eclipse ::DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK YET::

For some reason, it took me forever to finish eclipse, the third book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. I don't want to give away anything for those still making their way through the series. The time it took me to read it isn't necessarily a reflection of the book, more of a reflection on my recent reading habits.

::spoiler alert!!::


For those of you unfamiliar with the series, it follows Bella and her involvement with Edward Cullen, a vampire, and his "family" of vampires. Book three explores Bella's relationship with Edward and her friend, Jacob. As usual, danger is always lurking around the corner.

My own complaint with Meyer's books is a find them overly melodramatic and feel like most of them are too long. I felt the latest could have been pared down 50-100 pages.

However, this comes from someone whose favorite book has this passage:

"I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you -- especially when you are near to me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous Channel, and two hundred miles or so of land, come broad between us, I am afraid that the cord of communication shall be snapped; and then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding internally. As for you - you'd forget me."

Jane Eyre.

I find it interesting how Bella loves reading Wuthering Heights, by another Bronte. I'm hoping to re-read it. I think it'd be interesting to read with Meyer's love triangle in mind.

fledgling - Octavia Butler

For some reason it's taking me forever to finish a book lately. I'm so tired by the time I get home, that I'm ready for tv. We'll play an "old person's card" and chalk it up to the change in the weather.

I finally finished fledgling by Octavia Butler, which I learned about watching a HBO special before True Blood.

Fledgling centers around Shori, a 53 year old vampire, who wakes up hungry, alone and badly injured. Someone is targeting Shori's family and anyone who tries to protect her. While Shori is a vampire (or Ina), she's also the product of genetic engineering. A mixture of human and vampire, it's believed her black skin and human DNA enable her to stay awake during the day and also go into the sunlight (although her exposed skin does burn).

I really found Butler's take on vampires interesting - unlike some books vampires can have children and mate, live in communities - men and women do live in separate communities and have a unique relationship with the humans surrounding them. Ina are bound to the humans they regularly take blood from and suffer a horrible loss if that human (symbiont) dies. This is a far cry from the dangerous, blood thirsty vampire who callously discards humans after feeding on them.

There were some parts of the book that dragged a little for me, but that might have been my reading state of mind. Overall, I found this an interesting take on vampires and a stirring look at racism and bigotry.

New Moon

I've caught Twilight fever. I recently packed New Moon the next book in the series to read on a recent long weekend trip. I could not put it down. It's one of those rare books where when it was too late to read, I'd find myself skimming several pages because I was just dying to know what happened next.

Now, I'm not saying Stephenie Meyer's books are perfect. There's something that bothers me about them, I can't quite put my finger on it. I think they do tend to be a tad overly melodramatic. However, there's something I really like about Bella's character. They tend to be very engrossing books.

I have Eclipse, but am taking a break. I don't want to finish the series too quickly. I do, however, have quite a large stack of vampire books that I'm hoping to tackle.

New bookshelves

I was behind on loading pictures from my digital camera. I bring you ::cue the horns:: my new bookshelves. I actually have an entire shelf devoted to vampire lit (pictured here), which surprised me a little.

I even had room to display some pictures like the family photo to left. Guess which one I am? (Hint: I'm rocking the plaid and bowl cut)

I got them at the wonderful Woodstuff, who I'm going to plug. I think they look pretty!

Woodstuff

Address: 349 Moody St, Waltham, MA 02453

Phone: (781) 647-3688

Betsy gets an unnecessary makeover

Another vampire series that I enjoy reading is Mary Janice’s Queen Betsy series. It started off with Undead and Unwed and is now up to number seven with Undead and Unworthy. I don’t enjoy these books as much as Sookie Stackhouse – I don’t feel they’re as rich and complex. They are, however, are fun, light reads. Perfect summer reading and although I hate to use the term very chick lit.

When I received the latest book in the series, I did a double take. Past covers featured whimsical illustrations. I don’t even know how to describe the new cover – it almost felt YAish. I don’t know what prompted this change, but not a big fan. I thought the illustrated covers really matched the writing style.

Promotions really work! (or I'm a sucker)

Yes, yes. I've said I'm trying to not to bring any new books into the house. Then I got this email from Borders touting a special edition of eclipse and the new moon in paperback. I was intrigued. I really enjoyed twilight and to top it all off a 30 percent coupon.

This is kind of neat promotional idea. The special edition of eclipse has the first chapter of the upcoming breaking dawn, the cover doubles as a poster with the book's cover. There's also a t-shirt transfer sheet, which strikes me as a little dated. Do kids today even know what t-shirt transfers are?

Once the dust jacket is removed, there's a regular cover.

These two are going on my summer reading list, which I promise I'll be sharing soon!

The bookseller hinted that the buzz around this series is comparing it to Harry Potter. I can see how, these books could be a series that like Harry Potter both adults and the younger set (in this case, probably teenagers enjoy.)

twilight

Since May is Vampires month, I thought I'd my part by reading by twilight by Stephenie Meyer. ;-) It's the first book in her series that's geared towards young adults. I thought this was a good start to her series - parts of it felt like it was building the foundation by introducing the characters and their back stories. I know this is technically a young adult book, but I thought it was rich and a surprisingly dense read. I really liked the characters, but the one thing that irritated me is how quickly the main characters fall in love.

Once I started reading, I was definitely hooked. I found myself skimming ahead, because I really wanted to know what happened next.

In a nutshell, Bella moves to a small town in Washington to live with her father. She meets Edward and falls in love. The hitch - Edward is a vampire.

