Don't get me wrong, swill can be good in certain extreme cases, but with such better literature out there on the subject I have to wonder what it is exactly about this series that draws the crowds. Given the demographics, I would have to say that the popularity is largely a function of the lemming mentality that is behind so many teen fads of the current age. It is a 'me-too'-ness that is so powerful in high schools across the country that it discourages any dissent not at all unlike the mainstream media in general due to its ties to the corporate elite in whose best interest it is to "destroy whats left of your imagination by feeding you endless doses of sugar-coated mindless garbage," to coin a phrase from Jello Biafra in reference to MTV in the early 80s.

If you care to read an exceedingly more thought-provoking, well-written, and mature treatment of the myth of the vampire, PLEASE read Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. It is an incredible and powerful read. It is also an amazing Swedish film. Sadly, Hollywood has deemed it too much for America's audiences (likely due to the added viewing difficulty of subtitles) and a new (and guaranteed dumbed-down) version for US audiences is to be made even though the Swedish movie only came out in 2008. It will likely be slick and glossy and sexy like all the other brainless Hollywood remakes of infinitely better films have been because audiences today demand explicit sex and violence involving well-known and attractive actors. Anything else would be commerical suicide!! :-\ (The flip-side of that is what this movie will be: ARTISTIC suicide.) :-|

I guess I can understand longtime vampire lovers feeling as if the so-called "Twilight Vamps" are just a watered down version of the original. I however was not into vampires in any way, shape or form before becoming obsessed with the Twilight Saga. Other than swooning occasionally at David Boreanez as Angel in the late 90's. However maybe going into the series thinking that Stephanie was just going to write about the Anne Rice esque vampires with coffins and capes and pointy teeth left me pleasently suprised with her newer ,SPARKLIER, better dressed versions. I kind of like that she was able to think outside the box and create something totally new from a genre that has existed for more than 100 years. She ditiquished herself from people like Anne Rice and said these are My Vampires and they truly are. Big ups to Stephanie for not making another Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. Way to set yourself apart!!!

I can certainly see both sides. I have always been a huge vampire fan. Ever since I saw The Lost Boys when I was little, I was hooked. From there, it was the scarier movies and the classics and then I went on to read Anne Rice. (It's too bad Anne switched her focus of her books). When I read the Twilight series, I fell in love instantly. I agree with the above posters in that I fell in love with the connection of Bella and Edward. The fact that he was a vampire was only secondary. Loving vampires, however, made the story even cooler to me. HOWEVER, when I read that he "sparkled" in the sun...I laughed out loud! It is definitely watered down from what we all know otherwise. However, why should Stephanie Meyer's vampires be any more or less acceptable? Or believable? Lestat as a rock star? Or two grown men vampires with a daughter? Stephanie is not the first to put her twist into the typical vampire world and she won't be the last. I for one, cannot wait for New Moon to come out in November. Although, for me, the movies will never be as good as the books, they are still highly anticipated to take me into that world once again. (Personally, I wish they would've cast a different Bella. I don't believe Kristen Stewart is capturing the role the way I would've envisioned it). This is all coming from a 30-year old who probably gushes at Edward like any teenage girl. However, there is a difference in that I am gushing at Edward and his character and not Robert Pattinson himself. I think the "older women" that were mentioned above cannot be compared to the teens because our Twilight crush is totally different than obsessing over hot guys. Maybe that's just MY view, but there it is.

My post looks a little funny. It did crazy things to my quotation marks and changed them into some weird � symbol.

Okay, I am all on board with the folks who understand that the Twi series is basically the story of romantic entanglements of various types... do you go with the intense, intelligent, sophisticated, ridiculously rich, restrained type or the spontaneous, happy-go-lucky, light-up-your-life, poor-as-a-church-mouse, hot guy (literally) who could probably make you laugh until you pee your pants? (Well, at least he was happy-go-lucky until Bella ripped his little heart out and stomped it mercilessly into the squashy green stuff that covers everything in Forks.)

