Twilight - Stephenie Meyer

I thought in honor of the Twilight movie coming out I would give my review of the book. I had heard a few people discussing this series. I briefly toyed with joining a book club and heard they were making this the pick for October. I downloaded this book to my ereader and ended up reading it in one day. I then went to Amazon.com and purchased the other 3 books and once they came in I read them back to back until I had read them all. I can't recall how long it took me, but I am sure it was less than a week. I have a book reading addiction. When a book captures my interest I am compelled to read until finished, sleep be damned.

I never quite know how much to say in a book review. I hate to spoil the story for readers wondering whether a book is worth the read. However, I myself love to see a good book synopsis . Let's see how I do.

First, this was Stephenie Meyer's debut novel about a seventeen year old girl named Bella. Bella moves from Phoenix to Forks, Washington to live with her dad, Charlie. In a twist on a new girl in school plot, Bella meets Edward Cullen at school who peaks her interest by appearing to hate her on sight. She observes his unnaturally beautiful family as well. We also meet Jacob Black, an old childhood playmate and family friend, who lives on the local Native American reservation and in time will factor into the the story more prominently in future books. Of course, in time, Bella learns Edward does not hate her and he and his family are indeed vampires. Thus begins a pretty good tale of love between a different type of "star-crossed lovers."

I wanted to dislike this book and I am sure it is far from perfect but the characters were both likable and interesting. Bella is an interesting supposed outsider who seems likable to most everyone. The Cullens are beautiful yet flawed, a strange loving vampire "family." I did enjoy Twilight. I think I liked it the least of her other books, but after reading them all it is difficult to remember how I felt after reading Twilight the first time. All-in-all, I think it was a good introduction to the major series characters, but really a lite appetizer. I encourage you to commit to reading the whole series. Definitely another good escapist read!

True Blood Revisited

So I have been trying to catch up on my DVR'd episodes of True Blood. It is not for lack of interest. It is just a bit difficult to find time to watch when you really can't have your kids in the room.

I still find myself intrigued by the show. I want to hate it. So many of the characters are depraved. But again, everyone is so decidedly complex. The vampires are pretty horrific except for Bill, but then most of the humans are pretty sadistic too. I think I like it for the complex characters and the unpredictability. I can usually anticipate most shows' story lines. I like being surprised. I have to say most of the episode ending cliff hangers surprise me and keep me anticipating the next episode.

I was thinking that the series had a lot in common with the Twilight vampire books. They do have some superficial similarities, but the characters seem drastically different. Although I heard True Blood is also based on a series of books and I wonder how close the television series is to the books. I am not convinced the upcoming Twilight movie will do the book justice. They never do. Perhaps True Blood is more influenced by HBO than the books? I guess I might have to check out the books.