Feature
November, 21 2008
Deep Reading
by Lisa's Pieces
Happy Friday, MommyTalkers!
Back in October, Leslie Schelat-McBride wrote an article about the book Twilight, which, if you've been paying attention, is a movie that opens today! At the time, I paid very little mind to it, but made a mental note to one day check it out and see if it was for me.
A month went by and suddenly, the girl I talk books with in my office was finishing her Stephen King's It, which I had already read, and was anxious to start reading Twilight. She advised me that others in the office had read it and said how amazing it was, and she absolutely couldn't wait to start it. Well, that got me thinking! I wasn't reading anything at the moment and even though I'm in the middle of online courses, a part-time job and full-time parenting, I was determined to read it too. Hell, the last book I read was Augusten Burroughs' A Wolf At The Table (a fantastic read, by the way) but that had been months ago.
So I go to my local library and ask the librarian if they have the book in. The expression on her face made me realize it was like asking for a Cabbage Patch doll in 1984! She did, however, have a copy that someone had just donated to the library that hadn't even been scanned in yet and she graciously let me borrow it if I promised to bring it back (obviously). My only concern was getting into it enough to actually read it and not have it out forever and a day!
That was not a problem! Man, this book is addictive! Since Leslie already raved about it in her feature last month, I won't do the same here. I'm not even finished with the book, but I have a terribly hard time putting it down. It's rare that a book comes along like that, though. When was the last time you were reading a book and you honestly despised having to go through life not reading it?? I mean, that's how I'm feeling right now. I wish I had more hours in the day! I'm on page 334 now (I'll be well beyond that when this is posted on Friday, I'm sure) and I'm so mad that I had to stop to even tell you about it (but I want you to share my enthusiasm).
Somehow, I managed to read this book for three hours while going through the motions of life. I started reading it at about 6:00 p.m. while waiting for my pizza to show up. The kids were watching TV at this point. The pizza comes and the kids and I sit down to eat. After they're done (which is very quickly since they don't eat too much and certainly don't savor dinner time around the table), I grab my book and read while I finish eating. I have to pause to clean up and get the kids in pajamas, but then they settled up in my bed to watch their evening TV and I settled on my couch with the Devils game on very low so I could read my book. I read the book throughout the entire Devils game (yet I managed to look up every time the Devils scored, which was pretty cool - I saw every goal) and then the post-game came on just as I finished a chapter and I realized I had to come and write my column and what better thing to write it about? My complete lack of focus on anything right now other than this book! This cursed book that doesn't let me not think about it!
Leslie was right. It's weird to be fascinated with a teenage vampire love story as an adult, but the story is so gripping. The love affair is so wonderfully written and so romantically right that I often forget I'm dealing with 17-year olds.
Thursday at work, I talked to the girl who is also reading the book and at that point, she was about 100 pages ahead of me (I was about 200 pages back from where I am now) and she was saying the same thing. We're both so shocked that we even care about this story and yet -- impossible to put down!
I love finding a book like this... and it is a rarity for me. I adore Stephen King, Kurt Vonnegut, Chuck Palahniuk, Augusten Burroughs and the Harry Potter series. I've read the classics (To Kill a Mockingbird, Catch-22, The Color Purple, etc.) and yet -- this book has me completely captivated. I know I'm going to lose a lot of sleep until this book is finished and you know what? I'm going to bring this back to the library and head right over to Barnes & Noble to buy my own copy, but I'll buy the whole series. That's what makes me the happiest. It doesn't end with this book. There are more and I look forward to each of them!
I hope you find a good book to captivate your mind and attention. It's much nicer than a book that's hard to get through. If you have found one like this, do share! This is the best type of reading there is - the kind you just can't live without!
