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Twilight (Twilight, Book 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephenie Meyer
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $10.75
You Save: $9.24 (46%)
New (43) Used (20) Collectible (6) from $10.12
Avg. Customer Rating:  3353 reviews
Sales Rank: 34
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Standard
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 544
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.7
ISBN: 0316160172
EAN: 9780316160179
ASIN: 0316160172
Publication Date: October 5, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: H20090107024553T
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Amazon.com Review
"Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. 'Be very still,' he whispered, as if I wasn't already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat." As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. In Twilight, an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because--he's a vampire. At any moment, the intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. But, Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and necessarily chaste relationship. Meyer has achieved quite a feat by making this scenario completely human and believable. She begins with a familiar YA premise (the new kid in school), and lulls us into thinking this will be just another realistic young adult novel. Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. At school, she wonders about a group of five remarkably beautiful teens, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat. As she grows to know, and then love, Edward, she learns their secret. They are all rescued vampires, part of a family headed by saintly Carlisle, who has inspired them to renounce human prey. For Edward's sake they welcome Bella, but when a roving group of tracker vampires fixates on her, the family is drawn into a desperate pursuit to protect the fragile human in their midst. The precision and delicacy of Meyer's writing lifts this wonderful novel beyond the limitations of the horror genre to a place among the best of YA fiction. (Ages 12 and up) --Patty Campbell
10 Second Interview: A Few Words with Stephenie Meyer
 Q: Were you a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Angel? What are you watching now that those shows are off the air?
A: I have never seen an entire episode of Buffy or Angel. While I was writing Twilight, I let my older sister read along chapter by chapter. She's a huge Buffy fan and she kept trying to get me to watch, but I was afraid it would mess up my vision of the vampire world so I never did. I don't have a ton of time for TV, and my kids get rowdy when I have on "mommy shows," but I do have a secret fondness for reality shows (the good ones, at least in my opinion). I always TiVo Survivor, The Amazing Race, and America's Next Top Model.
Q: What inspired you to write Twilight? Is this the beginning of a series? Why write for teens?
A: Twilight was inspired by a very vivid dream, which is fairly faithfully transcribed as chapter thirteen of the book. There are sequels on the way--I'm hard at work editing book two (tentatively titled New Moon) right now, and book three is waiting in line for its turn.
I didn't mean to write for teens--I didn't mean to write for anyone but myself, so I had an audience of one twenty-nine year old (and later one thirty-one year old when my sister started reading). I think the reason that I ended up with a book for teens is because high school is such a compelling time period--it gives you some of your worst scars and some of your most exhilarating memories. It's a fascinating place: old enough to feel truly adult, old enough to make decisions that affect the rest of your life, old enough to fall in love, yet, at the same time too young (in most cases) to be free to make a lot of those decisions without someone else's approval. There's a lot of scope for a novel in that.
Q: What is your favorite vampire story? Fave vampire movie?
A: I guess my favorite vampire story would be The Vampire Lestat, by Anne Rice, simply because it's one of the only ones I've ever read. I keep meaning to pick up Bram Stoker's Dracula, because I get asked this question so often and I should probably start with the classics, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Again, I'm afraid to read other vampire books now, for fear of finding things either too similar, or too different from my own vampire world. Ack! I can't even answer the movie question. I can't remember ever seeing a single vampire movie, outside of clips from Bela Lugosi movies on TV. I don't like true horror movies--my favorite scary movies are all Hitchcock's.
Q: What other young adult authors do you read?
A: My favorite young adult author is L.M. Montgomery I also enjoy J.K. Rowling (but who doesn't?), and Ann Brashares. As a teen, I skipped straight to adult books (lots of sci-fi and Jane Austen), so I'm rediscovering the world of teen literature now.
Stephenie Meyer's List of Books You Should Read 
Anne of Green Gables | 
Romeo and Juliet | 
Dragonflight | 
To Kill a Mockingbird | 
The Princess Bride |
See more recommendations from Stephenie Meyer
Q&A with Stephanie Meyer
Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life?
A: The book with the most significant impact on my life is The Book of Mormon. The book with the most significant impact on my life as a writer is probably Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card, with Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier coming in as a close second.
Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD--what are they?
A: The CD is easy: Absolution by Muse, hands down. It's harder to give myself just one movie, but the one I watch most frequently is Sense and Sensibility--the one with the screenplay by Emma Thompson. One book is impossible. I'd have to have Pride and Prejudice, but I couldn't live without something by Orson Scott Card and a nice, thick Maeve Binchy, too.
Q: What is the worst lie you've ever told?
A: My lies are all very, very boring: "No, you really look great in hot pink!" "My children only watch one hour of TV a day." "I didn't eat the last Swiss Cake Roll--it must have been one of the kids." That's the best I've got.
Q: Describe the perfect writing environment.
