twilight :)

I don't think I ever mentioned that I finished the Twilight series. :) I read the first three books in about three sleepless days, I think, and then I slowed way down for the fourth one and read it over seven days. I had a lot going on, and I also didn't want them to end.

Also, I have to admit that I wasn't as into the fourth book as I was the first three, so I wasn't in the frenzy to read every second I could.  I'm glad I read it, but it was a disappointment.  I felt disappointed that with her really great character development of Edward and Jacob, and the super-creative, detailed worlds she created in the first three books (which I mentioned before were strong enough to carry her basically mediocre writing), she didn't stick with her strengths. The first three books are character- and conflict-driven, with the tension of the colliding worlds holding the story together.  That tension is everything. This was her great strength. 

The fourth book was plot-driven (and a pretty busy plot it was), which is dangerous, I think, when the characters are already so well-established, because characters end up doing things out of character. I think she could have ended strongly, with classic elements from some of her inspiration stories (Romeo & Juliet, Wuthering Heights).  Instead, she seemed to go the route of easy wish fulfillment.  I was disappointed in her.  But I don't want to go on and on about that, because I got over it, and have started reading Twilight again, slowly this time, to enjoy it. :D

And I may have watched the movie once or twice.  I know, I know.  They really marketed it towards teenagers (although apparently Chris Weitz, the new director for New Moon, is targeting the older fans! yay!), so the super teenagery bits with the regular Forks town kids were hard to watch.  But boy did I love the stuff with the Cullens. :) I'm trying to figure out how I can watch it one more time before I send the disc back to Netflix.  Hee hee.

Did you not LOVE the Cullens' house? It is actually the Hoke house, designed by Skylab Architects.  There's a good interview here with the architect.  It was so beautiful.

Edward's room with all those CDs and books and windows was my dream room.  Here's a bit of it in a photo from Apartment Therapy, which also has a short article talking about it.

I guess if you want to read the books and haven't yet, you probably shouldn't read comments posted on this post, because there will probably be some spoilers.