views are freakin' amazing! Seeing these pictures got me thinking that it might be fun to have a Twilight Tour '08! Fly up to Seattle, and then drive over to Forks for a few days.

Well, as I was researching all this, I discovered the website for the Forks Chamber of Commerce actually has an entire section dedicated to the "Twilight Points of Interest". Apparently the folks at the Forks Chamber of Commerce think we fans are interested in such scenic sites as Forks High School (where Bella first met Edward) and the Forks Police Station (where Charlie works.)

Now, while I can understand the town wanting to jump on the fame Twilight has brought their town, couldn't they come up with a few better sites than the high school and police station? Maybe a historic exhibit that shows the true story of the Quileute Indian Tribe...or something as cheesy as a Victorian Bed and Breakfast masquerading as the Cullens' house (although that might be hard sans the beds!)

Regardless, here's my open invitation for the Forks Tour '08!!!!