Apr
27
So I’m watching Kendra on E! Network and just a minute ago there was a commercial for the book The Host by Stephanie Meyer. Has anyone else every seen a book commercial? I can’t remember ever seeing one before. Like it was cool that they are advertising it because it just came out on paperback but the way they advertised it bugged me.
The first thing it said was of course saying that she was the author of Twilight. I had no problem with that because obviously it is true. Plus I know that I read The Host because I enjoyed Meyers writing.
The part that bothered me was they described the book as “A truly unexpected love story.” I would never describe the book that way. There was a slight love story involved but it was in no way a focus of the story. It would be like saying Twilight is a fight movie because there is some fight scenes.
What they should have said was “A truly unexpected story of humanity.” That is what the book was about. The basic premise was that an alien race has taken over to make the world peaceful but there is still some rogue humans. When Melanie, a human, is taken over by Wanderer, she refuse to give in. I guess there is some love involved because Melanie’s memories of the man she loves set the story in motion but it becomes such a minor storyline.
I absolutely loved this book. It is by far one of my favorite books of all time. It told such a beautiful and powerful story of how amazing humans can be. I actually started crying at the end because it was so powerful. It was a unique story line. It had elements of sci-fi that were very interesting. The space stuff I loved because in case anyone didn’t already know this, I’m obsessed with everything star and space related.
I would highly recommend this book to everyone, male or female.
Posted in Book Reviews, News/Current Issues commercials stephanie meyer the host twilight
Aug
04
http://meanjin.com.au/spike-the-meanjin-blog/post/video-killed-the-literary-star-book-trailers/
This is an article I came across that was an opinion piece about book trailers. To a certain point I do have to agree with the writer. They don’t seem to be catching on too much yet. YouTube has definately made an impact on that median of advertisement.
I think the writer is right that it is kind of an awkward way to present a book. It is showing something in a form that is the exact opposite of the product. One is visual, one is completely mental. If it is book publishers making these it does seem a little out of place.
On the other hand, almost all the book trailers I have come across have been fan made. I think that is awesome. They are made after the person has read the book and been inspired by what they saw in their own mind. In that case I think it is a cool way to take one form of art (books) and make it into something different (video). From the authors standpoint I think it would be awesome to see someone so inspired by your writing to transform it into something else.
Here is a fan trailer I found and kind of liked. I think Sophia Bush would be perfect is Melanie/Wanda. Well I like her in general. When I write a lot of times I will find pictures in magazines to base my characters descriptions off of. It makes it easier to bring of physical attributes later since I visual have someone to look at. The book that I’ve written the most for has Sophia Bush as the inspiration for the main character.
<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Jh37Bm6UjTk&hl=en&fs=1&”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Jh37Bm6UjTk&hl=en&fs=1&” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>
What do you think about book trailers? Have you ever made one? Do you think publishers should take more advantage of them?
Posted in News/Current Issues book news book trailers the host
Jul
14
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2009-01-14-top-100-titles_N.htm
Love her or hate her, Stephanie Meyer has done something no other author has ever done. She took the top four slots in the Top Sellers of 2008 list. Another article on the same site stated that one in every five books sold between Thanksgiving and the end of the year was written by her. That is completely insane.
I know there is lots of people online saying that Twilight is the worse book they have ever read. I have a few points to make on that. First of all, I think it says a lot to have so many people read your books. If she was such a horrible writer, people would not have read past the first book. Even if the story behind the book is amazing, if an author is horrible, it will not be a best seller. People obviously read all the book to make them all top the list. I think it take a certain talent to write a book that so many people want to go out and read.
I would also like to draw people’s attention to the audience that the books were originally aimed at. It is written as a young adult series. Being a romance series, I would say it is target more towards girls. So what other series are targeted at teenage girls? Gossip Girl? A-List? Is it that much of a stretch to say that the Twilight saga is better quality writing than those series? I honestly would say it is just as good as the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books. Actually honestly I thought two of the four Pants books were just okay (the middle two). I wasn’t much of a New Moon fan but I enjoyed the other three Twilight books quite a bit. I do think it was a little weird that she changed writing styles for Breaking Dawn but I got over it.
The Host however I thought was a great piece of writing. I loved it so much. Meyer stated that this book was written for an adult sci-fi audience and I believe that she did a good job of upping the reading level. There were many underlying themes in The Host. It said so much about the human race and was written from such an interesting perspective. I did in fact cry at the end of it because I thought it gave such a beautiful testiment to the hope and will of people.
I was also quite happy to see Nicholas Sparks have so many books appearing on the list as well. He is a very talented writer as well. There was a few others on the list I’d read as well. I see that Dewey made it pretty high on the list. I keep almost buying it but am scared to. I feel like it might cause me lasting emotional damage. I am a huge cat person and cry when anything happens to cats in books or movies. I have a sick feeling the book will end with the cat passing away and I seriously don’t know if I would ever recover from it. This is kind of like how I own Marley and Me but haven’t been brave enough to read it yet. The movie made me cry a lot.
So what do you think about Stephanie Meyer? Are you a Twilight lover or hater? Was there any other books on the list that you read and love or hated?
Posted in News/Current Issues best seller books nicholas sparks stephanie meyer the host twilight