The fact they are vamps and weres is completely incidental to the story... it just adds some spice, some adventure, some danger, and I agree with the previous comment - it really serves to magnify the whole concept of ‘forbidden love’. The idea that ‘loving him could kill you’ becomes more literal than figurative - and makes it more clear to the (younger) readers who maybe couldn’t comprehend the complexity of a more subtle example. I think of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice... they have several problems, one being because she is from a much lower social class and therefore not ‘good enough’ for him. But Darcy says the heck with it - I want you anyway - but if Lizzy cuts her finger Darcy isn’t going to rip her throat out (tho Lady Catherine would LOVE to!)

When you boil it down til there’s nothing left but gristle... Twilight is a love story. That’s it... that’s all.

Does it kill the vampire mystique? I really don’t think so. It’s just this particular authors interpretation of a supernatural creature. If every vampire in film or literature looked, acted and existed the same way... THAT would kill it for me. What’s so wrong with having it a little different? NOTHING! And the fact that the books are kinda PG-13 for the kiddies is OK with me too. Being in my 30’s, I would have been glad to have it get a little saucier, but this a romance in my mind... not a slasher flick... not a porno. In actuality, I have had numerous discussions about how Twilight Director Catherine Hardwicke deconstructed The Meadow Scene and they ended up kissing for the first time in Bella’s bedroom - which took something romantic and beautiful and morphed it into a seedy, angsty, teenage-hormone-driven sneakin-in-the-bedroom-while-parents-sleep-across-the-hall romp. Hardwicke trash-ified it and made it seem sordid and dirty. Yuck.

The fact there is so much Twi-mania going on is a little scary to fans like me. I am a mondo fan... but at the same time I don’t want to see it driven into the ground either. People do get sick of it, especially if they aren’t into it that much. Then it starts to get ugly, with people who normally would politely ignore it, begin flat-out dissing the whole affair just because they are fed up with the overload. Being a fanpire long before there was ever talks of movies, etc., it was a little shocking to me to see the frenzy that surrounded the whole movie, cast, etc. I mean, on one hand I knew I wasn’t the only fan of her books... and I knew that she had sold zillions of copies - but at the same time, until it became the public melee that is Twilight - I almost felt like ‘the only Twi-fan.’ My Twi-love was very personal to me - seeing the masses congregating at movie premiers and cast in-store appearances was mind-boggling! (and by the way, the calendars were selling for about $100 apiece - a most DISGUSTING development! I will pass on that one.)

I don’t know if you should necessarily be so harsh to the gal who said she read the book in about three hours. I guess I dwell on the murky fringe of book-snobishness. I admit I can get through a Twi book in about five hours - but that is only because I just so happen to read really fast because I practice.... ALOT! I am a voracious reader... I devour books! I SUCK the words off the page and when they catapult through my eyeholes they smack into the back of my brain like a bug on a windshield and STICK! If I read it - I remember it. So, if it is bragging to say you read fast, then I brag... but I don’t read fast at the expense of comprehension. I am fortunate to have speed and excellent retention at the same time. (See... bragging again!) I would hope the three-hour gal has the same talent, so don’t hold it against her unless proven otherwise.

Whether you love Twilight or hate it... it doesn’t matter to me. What I think is the prevailing moral of the story, that everyone seems to be overlooking about the whole Twi-phenomenon, is that I have heard COUNTLESS comments about people - especially technology-addicted teenagers - who are reading these books over and over. And even boys, BOYS I say! are asking for the books and reading them and loving them! Kids and parents are reading them and discussing them and bonding in a whole new way. Just like I did with scads of friends and my 60-yr-old Mom! It seems like reading as a past-time is being phased out by the younger generations and will eventually go the way of the dinosaur. Authors like Steph M. and JK Rowling are putting books back into the hands of kids by the millions... and they are turning to reading as a source of entertainment, not just video games, movies, texting and the internet. If enough kids continue reading for fun then maybe they will still be able to spell in the future instead of knowing only txtng language! I think THAT is the ultimate phenomenon and we should be grateful for it!

