Twilight

I started the first Stephanie Meyer book last week Thursday. I found it impossible to put down and finished it last night. The book for me ranks up there with The Notebook. Yeah, it's that good.

I read this morning, the movie opens on my birthday! I feel a date night coming on. I'm always glad to read the book before seeing the movie it gets turned into. I'm glad when my favorites are turned into movies because then I can share my love of something with Todd. He would never otherwise sit and read the book; Twilight or The Notebook. He did take me to see Phantom of the Opera at least twice. I lost count as to how many times I've actually seen it though. He has always had a bit of a romantic flare. For our first anniversary, he took me to see Phantom at the Pantages Theatre in Ontario. Awesome! He even once sat through The Nutcracker at the Fox Theatre in Detroit that was put on by a lovely Russian ballet company. I said "sat" he actually, fell asleep! Not the important part though, what's important is that he took me when I'm sure he would have preferred having his teeth plucked one by one with tweezers.

Ontario was the first time I had ever been to another big city like that. No, I did go to Chicago but I spent the whole weekend in a dance competition so I didn't see much. The city is huge. The highways are five lanes wide and apparently the folks that live there think there is no speed limit. I can remember walking near the theatre the day before we were actually supposed to be there. I was only 18. There were crowds of people dressed in black tie affair walking the streets. I had no idea where they were going but I wished I could go and I wished I could be dressed like they were. In my memory, I see myself with my arms stretched out from my sides twirling in a circle, full of wonder and amazement.

Another thing I remember from the trip besides sitting on the edge of my seat during the entire performance of Phantom, was what happened after our brief stint at McDonald's. We stopped for a bite to eat, we were in a hurry so we just used the restroom and headed back to the car to eat while we drove. When we returned to the car, a tiny little Geo Metro Convertible, it wouldn't start. So, Todd popped the handle for the trunk and began to get out. Before doing so, he tried to start the car once more. It started right up, so he pulled his door closed and we headed back to the freeway. Of course once we hit the center lane of this huge freeway without a speed limit, the hood became unlatched and slammed into the windshield. We had forgotten to get out of the car and shut the hood properly. So we did what any normal person would do, slow down, close your eyes, and tilt the steering wheel to the right. Pray that everyone gets out of your way and you make it safely to the side of the road. Actually, Todd used his rear view mirror to guide the car and ensure he could change lanes and we did make it safely to the side of the road. Thankfully, the windshield crack but didn't shatter and completely come apart. What could have been much worse, turned into only having to replace the windshield.

Anyway, back to Twilight. There are a couple of things that bothered me about the book. A couple of chapters, somewhere past the half way point of the book, that go on about how Edward and his "family" came to be. A bit of history that I could have lived without. It was confusing and hard to read but I guess an important component to the book. I realize it isn't necessary to say "he said," "she said," or "I wondered" after every spoken word but this was lacking a bit and it made it tough to decipher just which character was speaking at certain times. There were also a few places where there was an opening quotation mark but no closing mark so it made it a bit tough to determine when the character was finished speaking and when it turned into their train of thought. I was also annoyed that the author would choose a world like "incredulously" and use it over and over and over again instead of getting out a thesaurus and picking a new one. There are a handful of words she did this with.

I love words. I love to read. I don't consider myself a writer but a lowly person with a passion to let things out in written form and pray that it be inspired and directed by God. I did however, use to work as an Assistant Editor (can you tell?) for a company that created an online educational class that teaches people to become proofreaders. It isn't as easy as I imagined; becoming a proofreader. I didn't think I would love it as much as I did. I didn't realize how much I missed it.

I think I'll be heading to my local Sam's Club to pick up the second book. But, I know there are only four books in the series so far so I think I'll take my time and enjoy it. I'll try anyway.