A: It's late at night and the house is silent, but I'm still (miraculously) full of energy. I have my headphones in and I'm listened to a mix of Muse, Coldplay, Travis, My Chemical Romance, and The All-American Rejects. Beside me is a fabulous, and yet mysteriously low in calorie, cheesecake....
Q: If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?
A: I'd like it to say that I really tried at the important things. I was never perfect at any of them, but I honestly tried to be a great mom, a loving wife, a good daughter, and a true friend. Under that, I'd want a list of my favorite Simpsons quotes.
Q: Who is the one person living or dead that you would like to have dinner with?
A: I'd love to have a chance to talk to Orson Scott Card--I have a million questions for him. Mostly things like, "How do you come up with this stuff?!" But, if he wasn't available, I'd settle for Matthew Bellamy (lead singer of Muse).
Q: If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
A: I'd want something offensive, rather than defensive. Like shooting fireballs from my hands. That way, you're really open to going either way--hero or villain. I like to have choices.
Product Description
Deeply sensuous and extraordinarily suspenseful, TWILIGHT captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.Isabella Swan+s move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabella+s life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife-between desire and danger.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3348 more reviews...
 Fun Read January 8, 2009
Twilight is one of those books I can pick up and literally just not put down. I never really was that interested in vampires to begin with, but when I was told to give it a try by one of my friends I didn't regret it.
Yeah sure, the writing is a little simple and corny and times but I think that's one of the reasons a liked it so much. Sometimes reading classic literature can get boring or stiff and sometimes you just want to read something that's almost like a guilty pleasure, something to just take you away from your boring day, because to be honest what girl doesn't want their own Edward Cullen?
Twilight is exciting and has a little of everything in it. If your looking for something fun to read then I defiantly suggest Twilight.
Looovveeeddd!! January 8, 2009
I'm in love with this book, I just can't put it down!! Can't wait to read the others!!
Twilight January 8, 2009
Loved this book and the rest of the series. Would recommend it to anyone :-)
 First class trash... on ice. An insult to teenage intelligence. January 8, 2009
Sorry ladies and gentlemen. I tried, I really did, but Twilight was so terrible that writing this review in itself is difficult. Quite frankly, I'm not quite sure what to criticize first. I SLAVED through the book, because it received such acclaim. Bad idea. In short, Twilight was bland, underdeveloped, and unimaginative. Period. The use of sexy prose may have saved it, but her writing style falls on its face... quite like the main character of her book, come to think of it.
The characters were flat, the plot was, well, virtually non-existent, and even the "love scenes" were disgustingly saccharine and lacked passion, realism, or conflict. Even the dialogue was ultra cheesy/gag-me-with-a-spoon: I mean, come on, "You're intoxicated by my very presence"... What, Edward? Really? Shut up. I would think that an adult woman can think of 50 million other much sexier turns of phrase that can be thrown at her that'd make her melt besides THAT garbage. I mean, I know this is YA, but even when I was in high school the guys had more game than that.
I understand that this book is supposed to be YA, all the way. Okay, fine. It is not Meyer's responsibility to realize the next step in literary evolution where romance and YA novels are concerned. However, that does not mean that this literary sinkhole should be excused for lacking the basic ingredients of a decent fiction novel.
The following example is overused among critics, but the Harry Potter series was certainly geared towards a very specific and much younger audience. The reason why it gained so much popularity across the board was that Rowling held her books (at least books 1-5) to the same literary standard as other fiction authors had before her. Perhaps even higher. She didn't dilute the elements of her story just because it targeted younger children. She treated it as a piece of fiction and molded it as such, with all the necessary ingredients: evolving characters with personality and depth, an intriguing plot line, imagination, vivid description beyond the conventional use of "beautiful" and "perfect", and I could go on. Perhaps if Meyer had at least made ONE of the fifteen or so characters interesting, I may have been more apt to finish this book.
In her literary future, I pray that Meyer doesn't attempt to make a full-time break into adult genres. She would only embarrass herself. (I heard about "The Host", but I REFUSE to give this woman another cent out of my pocket.) In the end though, I DO have to give Meyer props.
Congratulations for reinforcing that in America, mediocrity (coupled with quite a few spelling and grammar errors) pays off big time. I know you're laughing all the way to the bank. So for that, a tip of my cap to you, my friend. You give all crappy writers out there a fighting chance to get paid.
 Disappointing January 8, 2009
After all the hype, I found Twilight incredibly disappointing. It starts out pretty strong, but withing a couple chapters the narrator, Bella, and the hero Edward are already madly in love, no build-up, suspense, or obstacles in their way, other than Edward constantly claiming he is "dangerous." The real action begins toward the end of the book when a very flat bad guy shows up and (of course) wants to kill Bella for no other reason than pissing off Edward.
I do understand that Twilight is aimed at teenagers, but for anyone who's read a real vampire romance, this book is lacking in plot, characterization, and writing alike.
If you want well-written paranormal romance, I suggest Sherrilyn Kenyon, Amanda Ashley, or Karen Marie Moning, although they are all more adult and contain sexual material.
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