Twilight - Stephenie Meyer

I freely and proudly admit that I'm not highbrow when it comes to my literature preferences. But, bad writing bothers me, and I can get kind of snobby. I'll read almost any genre, including fantasy, sci-fi, teen lit, etc., but it's got to be well written. (One of these days, I've got to sit down and figure out exactly what that means to me...)

It's so hard to find good, interesting, fun books, especially without an excess of language or other yucky content, that when I find an author who doesn't rely on that kind of crap, I latch on tight. There's nothing I like more than finding an author whose writing I like, and then reading everything they've ever written. Authors like Agatha Christie and Louis L'Amour are gold mines. If the author's good enough, the necessary similarities and repetitions just provide a comforting sense of familiarity, without becoming too predictable or boring.

I'd heard of Twilight (it's big among LDS women, I believe - the author graduated from BYU) but I had really low expectations. I knew it was popular, and becoming more so, but I still thought it was probably pretty crappy - glorified Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan fiction, if that means anything to you. When both of Kenyon's sisters mentioned/recommended it in the space of a few weeks, I started considering it, and I took a peek at one of their copies. The best phrase I've heard to describe it is instantly addictive. I bought a copy a few days later (it's impossible to get at the library) and tore through it. Two weeks later, I've read all four books in the series. Kenyon's almost done, himself. I started out reading them out loud to him, and he got into them, and it's been really fun, like having a two person book group.

I'm sure (VERY sure) that I'll write more about all of them later, but for now, I'll just say that I'm embarassed by how much I like Twilight. They're pretty clean, and while they're FAR from perfect, they've been easy to read, entertaining enough, and it's kind of fun both getting into them and picking them apart.