Twilight
Bella is the new girl in town; Edward is the mysterious stranger. The romance at the core of this story is certainly nothing new, and neither is the vampire angle. The writing isn’t all that great: the descriptions are bland, the dialogue unnatural, and the narration amateurish. Adverbs abound. Bella shares her every thought and repeats herself constantly. The text is a shining example of why consistently avoiding “said” is terribly distracting. Most of what we learn about the characters is from the narrator’s descriptions rather than their actions, and I still have absolutely no idea what Edward sees in Bella except as an entree. The plot alternates between forced and outright silly. Worst of all, Bella is a total Mary Sue. I was repeatedly reminded of the sorts of romantic fantasies I wrote about as a teenager. There isn’t a whole lot to recommend this book, from a technical standpoint.
But. (You saw that coming, didn’t you?) I can, on the other hand, understand the draw. I remember being that teenager who wrote this sort of unlikely drivel. I remember the obsession over boys and the fervent hope that he would ask me out. I even remember fantasizing about having too many suitors. So yes, while this book is ridiculous and will probably disappear from collective memory within the decade, I can understand its appeal to awkward teenage girls who dream about men who are both dangerous and devoted, strong and tender, attractive and yet still an outcast. And so I did enjoy it on that level.
I’ve heard a lot of complaints about sparkling vampires, how they’re not “real” vampires. And yes, the vampires in this book are not vulnerable to sunlight (and in fact only avoid it because of the attention their sparkling draws), and the creation of a vampire is not from drinking the blood of a vampire. I would like to mention that Dracula himself was only sometimes hurt by sunlight, and people in that book became vampires both by drinking vampire blood and by simply being bitten (but not killed) by a vampire. I doubt that Dracula did much twinkling, but considering how often Edward’s skin is described in terms of minerals like marble and granite, sparkling isn’t so far fetched. I wouldn’t recommend this book to, say, Anne Rice fans, but I can’t complain much about the authenticity of something that doesn’t exist in the first place.
This may surprise you, but I’m planning on reading the rest of this series. I know what kind of silliness to expect, and I look forward to dissecting Meyer’s werewolf treatment. All in all, I enjoyed Twilight. It’s not my favorite book ever and I doubt I’ll read it again, but it was a fun bit of brain candy. I was never bored; I even chuckled aloud in some places. Many of the characters are quite likable regardless of their lack of depth, and part of me likes being transported back, half a lifetime ago, to an alternate reality where awkward teenage me gets to be the bell of the ball.
Also posted on BookCrossing.
by Ali Smith: This book is distilled insanity. It’s told from the more or less stream-of-consciousness points of view of five women whose lives intersect in a certain hotel: a dead teenager trying to remember her past, her sister working through her grief, a self-absorbed journalist, a bed-ridden invalid, and a barely coherent homeless woman. I wish I could explain the plot, but there really isn’t one – just snapshots of life that happen to overlap a bit. That said, it was kind of a fun read in places. The ghost’s manic descriptions were fun, the journalist’s ignorance was amusing, and some of the writing style was novel. Plus, it was short enough that I never felt overtaxed by any one character – save the sister, whose entire chapter contained no punctuation. That was exhausting to read.
by Tim Burton: This is a strange little volume of macabre stories, mostly told in verse, of children with unusual issues and the horrors that befall them. I suppose it’s supposed to be darkly humorous, but I found it just plain old weird. Though in the same vein as Edward Gorey, it’s not quite as clever. However, it’s not bad for a ten-minute read.
