Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer pages 1- 768

This book wasn't very good in my opinion. Meyer took the story in a completely new direction, and it was just not very good. She diverted away from everything I liked about Twilight. Everything was just too perfect, it all worked out so sickeningly sweet in the end. Meyer got rid of all the turmoil and stuff that made the books interesting. I don't want to read a book about two people who are in love and everything just is awesome, it's not interesting, or realistic. I mean, a vampire falling in love with a human and not sucking her dry isn't very realistic either... The very fact that the book is about vampires is unrealistic, but even if I'm reading a book that's fantastical I want the core of the story to be based in reality. I read this book called The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold over the summer. The Lovely Bones is a book about a girl who is murdered and what happens to all the people left behind, and it's narrated by the dead girl while she's in heaven. The premise is supernatural, but I never felt like it was weird... Until the end when she COMES BACK TO EARTH IN SOMEONE ELSE'S BODY! I was immediately put off. It was just too weird... It made the book end perfectly... and I didn't like it. Endings make or break a book for me, or in the case of Breaking Dawn, a series. So I loved Twilight but I feel like the book got steadily worse as they went on. Breaking dawn was still really good, but just not as good as it could have been, or anywhere near as good as Twilight. Twilight was amazing, New Moon was really good, Eclipse was good, and Breaking Dawn was just okay.

P.S. The whole baby thing just creeped me out a lot... I did not like it.

Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer pages 1- 640

I can't remember much of what happened in this book... Edward came back so Bella stopped sobbing so much; that was a relief. I was mainly just mad a at Jacob for making everything so difficult. Of course there was another crisis that involved Bella's life being endangered, but it was somehow easily averted. This book was good, but not as good as the other two that came before it.

New Moon by Stephanie Meyer pages 1 - 608

Just like with Twilight, I was nearly obsessed with this book. I wondered what Meyer was going to do with the story next, and I was surprised at where she took it. It was nice to be surprised, (predictable literature is so boring!) but it was frustrating too. In book one, Bella and Edward are hopelessly in love. It's problematic (Edward is a vampire), but they work through it because they love each other so much; it's perfect. In book two Edward up and leaves Bella in the woods and says he's never coming back! So the rest of the book is basically just about how Bella can barely function since he left and then at the end she has to go save his life in Italy. I give Meyer mad props for one thing though - Edward is back now, but I kind of don't like him that much anymore. While Edward was gone Bella found solace in her friend Jacob(who turns into a werewolf abruptly in the middle of their friendship, go figure) and Jacob is ten times more likable than Edward. I had a discussion with one of my co-workers the other day about people who are Jacob fans and people who are Edward fans. She thinks that Edward fans are often younger and still have that Disney instilled dream that one day their prince will come, while on the other hand, Jacob fans realize that no one is perfect and you should settle for the guy who loves you and doesn't drive you crazy. In less words; quarks are endearing and perfection is aggravating. I agree, and I admire Meyer for challenging her readers with a new thought process instead of just shoveling book after book of lovey dovey bliss and perfection out into the market.

Benjamin Franklin was a smarty pants.

I think Benjamin Franklin's plan to arrive at moral perfection is a good example of why he was a good rationalist. Not only was his method of doing this very reasonable, it also had nothing to do with God. A Puritan would not have thought he could reach moral perfection because of the concept of original sin. It would most likely be considered blasphemous in Puritan culture to try and achieve moral perfection; only God is perfect. Benjamin Franklin, though, thinks he can attain perfection all by himself, with a well thought out plan. "It was about this time that I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any fault at any time ..." He goes on to explain his method of doing this, "My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time, and when I should be master of that , then to proceed to another..." It's all very reasonable, except I don't think anybody can ever be truly faultless. everybody screws up. We're all flawed. I admire Mr. Franklin for trying though.

The Box Man by Kobo Abe pages 90 - 104

I wish I could give you an explanation of what I recently read, but I'm still trying to figure it out. My mind was nearly blown into little bits when it was revealed that everything I had read up to page 100 might just be the narrator's wild imagination and not actually what was happening. I literally ran up to my mom's room and burst out with an exclamatory explanation of what I had just read before reading her the actual passage. I couldn't believe it, even though I was half expecting something like this to happen; that's just the type of book it is. I'm going to continue reading this book and attempting to understand it, I'll let you know how it goes.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer pages 29 - 544

I read all 544 pages of this book in less than a week. Needless to say I was slightly obsessed. You most likely saw me reading it more than once around the school; in classrooms, hallways, the parking lot, ect... Stephanie Meyer sucks you in, grabs your attention, and never lets go. Twilight is classic story of true love, but with many obstacles. Think Romeo and Juliet, but instead of dueling households being in the way, Romeo is a vampire and he's trying to keep Juliet from being sucked dry by fellow vampires. So really it's nothing like Romeo and Juliet except for the troubled love part, haha. Everyone I've spoken with about this series of books has proclaimed their love for it, they've also all been females. I think this book appeals to girls more than boys, because even though it's about vampires, it's more about love. It's been my experience that boys aren't as interested in the touchy-feely literature. Pages 29 through 544 is a large area to cover, so I'll just give you a brief synopsis. Bella, the female lead, and Edward, the male vampire lead, fall deeply, madly, and all encompassingly in love with each other. Edward kind of really wants to drink her blood though, so there's the daily struggle of him being anywhere he can smell her and controlling his urge to attack her and steal her life. Other than wanting to kill his lady love, there's another problem. Another vampire thinks Bella smells pretty delicious too, so now Edward has to save her from himself as well as this other guy. The story ends dramatically, with Edward saving Bella just in the nick of time. Of course a new issue arises though, who would want to read the sequel if everything ended well? Bella wants to become a vampire so she can be with Edward forever and ever, but Edward can't stand thought of it. So that's where I am now, I'm waiting for my co-worker to bring her copy of New Moon to me so I can continue the saga. Somehow this book sounds very silly when I explain it, but I still really like it.

I'll Ask You Three Times, Are You OK?: Tales of Driving and Being Driven by Naomi Shihab Nye pages 1 - 242

I loved this book. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down, I read it in two sittings. True stories where the common thread is driving; it was fantastic. I loved the author's writing style and even her simple stories somehow felt profound. My favorite story was probably the one about how one of the first times she ever drove somewhere when she was a teenager was to the pharmacy, and when she returned to her car in the parking lot there was am elderly non-English speaking woman in her back seat that refused to leave. She drove the woman around until she eventually found her home and she dropped her off, without any further explanation. It was such a bizarre story, but for some reason it stuck with me. So many of her stories were good though, it's hard to pick my favorite. I greatly enjoyed this book, and I highly recommend it.
I think I might buy myself a copy...