I have always skirted around my opinions on the Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series on my blog, (with the exception of the post from a few weeks back remarking on the–quite frankly–terrifying lengths of the series’ merchandising) and of course the big reason for this is that I want to maintain diplomacy towards other writers. Besides, with the success Meyer has had, any mud flung at her will most likely roll of the gold-plated umbrella she could afford to hire someone to hold up for her.

Also, the last thing I would want to do is rile up a horde of Twi-hard (Twi-Hard = Twilight + Die Hard — Bruce Willis would be rolling in his grave, if he was dead.) fans.  And they will call me jealous.  Not that I could argue that; of course I’m freaking jealous.  Do they not realise how difficult getting a book, any book, published is?  And Meyer has swooped down and just plucked it right out of thin air.  I’ve read her bio about the first book’s journey to publication, and even she herself admits it is largely down to luck. I am jealous of Stephenie Meyer’s luck.  There, I said it.

So I don’t comment on the quality of the book because everyone is entitled to their own opinion, everyone has different tastes, and no, Twilight is not to everyone’s (Yes, I have read it. No, I didn’t like it). Before Meyer’s work came under scrutiny, the big one that came under attack was Rowling with Harry Potter.  At least no one is trying to claim that Twilight is a book for everyone, like they did with Harry Potter.

So what’s all this “commenting” worth?

Well, this week, I have mostly been distracted by the YouTube video series, simply called “Alex Reads Twilight”:

Alex Day, a musician and one of these “YouTube Sensations” has decided to provide us, the viewer, a running commentary on his experiences reading Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. Before I even started watching them, I had a feeling they would be good.  I did not imagine they would be head-in-your-hands-while-simultaneously-crying-and-choking kind of good.

Suffice to say, I have watched all those that are available (takes about half an hour), and he’s not even finished yet.  I would suggest you not only watch them, but also check out the whole series, and don’t forget to subscribe, so you can catch the rest when they’re out.

Also check out his other videos. He’s a series vlogger, and his editing style is choppy in the way that is very easy to entertain even those with the shortest attention span.

His music’s not bad, either.