Day 9: A Book I Thought I Would Hate, But Ended Up Loving

This is hard for me to admit, and I know that so, so many people are going to hate me for this post.

Yet the truth must go forth.

You have probably gathered by now that I am a semi-closeted Twilight fan. I won't lie about the fact that I enjoyed the books, but I don't generally shout it from the rooftops.

That would totally kill my reputation as a serious literary... :snort:

Sorry. I couldn't even get all the way through that. You all know I'm not "serious." But, being a Twilight fan does not go over well in the book-blogging world. Rest assured, that I NEVER thought I would like these books. Here are all the reasons:

- I'm not a fan of vampires. Not in the "traditional" sense, anyway. A vile creature who could look like anything and then seduce me and kill me in a violent manner? Or worse... turn me into a mindless, un-dead, blood-lusting, killing machine forever? No thanks.

- I'm not a fan of teens-falling-in-love-forever romance. Those movies and books are fun, but they generally illicit eye rolls of epic proportions. Seventeen and you've found the love of your life? More like you found the first person to sit across from you in divorce court (my baby sister being the exception to that rule... high school sweethearts sometimes do stay together and make the cutest family ever!)

- The person who recommended this book to me recommended it on the following criteria: 1) Her students at a barely-meeting-state-standards-school liked it. 2) The author was from our hometown, Phoenix. 3) The author was Mormon, like us. Those are not worthy reasons to read a book. So I had something in common with the author (two things, I guess, though approximately one million people share both of those things, so it's not really a "connection" of any kind), that means I'm going to love the book that teens who have never finished a reading assignment in their lives also loved? I don't think so.

- I don't know if you know this or not, but vampires drink blood. I cannot think of a less romantic, less high school appropriate, more creepy pastime.

The description I was given went something like this:

"It's about this totally ridiculously gorgeous vampire...
**in my head, I saw the vampire image I had seen most often up to that point: David Arquette as Benny in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Funny? Yes. Gorgeous? No.**

... and he meets this girl and they totally fall in love and it's the most forever kind of love, don't look at me like that, I'm totally serious!"

Because at that point I was giving her the "You're talking gibberish" look.

But alas, my baby (who is now five years old) got to a point where he was sleeping very erratically, my work was very slow and I was basically housebound (when the baby won't sleep for long periods of time, the LAST thing you do is wake him up and take him outside!) with lots of time in very uneven bursts and not a lot to do.

I picked up Twilight, thinking it would pass the time. I did, after all, trust my sister in law's opinion, and the book couldn't be that bad if she said it was good. So it sounded... lame, worst case scenario, I read a few chapters, it's not for me, and something else will come along to "interrupt" me in the next few days, and I'll be over it.

Eleven hours later, with bloodshot eyes and a completely empty stomach because I forgot to eat, I walked to my sister in law's room (she was staying with us) to return her book. She gave me New Moon, and I stayed up for another ten hours reading that one.

I read a little over 1,100 pages, straight through, in a little less than twenty four hours, with no sleep or food during that time. 

I thought I would hate them. I had every reason to hate them.

But I loved them.

I will now go on record and say that I have not enjoyed the movies so far, I have never worn a Twilight-themed t-shirt, I have never squealed for either Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner, I think grown women ogling underage boys is inappropriate, and I absolutely believe these books are not for the "tween" set that so much of the media seems to think they are for.


A blogging friend of mine posted a bookish meme, after reading it on another blogging friend's site. I can't not participate! This post was written in response to the 30 Days of Books.

The full list:

Day 01 – The best book you read last year
Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times
Day 03 – Your favorite series
Day 04 – Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 05 – A book that makes you happy
Day 06 – A book that makes you sad
Day 07 – Most underrated book
Day 08 – Most overrated book
Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 10 – Favorite classic book
Day 11 – A book you hated
Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 – Your favorite writer
Day 14 – Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 – Favorite male character
Day 16 – Favorite female character
Day 17 – Favorite quote from your Favorite book
Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favorite romance book
Day 21 – Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 – Favorite book you own
Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favorite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your Favorite book of all time