My most recent obsession

Hello, bandwagon.  It's time for me to jump on.

Since I have started teaching, the same book title kept reappearing over and over and over.  Twilight.  My girls were obsessed.  I didn't know much about it, so I asked a few questions--things like, "Girls, what is this about?"  When they answered, "Vampires," I answered, "Ugh...so not my idea of fun."

But it continued.  Of the 80 book presentations I heard last week, easily 20 were over one of the books in the Twilight saga.  Grown adults were enjoying this series...and I kept hearing the same thing over and over.  "It's so addictive."  "I couldn't stop reading it." "Oh my gosh, it was so good."  Kids were sneaking the book under their desk (no small feat, since they weigh in between 450-700ish pages each).  The boys were starting to read.  Some because their girlfriends insisted; others because they were curious.  I began to suspect that more of my students were reading Twilight than anything I had ever assigned for them to read. 

I continued to hold out.  Then Shannon wrote a blog post about her recent foray into the fictional Forks, Washington, and the addiction that ensued.  If there is anyone I will trust for a book recommendation, it's Shannon.

So I decided to give in.

I asked my students to bring me a copy of the first book.

No fewer than four copies showed up on my desk that next morning.

And so I took the first book in the Twilight series with me to San Antonio.  And finished it the day I began.

 

I was officially hooked.  I kept telling my colleague who was my roommate, "It's so not well-written.  But I can't stop."

I bought the second book at the airport Saturday, and finished after I arrived home in Indiana.  I picked up the third and fourth at Wal-Mart yesterday, and did nothing but read all Sunday afternoon, evening, and night.  And so, now, well under one week after beginning the series, I have finished it.  And I feel a little sad.  I kind of want to go back.  I'm not finished with these characters, not by a long shot.  This fictional world of vampires and werewolves (or shall I say 'shapeshifters') drew me in in a way that I haven't been drawn in for quite some time.  It's really sort of embarrassing, but I'm okay with it.  I'll probably re-read the series in the near future (perhaps over Christmas), just to get another taste.