Twilight of Bookmonkey: Day Twenty-One

Well, having finished every book in the series, here’s what I’ve got to say about the entire Twilight Saga (The books specifically).

1) The series is a supernatural romance series. If you or your kid are old enough to deal with the sex and violence, I would recommend reading the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris instead (the basis for the HBO series True Blood)

2) The series has vampires and werewolves in it, but all of them are only sort of vampires and werewolves. If you’re looking for good books with these monsters in them I would recommend trying the classics (Dracula and The Werewolf of Paris).

3) These books sure are popular. Although both of my kids state that they are no longer interested in the series, both of them have friends who are, or friends parents who are. My personal opinion is that this comes down to a “right place, right time” phenomenon, as the franchise definitely hit a powerful chord with a huge part of the reading audience (many bookstores now have a supernatural romance section, and yes, that is due to the works of Stephenie Meyers).

As a horror fan I was mostly disappointed, although there were some scares, and as a vampire fan I could think of about a dozen books I’d rather have been reading. As a dad however, I’m glad I took the time to read the stuff my kids read – even if I am a few years out of date, as it gives us more things to talk about, and gives me a glimpse into the kind of stuff that they enjoy reading.

In the end I suppose it was time well spent – I wouldn’t wish it on anyone else, unless you had an equally good reason.

Also today I found a copy of New Moon on DVD at a thrift store (I got 2 DVDs for $5 – this one and Percy Jackson – guess which I’m more excited about!), so I’ll have my review of the second film early next week.

Twilight of Bookmonkey: Day Four

330 pages. So far it kind of feels like the beginning of a marathon - right now I'm feeling pretty good, the series doesn't feel as bad (or as amazing) as some people say, and I'm thinking, "Sure I can do this - no problem!"

Impressions so far - the book is just kind of okay. I've read a lot of Young Adult (YA) books over the years and although this isn't the best (see Harry Potter or Percy Jackson) it is definitely not one of the worst. I'd plunk it down in the middle. Right now Edward has just introduced Bella to his family and has told her how old both he and his creator actually are (105 and 375 respectively).

There is no Team Edward vs. Team Jacob yet (although Jacob is in the book he is described as a little kid), but I suppose there could be a Team Edward vs. Team Mike Newton, as Mike is a nice guy who Bella describes as the friendliest person she's met in this new town and he seems to like her a lot.

So far I give the book a "Pretty Good" rating. It's not the best, but if you're looking for YA books about vampires, it seems okay.

Later this week - the first movie and then on to New Moon!

Five Cool Genre things my youngest daughter has shown me

Today is my 97th post, and back in 1997, my youngest daughter was born (quick boast - I delivered her; she was born in our house, no doctor, no midwife, just my wife, my five-year-old, and myself, also there was a snow storm). Like her older sister, Kaia has shared with me a number of genre treats I may not have come across without her. So here we go:

Bookmonkey's five cool genre things his Youngest daughter has shown him.

5. Robin Hood

Growing up I came across Robin Hood three times - first as the Disney Film, second in the Bugs Bunny Short, and Third (during Junior High) as The Prince of Thieves. The story was kind of cool, but as I'm more into Horror, I didn't bother looking for more. Over the last two years, after borrowing the 1938 film, The Adventures of Robin Hood, from the Library, Kaia has checked out pretty much every version there is, and brought us along for the ride. My personal favourite, the 2006 BBC series staring Jonas Armstrong and Richard Armitage.

4. Percy Jackson

I've already done a book review on the first of this series as well as a movie review of the film last month, but it is fair to state that I would never have come across this amazing series if my daughter hadn't been reading them first. The next book series I'm planning to check out is also one she's already read - it's called GONE, and I've heard nothing but good stuff about from her and from online reviews.

3. Scary Stories

Sometimes you come across a book series that has been around for a long time, a series you would totally have loved as a kid, but for whatever reason never noticed. Then your kid finds it and it is just awesome. This series of books can basically be considered nightmare batter - read a story, go to sleep and it'll be waiting. The worst (coolest?) thing about the series is that it is aimed at kids, so all the horror is implied, rather than in your face.

2. Batman the Animated Series

I've been a fan of Batman since I was reading comics as a kid, I loved the Tim Burton film back in '89, and even played the video game for the classic NES (That was my very first Japanese import game). I always stayed away from the cartoon, as I figured that a character as cool as Batman could not be handled properly if he was dumbed down for kids. Growing up, this show was probably Kaia's favourite until the third grade when she moved on to Teen Titans. We actually got notes sent home by her teachers saying they were concerned about her love of Batman (he is a psychologically damaged person after all) - which was ridiculous as from Kaia's point of view he was a good guy who never used guns and always caught the villains - never killing them and took them to a safe place (Arkham Asylum). I started watching the cartoon with her and man - it is really, REALLY good.

1. Universal Classic Monsters

I've always loved horror, from as far back as I can remember I think stories about monsters and ghosts, demons and aliens have resonated well with me. But growing up, I simply worked my way through the horror section at my local video store. This led me to see all sorts of B-Grade Horror, and I had seen all the Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Halloween films before I was in Junior High, but it did leave some big holes in my Horror film viewing. Case in point - I had never seen any of the classic Universal Monster Movies until about 6 years ago. Kaia was getting pretty psyched to see the film Van Helsing, but I figured if she wanted to watch the new flashy flick, she should check out the originals - and that's exactly what we did. For the few of you out there who don't know - these films are awesome, and I would still be ignorant of this fact if it wasn't for my youngest daughter.

Thanks Kaia!

Book Review: The Lightning Thief

Every month I try to read at least one SF, one Fantasy, and one Horror novel, and even with the amount of books I read a month, I really don't have time to read all of the stuff I'd like to. Luckily for me, one of the benefits of having kids is that sometimes they can recommend some great stuff, and wow - am I glad I listened to my 12-year-old on this one.

The best Fantasy book I read this summer was by far "Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1: The Lightning Thief," by Rick Riordan (pictured, right). This book mixes together the best bits of the Harry Potter Series (kid out of their element, big scary adventure, magic) with Classic Greek myth (Huge powerful gods, searches for amazing artifacts) and a summer camp adventure story (cabins, activities, bullies and summer romances). Reading this book takes me back to my own favourite fantasy book when I was twelve, The Talisman, by Stephen King and Peter Straub.

Now I know lots of people are going to say that the Talisman is the superior book, and yes of course it is - it takes elements of Huck Finn and puts them together with one of the most emotional coming-of-age stories I have ever had the pleasure to read.

What I do mean is that the wonder, joy, and sheer "Damn, that's cool"-ness of The Lightning Thief takes me back to the feelings I had reading my favourite fantasy adventure series as a kid.

The book is the first in an ongoing series, and I am limiting myself to reading these books at the rate of one a month because I just really - REALLY - loved them. You get magic power, demigods, centaurs, harpies, Medusa and more in this series, and I haven't even talked about the gods themselves yet.

Basically, this book is just fantastic - I enjoyed it the whole way through and it passes my own personal book-judging test with flying colours:

1) would I buy it? - Yup.

2) would I recommend it to anyone? - definitely.

If you are looking for a great adventure read with a dash of Classical myth involved, look no further. I give this book my top recommendation. But I'd get a copy soon, because I just saw the trailer for the movie - and I think there will be a lot of demand for the book in the next few months.