Sunday, February 13, 2011

Goodnight Tweetheart- Let the discussion begin...

Hi everyone!
Hopefully, everyone has finished our book, Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Medeiros, at this point because from here on out....spoilers are okay!

First, let's discuss online relationships.

Obviously, we are an online book club so none of us have issues with creating online relationships/friendships. 
But love is a different creature...
Do you think it's possible to find your true love online?

Are you on Twitter?
140 characters or less is about 2-3 sentences. 
Is it possible to really get to know someone within those small snippets?

Or is this all just part of the fantasy that comes along with a good romance novel?
Is it realistic to believe in the fate that you could find your true love in 140 character snippets?

What are your thoughts???

22 comments:

Christi said...

I am NOT going to be the first one to respond today, but wanted to let you all know that I am on Twitter...my user name is ChristiSnow. I would love to know yours so that I can follow you...

And I will be back with a response to the discussion. smiles...

Amy said...

I have a Twitter account, but I haven't gotten on it in over a year I don't even know if I could get back into my account, It made me want to get on there, except that I'm no where near as witty as Marc and Abby.
I know of a few couples who "met" and fell in love or reconnected and fell in love online so I guess it is possible. I think a big part of it, in this particuliar case especially, is that people tend to be truer to themselves when they don't have to look someone else's judgement of them in the eye.
I really loved their banter back and forth, and I actually loved the impossibility of two people so perfect for each other finding each other in such a serendipitis? way.
AND...can I just say that since I finished this book on Friday, I have been watching season 1 of Veronica Mars on Netflix..and it is such an awesome show!

Amy said...

OK yeah, I just checked Twitter I am Amy_Castellano :) and apparently I was already following you Christi..:) guess I need to download tweetdeck or something LOL

Ashley Newell said...

I do think it's possible to find love online. I think TONS of people do like on Match.com or whatever other site. I have friends who met on MySpace and are getting married. To each their own. I, personally, as odd as it sounds would rather meet someone online who I can match wits with than in a bar.

I am on Twitter, my username is HeartHugsDesign.

I think that in conversation, you can have some great banter in 2-3 sentences at a time. And with frequency, you're really just talking as much as you want.

Christi said...

oooh, Amy, I love your take on the whole online relationship in that you can be more honest if you don't have to look that person in the face...no judgement can be a really good thing for getting it all out there. I was looking at it from the opposite direction in that you only have to present the good sides of yourself because they will never "see" that other aspect to you.

We need to discuss all the goodbye's. I felt like such a loser with no pop culture knowledge the first half of the book because I couldn't recognize so many of them. I felt more redeemed in the second half because I am a HUGE Gilmore Girls fan. I guess I need to go check out some Veronica Mars...

Christi said...

Ashley, I think that was one of the things that made this book so good...their incredible banter. (it was one of the things that I loved so much about Gilmore Girls too.) It was simply fun to read dialogue that good in this book...

Amy said...

I only got about half of the pop cx references too Christi, but I thought any show with a dog named "Back-up" was a show I had to check out :)..There's a ton of young actors in the show like Kristen Bell and Amanda Seyfried who must have gotten their start there...really well done..
but I digress we are talking books.

Personally, I find it much easier to be myself behind my computer screen than in person. I am much more outgoing and open I think on my blog or fb, then I tend to be face to face, and I'm not at all comfortable in a crowd. But I can see your point too Christi, where the draw would be you never have to "show" your ugly side to someone you are only trading conversation with online.
Also I agree with Ashley, I think it would be way more fun to trade snappy sentences with someone than share a drink at a bar.
I felt like I could hear their voices...did you?

Christi said...

Oh yeah....I definitely heard their voices in my head...

And yay....I just thought of another discussion question....thanks Amy!

♥ Kristy Woods ♥ said...

Morning ladies so excited for our first discussion yay! My Twitter name is kristyy81 I will comment more on discussion later when I can use a computer rather then my phone hehe as I have lots to talk about.
Kristy xx

♥ Kristy Woods ♥ said...

Morning ladies so excited for our first discussion yay! My Twitter name is kristyy81 I will comment more on discussion later when I can use a computer rather then my phone hehe as I have lots to talk about.
Kristy xx

FibreJunky said...

Hi guys. I'm FibreJunky on Twitter. Yeah, shocking, I know. I have friends who met on a bulletin board (yeah, that long ago), so online love is absolutely possible.
I'm not nearly clever enough to come up with tweets the way they did.
I got almost all of the goodbyes. I think Veronica Mars and the Gilmore Girls may have been the only two I didn't get. I loved the goodbyes.

Amber Hight said...

OMG I just typed a HUGE reply and then blogger errored when I hit submit...OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll write it again later, too mad right now.

Brooke said...

Grrr.. Amber.. how frustrating!

I definitely think it is possible to find true love online! (I am also a hopeless romantic.. so I believe in many different ways of finding your true love)

Can you get to know someone via snippets or tweets? I think sometimes these answers may actually reveal MORE about the person. A one line response can be very telling... as the 'good-bye' tweets in the book showed. From those exchanges, we learned about their enjoyment of pop culture and what movies/shows they knew well enough to quote. They never blatantly came out and asked each other for a 'list' of favorites, it was just developed as their relationship moved forward.. the more exchanges.. the more they found out about each other. I love that!

I am not on Twitter... yet. :)

Off to make supper.. if I think of more, I will pop back in!

Vicki Burns said...

