Twilight

This is the hottest series since Harry Potter, so I couldn't put off reading it forever. I do enjoy a good vampire novel, and I think I would have loved this book if it was published when I was a teenager (though we had Interview With the Vampire then). Even at my age Twilight is a page-turner, but there were certain things about it that I couldn't overlook.

Maybe I'm just too adult and cynical, but I audibly scoffed when Bella declared that she would love Edward forever. She barely knows the guy. (And think for a minute about your high school sweetheart and the undying love that you pledged - and how quickly you got over it.) What Bella and Edward have is a very intense chemistry, and that is all. It's great, but it's taken way too seriously in this novel.

Another sticking point for me was the behavior of the teenaged characters. In situations where they were unsupervised, they were way too orderly and well-behaved. No one so much as snuck a cigarette when out of sight of adults. Every one of them came across as a mature, responsible goody two-shoes. Maybe I was just particularly wild as a teenager, but I didn't buy it for a minute.

Still, it's a good story, and I can see why every teenaged girl in America is in love with Edward Cullen. Vampires are sexy and mysterious and a little scary - what could be better than that? I'm not sure yet if I'll continue reading the series, but I'll definitely watch the movie.