About three things I was absolutely positive.
First Edward was a vampire.
Second, there was a part of him - and I didn't know how dominant that part might be - that thirsted for my blood.
And third, I was unconditionally, and irrevocably in love with him.

I find interesting how vampire mythology really varies from author to author. For instance, in twilight, vampires can go outside during the day time, rather than burning in the sun, they sparkle almost irresistibly. They do prefer to go out in overcast/ rainy weather so at not attract attention. Meyer's vampires also don't need to sleep or breathe and are virtually indestructible. In contrast, in the Sookie Stackhouse series and other books like Tanya Huff's, vampires sleep during the day/ or spend the daylight hours in a suspended state, not alert/wake/alive. Charlaine Harris' vampires will burn and can die if they go out in the sunlight.

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/index.html

May is for vampires?!

I’ve been meaning to post about this for awhile because I think its fun.

First Second, which specializes in graphic novels, has declared May Vampire Month.

Amazon: Vampires? In May? Why, First Second, You Are a Cheeky Publisher, Aren't You? - http://www.omnivoracious.com/2008/05/vampires-in-may.html

First Second’s blog: http://www.firstsecondbooks.typepad.com/mainblog/

There are many novels featuring vampires starting with Bram Stoker’s Dracula all the way up to Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series.

First Second publishes Little Vampire and Life Sucks. Both are vampire-themed graphic novels. (I’m eagerly awaiting both from the library.)

There must be something in the air or this idea is really catching on because the Seattle Public Library’s blog is doing a series of posts on vampire fiction.

The Vampire List, Part 1: Love Bites - http://shelftalk.spl.org/2008/05/14/the-vampire-list-part-1-love-bites/

I noticed another reader pointed out the absence of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse books; apparently they’ll be included in later posts. Regular readers are aware I’m a big Charlaine Harris fan.

Update: Shelf Talk's has another vampire post -

http://shelftalk.spl.org/2008/05/21/the-vampire-list-part-2-urban-vamps/

I tried reading the Turning and just couldn't seem to get into it.

Some other vampire reading I’ve enjoyed includes Anita Blake – although I have to admit I lost steam. The earlier books are better. There are many fans who think this series went off the rails.

Mary Janice Davidson, who’s mentioned in Shelf Talk’s list. The first book in this series is Undead and Unwed. I really like these novels. It’s sort of like vampire chick lit. They’re fun, quick reads.

Another series I enjoy is Tanya Huff’s Blood Ties series that revolve around Vicki Nelson, who becomes a private detective after a degenerative eye disease forces her to retire. I would definitely check out Lifetime’s Blood Ties series. I think this really captures the essence of the books, but also stands on their own.

Ack! I didn’t realize this might not be coming back on the air. Really Lifetime you have a great show and you don’t renew it. Grhh. If anyone has positive news to share on this, please do so.

(Side note: Dear Lifetime, I’m watching you! Do NOT mess with my beloved Project Runway. Just DON’T).

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Speaking of vampires – Stephenie Meyer is currently making the rounds for her latest novel, Host. Meyer is best known for her Twilight series – a vampire series geared towards young adults.

Stephenie Meyer By the Numbers - http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6559505.html?q=Stephenie+Meyer+

Meyer is also featured in Book Page, “Words to live by: there are no children’s books or adult books – there are only good books & bad boos. Everyone should read the good ones.”

Amen!

From Dead to Worse

Confession time: I love the Sookie Stackhouse series. They fall in the rare category of books that I will not only buy in hard cover, but faithfully pre-order on Amazon. It's really hard to describe, they’re a combination of fantasy, mystery, supernatural. Sookie is a telepathic bar maid living in a world occupied by werewolves, shape shifters and vampires. Only vampires have come out so to speak and have formed an uneasy relationship with humans.

I enjoyed the latest installment - From Dead to Worse. However, I didn't feel like it was the strongest book in the series. While the books have become longer and more complex as the series progresses, they've also become more unfocused. With the latest offering, it seem like Harris tried to cram too much in – strife within the vampire and werewolf communities, family issues, a roommate struggling with her relationship with her father and the fact she turned her boyfriend into a cat by accident, etc.

Phew. It just seemed a little too scattered.

That said, it was a fun read and I just love immersing myself in Sookie’s world. I can already anticipate what the next book might tackle.

Real Murders

For my New Year's resolutions, I decided to make affirmative resolutions. One of them was two read two books per month. I'm running a little behind this month. I just finished book one for this month -- Real Murders by Charlaine Harris.

I discovered Harris when I happened to randomly pick up the first Sookie Stackhouse book at the library. This series really defies explanation -- paranormal/ romance/ mystery/ thriller. Sookie is a psychic working in a bar when she meets a vampire. Turns out vampires exist and they've announced their presence. Sounds weird, but these books are fun.

I just finished Real Murders by Harris. It had an interesting premise -- librarian Aurora "Roe" Teagarden is a member of the "real murders" club. They meet once a month to discuss famous murder cases. One night before a meeting, Teagarden discovers a club member murdered in a manner very similar to the real life murder they were about to discuss. Soon it appears that there is a murderer on the loose copying famous murders.

I hate to say it but this was not my favorite Harris book. There were too many characters and as a result I felt like the character development, which is something Harris usually shines at, was weak. There was a little much going on -- too many people, too many murders. I'm willing to give the new Teagarden book, A Bone to Pick, a chance because Harris very rarely disappoints. Hopefully it will be a stronger showing.