I was at work this week and noticed that Nicky was reading something new. Always looking for something new to read and being a bit nosy, I asked her what it was. She said its called ‘Twilight’ by Stephenie Meyer and its really good. The title sounded vaguely familiar and I asked if it is a kids book and a vampire book. It was and is. I asked her to let me know how it was and how it ended, thinking that in a few days I would get a thumbs up or down. But nooo…a little while late she comes into my office and says that I need to read the Preface-its that good. So I read the Preface and I was hooked.
So on Friday I was at Target and bought a copy of this 500 page book. I made the mistake of starting to read the book at midnight (I could not start earlier because it was a busy day filled with a yellow fever shot, going to the movies to see ‘Mamma Mia!’- which was really good by the way, and a bunch of other stuff) and I figured I would just get in a chapter and then go to sleep. But noooo…the next thing I knew it was 3am! Reluctantly I put down the book to get some sleep, because I had to get up early the next day and go to work at one of my part-time jobs (current job count: one full time job, 2 part time jobs and trying to write a masters thesis to graduate in December…see my little twin sister you can work and go to school, while reading the occasional vampire book).
So it was that little half page Preface that totally hooked me! I am now about 1/2 through and its really good story (well actually its really good ‘chick lit’ or maybe I should say good ‘vampire chick lit’). But should I be reading for fun? No. I have a master thesis to write (and books/articles to read for it), two articles to write, a book to read for a book review, and another book review to finish writing up. Basically I have no time. Too many things to finish and yet I have become obsessed with this vampire book. Now Stephenie Meyer is a good author, but she is no JK Rowling or Philip Pullman. The book is also not sarcastic like Buffy, its certainly not Anne Rice and does not have the great historical mood that Elizabeth Kostova’s ‘The Historian’ had. But its one of those books that grabs you and you cannot put it down. It’s marketed as a ‘young adult’ book, but it will appeal to a lot of people (more women then men I would guess), which is what good books do!
As I was driving home today I was thinking about other good fiction books I have read this year and realized once again that I really don’t read that much fiction. ‘Cairo’ by G. Willow Wilson was a good graphic novel (excellent illustrations and an interesting story, but it also had some undercurrents that I thought could have been left out), ‘City of Thieves’ by David Benioff was a really good war/friendship/love/historical novel about the siege of Leningrad and its just waiting to be a movie, ‘People of the book’ by Geraldine Brooks was a fun read (its like ‘the red violin’ but with a book). So I guess reading a few little vampire books will help with my fiction quota (if I had a fiction quota).