Nothing New

No news is good news, here. Things are settling down after the start-of-school/car-death business of last week.

The only thing I've really accomplished this week is that I finally finished the Stephanie Meyer Twilight series (major spoilers ahead if you're planning on reading it in the future). I started the series because the book jacket said, "Move over, Harry Potter," which meant I had to read it. The first three books went really fast, and while I had some qualms about the characters (Bella is pretty unremarkable, and Edward's reasons for loving her--her blood smells good?--is unconvincing. Edward himself was much more interesting in the first book when he was mean and confusing to Bella, and he descended into blathering romanticism after that), I enjoyed the books for what they were.

Today I finished the last book, Breaking Dawn. I knew it had gotten poor reviews but I didn't read them in advance. I can definitely see why the reviews were bad now. Some of the book I liked. Vampire baby? Great! Jacob's slightly uninnocent love for said vampire baby? Scandalous but great! However, the end--blah. I got the feeling that things were working up to a big reveal a-la-Harry-at-the-end-of-Potter-7, but the climactic moment was completely unconvincing. The Volturi had a vote? And voted to just go home? Huh?

I also have some ideological issues with Meyer, which I try to squash. First of all, Bella is the antithesis of a feminist. I greatly dislike her need to change to be more like her man. In addition, she feels the need to become forever young and beautiful. Wouldn't it have been more romantic if she'd aged horrifyingly and Edward stood by her? I also don't like the obvious conservative motives behind some of the plot moves. Not only does it just annoy me, but it makes for some predictable moments. I've never been so conscious of an author's political views when reading, and the book suffered for that.

Anyway. Series over and done. The Twilight movie is coming out in November and I'll definitely be seeing it, if only because Cedric Diggory is playing Edward. In other teen lit news, Christopher Paolini's next Eragon book comes out next week, which I'm eagerly awaiting. And J.K. Rowling is releasing The Tales of Beedle the Bard in December, which I need to pre-order ASAP. However, I'm still mad that they moved the Potter 6 movie to next July--I'd just seen the trailer and boy oh boy! It looks great.

Recent books

I've been on a book kick since Christmas. I'm running dry a bit, but I've still got a few left on my list.

Read:
A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham. This was good, but it was my least favorite of late.
Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan. This one was very entertaining, though it got off to a slow start.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Loved this one. I didn't think I would like it so much, but it was very easy to read, and I found myself interested in the Afghan troubles.
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. I found myself a little too obsessed with these. Once I started them, I couldn't put them down. They effected me, and not always in a good way. Overall, I recommend them, but I was disturbed by them in a way that I was never disturbed by Harry Potter (so in that way, HP wins the contest).
I am Legend by Richard Matheson. I bought this one because I didn't want to see the movie, but I wanted to know what was going on. It was entertaining, though I was a little disappointed by the version I bought (it didn't say I am Legend and other stories, but it was really a collection of short stories. I didn't know that when I bought the book, and I got to the end of I am Legend and couldn't figure out what was going on).

I just picked up Reading Lolita in Tehran. I've only read a couple of chapters, but I've put it aside, since it's obvious that I need to read Lolita first.