Why must we compare books?
I was reading some tweets this morning from Vampire-diaries.net this morning and they posted a link to yet another article from main stream media comparing The Vampires Diaries books and show to the Twilight books and movie. This made my wonder why we have the need to compare things to one another just because they have one small thing in common. To the “Twilighters” who are assuming the show and the books are “ripping off” Stephanie Meyer and Twilight, I would just like to mention The Vampire Diaries original trilogy was published in 1991. Meyer was born in 1973, a teen when Smith’s book were published. Perhaps she read them way back when?
It usually is entertainment writers fueling a level of idiocy when it comes to literature. If I Stay by Gayle Foreman also had the problem of being compared by the media to Twilight, and compared to Twilight the reviewers believed the book was lacking. If you try not comparing it to Twilight this is a book that well stands on its own two legs very well, when I was reading this novel I had not one thought of the Twilight Series. There is no Vampire, no real supernatural plot, and the main character was way better fleshed out and adjusted compared to Bella Swan.
So this brings me to my question for all of you, why must we compare things and make decisions based on unfair comparisons? The Vampire Diaries came first, has a completely different plot and should be able to survive on its own merit without unfair comparisons.
By: lilly
I agree with you on how unfair and unnecessary comparisons are. And to be honest quite hurtful, if let’s say someone never read Vampire Diaries but read Twilight and hated it, they will probably skip the first one without knowing what they’re missing.
By: Stephanie
I have to admit that while reading a book recently I was constantly comparing it to Harry Potter and had to make a conscience effort to stop. Maybe it’s just human nature to associate things that are even remotely related to something else we are familar with.
By: Pam
Stephanie! I think it was the same book I was doing that too hehe. I had to tell myself this is not HP it is not YA it is middle grade and it has a plot of it’s own!
By: Debbie's World of Books
I agree with you that I don’t get why everyone has to try to compare two books. Especially lately with Twilight! I see threads on forums about if Harry Potter is better or Twilight. I think they are both good in different ways. Then it seems like all vampire books are being compared to Twilight now. There are so many different takes on vampires that it doesn’t make sense to compare them to Twilight. I loved the Vampire Diaries growing up and didn’t really think about if they were better or worse than Twilight. They were just different story lines.
By: heidenkind
I think when a book is obviously derivative of another book, you have to compare them. For example, I was reading Need while I was on vacation, and it’s about a teenage girl who leaves her mom in middle-America to move to Maine and meets a boy who’s sparkly and a supernatural creature. I was like, Uh copy much? It wasn’t as good as Twilight, so I don’t see the point in continuing to read it.
That being said, TVD came before Twilight and they are two completely different series, so it is dumb that people would compare them. And personally I would question the sanity of anyone who liked Twilight more than The Vampire Diaries. ;)
By: Michelle
Ok, first how is If I Stay even remotely comparable to Twilight? Granted I haven’t read the latter but yea….it’s about vampires and stuff.
Anyway, I think that we compare for a variety of reasons. One because I believe most of us tend to like to create those relationships (good or bad) between any and everything. I liked this more than, I wanted this less than, blah blah blah. I also find that the marketing and publicity machine pushes the comparison on us – “we’re better than” “our character is more swoonworthy than” etc etc. More and more the consumer is trained to expect, formulate and want that comparison.
By: Pam
Senior year of college, I lost my grandmother. I found out (via cell phone) while walking through an empty library and sat down against the wall and just started bawling. Yes, at 22. A woman in her sixties came out of an office and asked what was wrong. I told her. She said, “honey, I lost my mother when I was 15. It’s better to just realize that death happens and get over it” and went back inside.
So, if we took her word for it, and the word of the people who say things like “this book held nothing new for me, it was exactly like such and such because of x, y, and z”, once something has been felt or written about one time it should be completely discarded never to be heard from again.
I think that people draw conclusions based on loose recognition (“This is a teen love story with Vampires…or not, it must be just like Twilight!” or “This is a book in which a young adult learns magic in an institution, this must be just like Harry Potter!”) or even, popularity (heaven forbid, the dreaded “Cedric Diggory v. Edward Cullen”…issue) based on nothing aside from a silly twenty-something who is paid to read scripts.
THAT said, I’m going to challenge everything i said above because I compare EVERYTHING. For me, everything is connected. Twilight is Pride and Prejudice; The Outsiders is Gone with the Wind. I connect and relate everything I do to everything I read. I think my excuse is that I do it to touch base with all points in my life rather than using it to knock down one “version” or another.
As always with your posts, Pam, I have too much to say and I feel like I’m running my mouth. thank you for the insightful ideas and questions!