The Twilight Saga

So I am finally out of my reading coma. I started reading Twilight on 6/22/09 and finished the entire set by 6/29/09, and these are not small books. This last week, I have spent every waking second with my head buried in one of these 4 books. I'm almost embarrassed to admit how much I absolutely got sucked into them. They started out just a curiosity as to their popularity, then instantly became my world for one week. And now that it's over, I feel almost lost! It's a very weird feeling. I created this world for the last week and lived in that world that now that I'm back to reality, I feel out of place and lonely. Since the books are written through the main character's voice (such as "I looked out the window and saw him." vs "She looked out the window and saw him.") I felt like I was the main character. I admit that I did fall in love with the character she fell in love with (not the actor in the movie, only the character which I know he is not really). It's very strange, but I'm sad that the books are over. They ended happily, but I cannot believe how much I cried through all 4 of them! I mean, these are supposed to be high school age kids books and I, a 24 year old book snob, fell so easily into their pop-culture trap! Now I feel no better than all the screaming, giggling, obsessed teeny-boppers who put "I love Edward" bumper stickers all over their MySpace page.

Edward is the main male character that, I too, fell in love with. It's easy to see why though. Stephanie Meyer took EVERYTHING that a girl would want in a guy and made Edward out of it. He's passionate, loving, protective, understanding, loyal, handsome, dangerous, manly, rugged, smart, cultured, funny, sexy, and a virgin who wants to wait for marriage to top it all off. Stephanie Meyer caught us all off guard. Whenever we thought there might be a flaw in his character that would make him seem more realistic, it was counteracted with a reason why that completely erased the flaw. Girls all over the world never had a chance.

Anyway, I'm done with them now, and they may not be on the top 100 books of all time list, but they're certainly in my top favorites. But for now...back to the list! Up next is The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow. Stay tuned :)

Summer Reading

As most of you know, or should anyway, I LOVE reading. I never realized how rare a thing that actually was until recently. I grew up in a family who loved to read so it was always just normal. After talking to a lot of my friends, I guess the hobby of reading isn't as common as I thought. Oh well, it's my favorite pass time.

So if you recall, way back in January I made my bucket list as part of my New Year's resolution. One of the things on my bucket list was to read the top 100 books of all time. Now, what those top 100 books actually are may be different from person to person. I wish I could find the official top 100, if there were such a thing. Most lists are more or less the same with few differences, so if I read 150 along the way, so be it.

First up (in my own order) was Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. Having seen two different versions of the movie it was hard for me to pick the mental image of the characters based on the different actresses. One chapter my mind would be picturing Elizabeth Garvie (as Elizabeth Bennet) from the 1980 UK version, then the next chapter would be Keira Knightly (as Elizabeth Bennet) from the 2005 US version. It was rather confusing. For some reason I had a hard time finishing this book, but I finally did and I feel rather accomplished for doing so.

Next on my list was To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. What a wonderful story! I thoroughly enjoyed it. My only complaint to the author was that she did not give us a time frame soon enough. While reading the first couple of chapters, I had no idea when the story was taking place. That doesn't work for me because when I read, it's 100% visual and if I don't know what my characters are dressed in or what year the car models should be, it makes it very hard to then change my images once I find out the correct era. But after re-reading the first couple of chapters a couple times to get the right costumes and settings in my mind, I couldn't put this one down. The family dynamics were just wonderful and so unconventional yet heartwarming. I see now why this is such a classic!

Currently I'm taking a break from the top 100 and reading what I call an "interest book" (a book that I want to read just because and not because it's on the top 100). I'm reading Twilight. Trendy, yes...I know. But there is a reason it is such a popular book series and movie saga, so I want to know why. I will post when done :)