Reading

I have always maintained that one of my biggest passions is for great stories. Even when I was a baby, I was captivated by movies and books. I now extend the category to include music and artwork because I believe they also tell stories. Even so...there are very few things that thrill me more than curling up and diving into a good book.

While I was in school, I used to look forward to holiday breaks because I would finally have the time to read something I wanted to read, rather than something that was assigned. I'd lock myself in my room for a few days and immerse myself in the world of my favorite storybook characters...seeing as they saw, feeling as they felt, and experiencing far more than I ever could on my own in my short lifetime. I often get so emotionally attached to the characters and their environments that it pains me to put the book down because it means I have to return to reality. It's an unfortunate dichotomy that we rush through good books because we can't put them down, but in the end we wish they would have lasted longer because it was so enjoyable.

The last six months have been like a very long holiday break for me. Because I am no longer in school, I have all the time and freedom in the world to read whatever I want to. Consequently, I've been going through books like kleenex. I've read 17 books since the wedding, and am currently waiting for the FedEx guy to get here so I can start another one this afternoon.

One of the fun and unexpected side effects of my voracious reading habits of late is that I have gotten James into reading as well. He was like many young men these days in that he was not particularly interested in reading - for fun or otherwise. However, he reads almost as much as I do these days. We've gone through several series together and enjoy discussing what's going on and postulating what will happen next.

Right now we're hopelessly hooked on the 'Twilight' series by Stephenie Meyer. I kept hearing about these books over the summer but wasn't sure if it was really for me. People like to equate the series to 'Harry Potter', in that it's a young adult fantasy series. However, the subject matter is quite different. Supposedly it was a 'Romeo and Juliet' type romance - with vampires and werewolves. If you're raising your eyebrows or otherwise scoffing, I completely understand. I'm not a big fan of vampire stories (or any kind of horror/monster movie kind of thing...) But I had heard nothing but good things about them...and the movie adaptation of the first book comes out in theaters in a couple of weeks so I figured it would be worth checking out...just to see what all the hubbub is about.

I purchased the first book when we were in San Antonio last weekend, and finally got around to picking it up on Thursday. Buying only the first book was a bad move on my part because - OF COURSE - we fell in love with the story and both flew through all 500 pages in less than 36 hours. (Understand that, in order to do that, we had to switch off...so I could have finished it in less than a day if I had the book to myself. It was SO hard to surrender my new treasure every few hours so he could catch up!!) James and I immediately went out to the local book store to get the next 3 books in the series. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to have almost all of the English copies be sold out, but to see all 4 books available in the Libros en Espanol section. grr. Luckily we found a copy of the second book and could get rush delivery on the last two through Amazon.com (hence my waiting for the FedEx truck to arrive!!)

Now, you may be asking yourself, how in the world could we have fallen so quickly and irrationally in love with a vampire story? That's ridiculous. You may be right...but it happened regardless. You see, 'Twilight' is written in first person, from the perspective of a teenage girl who is very much like myself. And as she starts to fall for this handsome and mysterious young man at her new high school, you get swept up in her thoughts and feelings and find yourself as anxious for their relationship to progress as she is. The book is a brilliant character study, and therein lies its appeal. You quickly come to know and care about each person you encounter, and are gripped with page-turning suspense as they weave themselves into a tangled web of passion and danger.

Well...I just got a phone call that books 3 and 4 are waiting for me at the front office so I'm going to go!! If any of you are interested in hearing more...or have read them yourselves...let me know! Not nearly done gushing...haha.