by Marion Zimmer Bradley: An extremely long book, but that’s hardly surprising considering it covers the span of Arthurian Legend, from Ambrosius to Mordred and beyond. Though this tale is from the viewpoint of many of the women of the legend (Igraine, the Lady of the Lake, etc.), the primary characters are Morgaine (whom you probably know as Morgana or Morgan Le Fey), half-sister of Arthur, and Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), Arthur’s queen. Many of the names are unusually spelled: Lancelet (Lancelot), Caius (Kay), Ectorius (Ector)…and yet, along with all these crazy names, Taliesin’s successor as the Merlin is named Kevin Harper. The name sticks out awkwardly, making me wonder if Bradley was honoring a friend named Kevin. But all that aside, it’s still a good read. The length isn’t all that noticeable because the story does not drag much at all. I did get bored of the near-constant religious arguing, with each side mindlessly clinging to notions just as crazy as the other, but in the end things are more or less resolved peacefully. I liked Morgaine, for the most part. Gwenhwyfar was an obnoxious harpy and I couldn’t figure out why Lancelet and Arthur were so smitten with her, but whatever. This book is perhaps better for those who, like me, are already quite familiar with the legend, because the way things are worked into this version are often quite ingenious. All in all, I’m glad I read it, but it didn’t make a lasting impression on me.
by David Colbert: The name is somewhat misleading; this is a cute mini-encyclopedia of the real mythological roots of many aspects of the Harry Potter books. While I didn’t learn a whole heck of a lot of new information, I would definitely recommend this book to any Harry Potter fan, especially younger ones. The writing is friendly without being dumbed down, the articles are short but concise, and the breadth of information is impressive. If nothing else, it instilled in me a renewed interest in mythology, and the extensive bibliography and notes provide a good jumping-off point for further research.
and 
, and thus is it full of spoilers from the first four books and contains a sprinkling of (sometimes misguided) predictions for the latter three volumes. There is a revised version, but I don’t know if it covers the entire series. Keep that in mind when reading.
by Katherine Neville: This is my second time reading this book and it was amazing all over again. Like all of Neville’s novels, two stories are interweaved: one in the present (in this case, the 1970’s) and one in the past (late 18th century). Two women, a computer expert and nun, attempt each in their respective time periods to unravel the mystery behind a powerful and much-coveted ancient chess set, the Montglane Service. This book is full of action and romance, suspense and memorable characters. The number of famous historical figures who show up does border on the absurd, but I was too busy having a good time to nitpick. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
by Nicole Hollander: It seemed, at first glance, that I fit squarely into the target audience for this book. I like cats, I like comic strips, and I like humor. And it’s not like my tastes are all that high-class: I still often find 
by Marc Abrahams: This is one seriously funny book. Ig Nobel prizes are awarded to those who pursue (and publish) research that first makes you laugh, then makes you think. Actual Nobel Laureates present the awards and participate in the general shenanigans that take place during the annual ceremony. Abrahams’s descriptions of this selection of winners had me cracking up repeatedly. It’s hard to pick a favorite, though I did particularly enjoy Levitating Crime Fighters and High Velocity Birth. And yes, as is repeatedly mentioned, all of these experiments are real. Definitely recommended.
by Khaled Hosseini: This came to me highly recommended. That is, the “OMG THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD” sort of highly recommended. But you know, I wasn’t all that impressed with it. The bits and pieces of Afghan culture that shone through now and then were interesting, but really it was just your standard tale of betrayal, guilt, and redemption. Pretty predictable, all in all. I’m not saying it wasn’t well-written, just that it didn’t really grab me. Part of this problem may be due to listening to it on audiobook, which was read by the author. Some people believe that authors are the ideal choice for narrators, but I disagree. Sure, the author may know best how the characters are supposed to sound, but that doesn’t mean s/he can reproduce them. Not everyone is a good voice actor, and Hosseini, for all his talent as a writer, most certainly is not. I’d say I’d consider reading the printed version at some point to give it a second chance, but I’m sure I’d still only be able to hear his monotone voice in my head. A shame, because with the right narrator I’m sure this could have been a very moving tale.
by Orson Scott Card: This final book in the Ender Quartet spends most of its time tying up loose ends from Xenocide than moving the story along. The fleet still threatens the planet Lusitania, Jane still faces imminent destruction, Miro is still angstful about his love life, and Ender’s still going a bit mad. Everything is tied up neatly at the end, but by and large these latter two novels – Xenocide and Children of the Mind – feel superfluous. I admire Card for his amazing SF ideas, especially the development of the Piggies, but there wasn’t much point in putting all the aiua business in the Ender universe. But that’s okay. Now I know how it ends, and if I care to reread the series in the future, I’ll simply stop after Speaker for the Dead.