I've had a good friend in the recent weeks persist in persuading me to read the Twilight series from Stephanie Meyer. As the book, from the random things you hear about it due to its popularity, seemed primarily geared towards teenagers, I never considered it. As my friend tried to convince me, I initially demurred as I learned it was somewhat of a romantic story, and I have never really read nor been interested in those types of story lines. But my friend persisted, and because I never wish to consider myself "too good" to read a book, or any other form of pretentious, and made the offhand comment that maybe if it was free, I would read it, thinking I could randomly pick it from a library at some point. Well, a couple days later, I received a used copy of the book (Twilight), and was thus out of any reason not to give the book a shot. Again, I never want to reject a book because I think its beneath me (or anything similar), so I now had to read the book. And due to continued persuasion from my friend, I also read the second installment, New Moon.
Its a fairly simple book and plot, and I don't mean that in any demeaning way. I tend to break books down into broad categories, one of which I always refer to as glorified movie scripts. I would put Twilight and New Moon into this category, but I also put The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, that I am currently reading, into that category, as well as the many books I've read by Steve Berry, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, etc. The books are all action/mystery/suspense, and provide entertainment, but often don't provide much beyond that. Which is fine, I believe they are intended for entertainment, so they serve their purpose, and I enjoy them. These two books are the same for the most part, there's not particularly great depth to the plot or the vast majority of the characters, but it tells a story that is intended to be entertaining, and does so.
Two primary things I noticed while reading them deal primarily in comparing them to these other books I've read. The Brown/Grisham/Berry books tend to be very action/suspense based, meaning the pace of the novel quickens to resolve the primary crisis of the book, and its easy to see the plot always moving forward because of the necessary action taking place. With Twilight and New Moon, because I was generally more interested in how the world of the vampire/werewolf characters were structured, I felt that at times, the plot was slow. Reflecting now, I think it has more to do that the book is truly centered on the relationship of its two main characters, so it is necessary for it continue to examine that; which is moving the story forward, but doesn't provide the action I tend to be used to when reading these types of books.
Second, its been several books since I've read a piece of fiction that was written from the first person perspective. Most of them are from the third person omniscient point of view, and it took awhile for me to adjust to that storytelling aspect. I needed to remind myself that the story that I get when reading, therefore, is filtered based on the one character; thus, the view of other characters may not be reality, thereby allowing their future decisions to be more surprising than normal. Truly, I have been so used to the third person in fiction that it was a bit jarring to read something through such a limited filter. Its neither positive or negative, but it made reading the books a bit different.
I mentioned that book is fairly simple in its plot; I think the focus on it is in the relationship of the two primary characters, and then the "other" interest that comes in as a source of tension; think Romeo, Juliet, and Paris; or King Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. The relationships also have additional sources of tension due to some being humans, others vampires, and others werewolves. But unlike Harry Potter where the world of magic is so detailed that it becomes its own character in a way, in these books the fantasy is not as detailed, and is truly secondary to the relationships themselves; they are more personality traits of the particular character than a focus of the books.
With all this said, I did enjoy reading the books...it had been a couple months since I'd read a more light-hearted/easier read, and it reminds me that its nice to sprinkle those in a bit more frequently. As I've read the first two, I imagine I will read the last two at some point (can't leave a story unfinished). I continue to believe that I should never refuse to read a book; if I start it and don't like after a quarter of the way in, perhaps that's a different story. But part of what I enjoy about the Book Club at the local library that I participate in, and when I get random recommendations (or books in the mail) from friends, is that I end up reading things I would never have picked out on my own; and I love the expansion of my horizons, the goal of reading a wide variety of books is constant. After all, there is a lot of good books out there, and if I only read ones that I find, I'm missing a whole lot.
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