personally, i feel twilight is more than a story about vampires, or anything to do with the supernatural, it is a story based on love, lost, adventure. i hate it when people say it dosent go along with what vampires should be like, or its just another girl falls for hot guy again story, because it is so much more than that, especially new moon. The twilight books are storys of true love againts the odds, that fact that edward is a vampire dosent really matter, it is the unconditional love story behind that matters, and anyone that just dosnet see that, or can only focus on the vampire bit, has missed one of the main message of the book. Just in my opinion

I get what they mean about Twilight kind of killing vampires. Twililght takes away the grousomeness of vamps and all the scary, bloodshedding, hide-under-your-sheets thrill. Twilight turned a known, classic horror (as most of us associate vampires, werewolves and frankenstein as the main monsters)into a love story about nice vampires. It doesnt really follow through on that aspect. However, Twilight is what got most of the younger generation interested in vampires in the first place. So then once they've read Twilight they can then move on to Ann Rice and all that good stuff. If anything I just feel Stephenie Meyer has shed some new light on a subject that has become so stereotypical. Which is, in fact, where the problem lies.

I just wanted to let Stephanie Meyers that I think she is brilliant. That I'm so grateful to have been introduced to the twi saga I am completely obsessed with it. I'm reading it for the third time already. Each time I reda it I discover something new. I absolutely love it. And I trully hope that she finishes Midnight Sun. I think that it would complete me to undersatand Edward. I really don't care how ling this version will be.

The Twilight Saga is addictive, mysterious and above all fantastic. I did try to see Jillian's point, I couldn't. Not even a little bit. She is entirely missing the point. It's not about Edward being a vampire, it's about how his being a vampire AFFECTS their relationship. It's the ultimate forbidden love. Bella also, is not ordinary as so many people incorrectly put it, she is courageous, brave, not judgmental (a rarity nowadays) and the kindest person/vampire I've never met(though she beats all people I have met). And I have to say, steamy sex scenes should hardly be a reason to read books! It was about then that I lost all respect I had had for her. I also disagree with Molly's twelve year old self. Twelve year old Molly is a twi-faker. She likes Twilight, but she doesn't understand the meaning of it! It's so much more than 'the normal girl goes out with the hottest guy who is way out of her league'! That disgusts me! There are way too many people claiming to like Twilight that don't know it or understand it, they just want to be popular. Stephenie Meyer's work is one of pure genius and deserves so much more than it's getting credit for (despite the fact that it does get a lot of credit, it still needs more). The fact that people spend their time talking about something they hate yet not know is astounding! She is prejudiced! I completely agree with Carol (see above) who expressed her opinion so wonderfully (vocabulary way out of my thirteen year old league). I just hate the twi-fakers and the twi-haters so damn much!

I tried. I really, really tried to be open-minded and Twilight tolerant. But the opinions of book-snobs like Jillian Lovejoy Lowery are those I just cannot take seriously. She had me with "I read this sucker in about three hours." Bragging about speed-reading is something most book snobs do. It makes them feel superior. But if you are reading a novel of that size in three hours, you are not taking it all in - not by a longshot. You are not stopping to focus on the details and poignant moments that are such an integral part of the book. Another point: This is not a series about vampires. This is a series about love and family and adventure, with some vampire and werewolf thrown in. Liesl Schillinger from the New York Times wrote: "Meyer's trilogy seethes with the archetypal tumult of star-crossed passions, in which the supernatural element serves as heady spice." I find that to be a perfect description. If you go into Twilight thinking of it as a vampire series, and you are a big fan of vampires, you are going to be disappointed. If you go into it realizing it's a love story with some supernatural thrown in, you might actually enjoy the ride. If you allow yourself to have some fun with a novel, that is. Oh and Edward Cullen sparkles because that's how it happened in a dream Stephenie Meyer had. She later wrote Twilight based on that dream. And I am so thrilled she didn't listen to all the book snobs out there - or many of us would never have gotten to experience the wonderful world of Twilight.