Back in October of 2022 I bought a Kindle. The main reason for buying said kindle was because my partner and I were going on a big trip over to New York. For those who are unaware the travel time from Melbourne to New York AT BEST is 20ish hours. 16 to get to LA and at least a 5 hr to get to New York from there. I had slowly grown to like reading again BUT I wasn’t going to carry around heavy ass books everywhere I went. So what was my solution? Kindle!
If you don’t know, books are EXPENSIVE in Australia. Like we are talking $20 minimum for a paperback, if you are wanting a hard cover you may as well get a mortgage on your house. So the ability to get whatever book I want for like $10 was INSANE. What was the first book that got me hooked you may ask? A Court of Thorns and Roses… DON’T JUDGE ME. I have had a physical copy of this damn book since the year it came out. I tried reading it at the time (I was big into the supernatural and fantasy shit and still am), but I was also like 14 and got pissed off because the main character’s name is Feyre (pronounced fay-ra) and I being a 14 year old was convinced they were spelling fairy a weird way and stopped. THANK GOD I DID CUZ THERE IS SHIT IN THERE A 14 YEAR OLD DOESN’T NEED TO READ.
I thought about how much TikTok was going on and on about this series I was like fuck it and gave it another shot and GODDAMN did this series have me in a chokehold. I single handedly read A Court of Mist and Fury on said 16 hour flight for the second time since buying the kindle in October (it was November at this point…) I soon moved onto bigger and brighter things. This is where Twilight comes into play.
NOW my relationship with Twilight is a long and complicated one. Let me set the scene. I was a 9 year old bookworm who had recently finished reading Harry Potter for the 10th time and this boy walked into my 3rd grade class. His name was Coby and he was this American (wow so cool…) and he was holding this BIG BOOK. Any guesses on what it was? That’s right, Breaking Dawn. Now this 700 page book caught my eye, but it was in the older readers section of the library of which the 16 year olds were to borrow from and not little 9 year old girls. So I go home to my mum and see that she has it on her bookshelf and ask innocently, not knowing what it was about, if I could read it. What I didn’t know at the time was that Twilight was THE SHIT. We are talking 2010 Robert Pattinson craze. My mum, obviously, said no fucking way. So I leave all sad and wait a few months and what do I see playing on the TV? TWILIGHT and so my cheeky ass asks if I can watch it. My mum like a sane person said fuck no… read the book first. So she dug herself in a hole (that I would later exploit to let me read just about any book possible) and there began my Twilight obsession.
My obsession was A LOT. After thoroughly reading those books in any place imaginable I went to the films and LOVED THEM. I didn’t give a shit if people bullied me. I was in so deep. HOWEVER after my obsession throughout my tween years I soon discovered that I was in fact being bullied for this and soon distanced myself so far from this series that it could barely be seen. I’m talking about moving schools and no one really knowing the sheer impact this series had on me.
It has taken me a very long time and a lot of therapy to realize that realistically I was being bullied for liking things that were feminine and that made me hate femininity and all that. I am now a 22 year old who FUCKING LOVES TWILIGHT. This new spark of an obsession came around earlier in 2022, but things got out of hand when I got a kindle. I ate those fucking books up like it was my last meal. Those books became my life for a hot second and convinced me to read them again with my physical books, where I realized that they were falling apart.
Something I decided to do in the new year was annotate a book. Just for shits and gigs to see if that will help me continue to consistently read books. It 100% has helped. Now I went onto TikTok in search of pretty things that I can annotate with and discovered that not many people appreciate writing in books… This didn’t work for me because I have the firm belief that books should be loved. My copy of The Hobbit is twice the size of when I first bought it and I intended to do some damage to this new copy of Twilight. I took these pissed off booktokers and took it to the next level. I found my prettiest highlighters and a second hand set of Twilight books and got to work.
If you think said annotation was going to be serious you haven’t read anything else on my page. I am not a serious person and we all know that Twilight at its core is absolutely fucking ridiculous and I DON’T CARE. So, you may ask, What are the annotations I am looking at? Well kind reader I will tell you.
I have been highlighting and writing throughout this book based on these colours/sections.
Red: Iconic scenes, Anything from the movie and/or other things that are just too good not to highlight. Some examples include; “I was standing right next to you Bella ” which my commentary includes “Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss”… Do you see why I’m not serious about all of this.
Green: Quotes, bits I want to talk about, also wtf moments. Examples; “He was planning an epic battle of the blizzard in the parking lot after school” to which I said “Don’t go! You will almost die!!”
Black: Random notes, Notes before/after chapters etc. My example goes back to gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss; “We love that Edward gaslights his to be wife. Setting strong foundations (insert upside down smiley face)”.
Pink: Cute things, my specific example is Edward flirting “I dazzle people? Do I dazzle you”
Blue: Funny, This mainly includes shit that also falls into the category of what the fuck moments. I have yet to really use this and might retire it for future books.
Aqua: Alice Icon slay. Alice is my favorite. Always was, Always will be. I’m dating someone who could pass for an Alice easily. I am highlighting every single time she is mentioned/is a part of the scene.
As you can see I am not highlighting in a serious way whatsoever BUT it has made me love reading again. I am so excited every time I pick up the book to see what other ridiculous things I can highlight and comment on. If you haven’t tried this before PLEASE DO. It is the most fun I’ve ever had reading. You don’t have to do it with a beloved book. Buy a Mills and Boon book and annotate how fucking ridiculous it is. My next series I’m thinking of doing is ACOTAR or The Hunger Games, I know a bit of change of pace lol.
If you feel like you want to read but know that you can’t focus for very long I SO recommend annotating. It is fun and you only have to read a couple of pages and you will get hooked I PROMISE.
Let me know if you decide to annotate and what book you are trying out!
Love ya xx
Punk.n.Plant 