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Twilight’s 10 Year Anniversary: Reimagine How the Lion Fell in Love with the Lamb

21 Nov

Twilight Reimagined

“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb… What a stupid lamb. What a sick, masochistic lion.”

As we come to the month of November and the 21st approaches, I am hit with the truth that it’s been ten years that the fangirl in us all has freaked out about the first Twilight movie.

As a teenage high schooler whom loved going against trends and getting sucked into the world that was fangirling – I didn’t even know what Twilight, the book, was until the first movie trailer came out. I of course having no knowledge whatsoever on the series was super confused while others squealed with joyous anticipation.  Hadn’t even noticed that almost everyone around me was reading the books. It wasn’t until my best friend told me about the series – while spoiling everything she could on the way up to book three, that I thought I’d give it a shot. That was when I got sucked into a world I wasn’t ready for.

Now, ten years later it’s a franchise that still moves hearts and imaginations everywhere. So much so that you can now tour these iconic spots in Forks and Portland, Oregon and reenact the most iconic moments in the movies.

This series was such a hit that it caused other phenomenon novels to follow after it. Everyone knows of the adult novel Fifty Shades of Grey when it took the world by storm. But what most people don’t know is that E L James was inspired by Twilight and in fact the Grey Series is entirely based off of it and is considered fanfiction.

With rumors of Meyer creating a book through the perspective of Edward himself it’s no surprise that James went along and created a whole new spin off through the eyes of Christian Grey himself.

Unfortunately, as eager fans such as myself anticipated the beauty that would’ve been Edward’s mind, Meyer did not go through with her idea of what was to be called Midnight Sun and instead created a whole different spin off told as if the Vampire was a woman. Twilight Reimagined: Life and Death I dare say is just as good as the first. Taking you into this whole new but yet familiar world again, we are brought on this journey of what would’ve happened if Edward was a woman. Of course because of the whole twist on gender roles, the story only goes as far as one book but it is good enough to satisfy the craving for a new vampire love story. It is quite fun juxtaposing Twilight against Twilight Reimagined: Life and Death.

You can check out the Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey series as ebooks and digital audiobooks from eLibraryNJ and eBCCLS.  Also check out our previous blog post where we discussed Twilight Reimagined and other books/shows that were inspired by Fan fiction.  Don’t like Twilight, check out parodies of the novels written by Stephfordy Mayo on Hoopla; you can also read a parody of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Written by:
Sherissa Hernandez
Adult Programming Assistant

You Can’t Judge a Book By Its Title: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

14 Nov

eyeswerewatchinggod
Their Eyes Were Watching God has always been a favorite read of mine ever since college. It’s so much more than the title and I am fascinated with novels that are more than what their titles imply. Of course, the title plays a major role within the book but it’s not what resonated with me the most about the book.

There is this quote that always stood out to me even as I got deeper into the plot.

“She had an inside and an outside now and suddenly she know how not to mix them” (Hurston 72).

I have always touched upon this idea of identity, self and truth in many of my other posts, and how this all overlaps in one way or another. This is because truth and what is truth and how truth and beauty can not only be subjective but also incomprehensibly unbiased deeply intrigue me. How can something beautiful to all be ugly to one, but then in the end beauty and ugly are truths that everyone feels and agrees with. Now I know this may seem confusing and complex, but stay with me. What I mean is that the meaning of beauty remains the same but what is defined as beautiful is what changes.

On this note I love noticing things that are hidden within novels that others may not see. As farfetched – far-reaching – as this may seem I feel as though the title has a lot less to do with religion and a lot to do with keeping one’s eyes one oneself. There is a part of the book where her hair is tied together – no pun intended – with the word “glory” to which to me seems biblical, spiritual, and almost godlike. Wrestling with this and how it connects with other blogs I have written, I went on a symbolic and metaphorical word journey.

How does her hair and all its “glory” relate to having an inside and an outside? It could simply mean that she has her organs and then she has her looks, or she had her soul and then her spirit, or even she had a reality and then an appearance – if we look into the literal. I think it meant that she had vulnerability and she had strength. This can tie into having a reality that you portray about yourself and an appearance that you show to the world. We all appear as someone to others and it can be a form of truth of who we are but it’s not all of it.

We all have an inside and an outside. What I find fascinating is that they can’t be mixed. Of course she has her own reasons within the book as to why she knows not to mix them, but it’s an enlightening concept that really hit me with this novel.

All this to say – as my downward spiral did not serve this book justice – this book is definitely worth a read and is much more than just college material.

Besides the book in print you can also check out from BCCLS Libraries a movie adaptation starring Halle Berry and an audiobook on CD.  Ebook and digital audiobook versions are available from eLibraryNJ, and a digital audiobook version from Hoopla.  If you are interested in learning more about the author, you can check out the documentary, Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun available to stream from Kanopy.

Written By
Sherissa Hernandez
Adult Programming Assistant

What books have you read for school that resonate with you even more now?  Share them with our readers in the comments!