I thought it was zombies that ate brains, not vampires

So a few months ago there was a family event, and my darling, intelligent 14 year old niece was reading Twilight. Now, I know she's pretty bright, and actually likes to read for pleasure, so I was a little surprised, because I had not heard good things. I expressed my surprise, and possibly a little derision, and she said it wasn't bad and I should try it. Since I get all bent out of shape when people criticize things without trying them, I agreed that I would, if she would agree to read some books that I would provide at a later time. She said fine. I was certainly not going to buy the book -- really, I had heard quite bad things about it -- but all of the copies in the library system were checked out. Finally, a couple days ago I stopped by the library to check out a book on game theory (it's a long story) and while they didn't have that, they did have a copy of Twilight on the shelves so I grabbed it.

The good: It's a quick read, and it's really no worse than 90% of the books out there for 14 year old girls.

The bad: Dear lord, what dreck. If you were ever a 14 year old girl who liked to read, it's exactly like most of the crap out there for that age group, only with vampires instead of cheerleaders or babysitters (my personal poisons at that age were the Sweet Valley High series and the Cheerleader series, and please remember that I was also reading Robert Heinlein, Robert Asprin, Piers Anthony, Douglas Adams, etc. at this time so don't judge me too harshly). (I will also note here thaat there now appear to be whole series of books about cheerleader vampires, so that's interesting.) Stephen King summed it up nicely in this interview, though I'm not sure that I agree that the vampire thing is an intentional substitute for sexual tension. I mean, it works as that, but frankly, the book doesn't seem well planned enough for the author to have thought that out.

If you're a teen girl and you're reading this, please go out and get some good books so you'll know the difference. There is nothing wrong with choosing to read the occasional crap -- it can be fun -- but you really should be doing it as a conscious choice (sort of like eating deep fried food -- it's fun every once in awhile, but you really should be able to identify that you are eating something that's not particularly healthy). Here's the list of books I'm going to take to my niece next time I see her:

• Interworld and Coraline, by Neil Gaiman
  
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman
  
• Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss (this is not written for teens specifically, but it's actually mostly about a teenager and there's no real questionable content in it. Also, the writing is amazing -- it's actually what I'm (re)reading to get the Twilight taste out of my brain).
  
• I think she's read the Harry Potter series, but if not, I'll take those to her.
  
• Possibly The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle and The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, though she might be at that age where she thinks she's too old for them.
  
• I don't think the Hitchhiker's series is her taste, but I'd put that on the list of good books appropriate for a 14 year old.
  

Were she my 14 year old daughter, there are some others I would consider giving her, like the Rap series by Dave Duncan and maybe the Dresden books by Jim Butcher. Oh, and Gaiman's Stardust, which I think is totally appropriate for a 14 year old, but there is a sex scene in it and she's not my kid so I'm not comfortable giving it to her.

So if you really have your heart set on reading Twilight, or if you read it and loved it, that's fine. Just please, please read some stuff that's well written, too (by which I mean the sentences are well-constructed; things that need to be researched have been researched; characters are well-developed; relationships between characters make sense and are explored/explained/developed within the story; etc.)

posted by Laura Y. @ 11:54 AM