Ugh.. I had the same problem as Amber. Will try again in the morning when I've got coffee pumping through my veins!

♥ Kristy Woods ♥ said...

I also defintely think you can find true love online, I met a guy online quite some time ago he was from USA and flew to Australia to be with me, things didnt work out but I still believe you can find love online.
I am on twitter my name is Kristyy81.
Kristy xo

Amber Hight said...

Okay, sounds like I'm going to be in the unpopular minority, but I find it hard to believe that true love can happen online for MOST people. While obviously there are some true love stories online, like some of you have witnessed, but I don't think the vast majority work out. Online, it's easy to be someone you're NOT. You feel the other person out and sort of "become" who you think they want you to be. While I'm sure it's all lovely to begin with, you are not truly YOU until you meet, see each other, and figure each other out on a more personal level. As terrible as it seems, appearance and what you look like play a HUGE role in a relationship. Whether we want it to or not. If you're forth coming about what you look like to begin with, then yeah. it can work. But if you hide things from each other and get to know each other on a personal level, without knowing what each other look like, it can backfire. Personal attraction is a HUGE part of falling in love. Again, I know I'm in the unpopular minority, but I feel like there is so much that can be "faked" online, leading to a false attraction. I do think it's a marvelous idea, being able to know each other on a level you may not get to if you meet and are not attracted, it probably just can't happen for the majority of people...
I am on Twitter, after reading this book, lol! Not because I'm trying to hook up with a stranger, but the idea of meeting others with similar interests and chatting with strangers IS fun:) Meaning, looking for others who scrap, stamp, read, etc... Being able to type only 140 characters is hard for me, I'm wordy, lol! It's a fun challenge though, I think you have to really "think" about what you're going to say instead of prattling on like I do, ha!

Vicki Burns said...

Well, I guess I fall somewhere in the middle. I actually have quite a few "cyber" friends that I have never met, and I feel quite close to one or two in particular. But those are friendships, and I think that's different than a romantic relationship. The thing about online relationships is that you share what you WANT the other person to see. And really, how many of us would reveal any of our faults or bad sides if we didn't have to? It's just so easy to hide our true natures online. But a true love relationship involves the good, the bad, and the ugly~and those are things you can really only see in person. I think people can certainly meet online and develop a friendship, but I think face-to-face contact is what makes the sparks fly!

No, I am not on Twitter, I was briefly but found that I just couldn't keep up with it! I'm not sure I have enough interesting things to say to make people want to follow me. :)

Amber Hight said...

I totally agree with that Vicki! Friendships are a completely different animal...I have a few special online friends too, who I can't wait to meet IRL *wink*;)

Ashley Newell said...

I can see what you girls are saying about being able to hide who you are online but I think you can do that in person too. I think on the first few dates, you kind of always mold yourself into what the person might like. You dress up, do your hair special, put on your best make up, giggle at jokes, etc... So, I guess it's the opposite of being online in that online you're trying to make someone like your personality and in person people try to appeal more appearance-wise.

The thought is really hard for me. I definitely am who I am. The good, the bad, the ugly, you'll see it if you're my online friend. I don't feel the need to filter things for my friends, however some people have brought up that they wish I would. They only want to read happy Tweets and loving status updates. In that, I feel that we are giving people permission to be something they are not. If you don't want to take them as they are and only pull the parts you like, you will be sorely disappointed when you try to embrace the person as a whole.

I think if people are honest about who they are, what they want, what they look like, etc... then it can work. But just as with real life, if you pretend to be something or not, eventually the bottom will drop out. Just my opinion though.

FibreJunky said...

I have to agree with Ashley here. I am who I am, online or off. I'm hugely flawed and it often shows. Heck, it shows way more often than I'd like! I think that I'm a basically decent person, but I have issues that sometimes cause me to drop the ball. I've also noticed that sometimes I say things that don't come out in a socially acceptable manner. They just sound awkward and weird. I think my fingers get ahead of my brain or something. Basically, what I'm saying is that what you guys see online is pretty much what you'd see in person, with the exception that I'm able to hide depressive episodes better online than IRL.
I guess I do know that some people (a lot of people??) hide who they are. That really doesn't make any sense to me, but then again, I guess I just want to believe that people are trustworthy.

StephG said...

I think it's hard finding your true love on or offline. You don't know if they're being honest & true with you...so how can you really "know" a person? But when you think you found that person, take a leap of faith & hopefully, you don't fall on your face. I took that leap with my ex-hubby...and I fell on my face HARD! lol

Christy Lynn said...

Our Internet finally works!!! So I'm trying to catch up on what I've missed while I've been unplugged. Let me tell you, I know how addicted I am to the World Wide Web :)

Anyway, I tend to agree with a couple of you that it's definitely possible to form friendships online (as evidenced by the existence of this group), and I certainly think that it's possible to be extremely attracted to someone online in a cerebral way. However, I think it's a little too easy to get carried away based on those feelings; there's no way *I* would have ever bought a plane ticket to Dublin based on a Tweet relationship :) But that's not to say that you can't find someone with whom you have a lot in common, meet in person, and eventually fall in love. From that perspective, I kind of think that this book ends at the beginning of Mark and Abby's story.

I'm not on Twitter because I can't hardly keep up with Facebook :) I did like reading their witty banter back and forth, though. And I'm really happy that this book is introducing several of you to Veronica Mars because that show is AWESOME. I've got it on DVD and I think it's just about time for another viewing...