Twilight Chapter 11 {Complications}

Here it is, the moment no one has been waiting for; my review of Twilight chapter 11. Since I have a full blown cold, complete with coughing, sneezing, and runny nose, I layed in bed all night. I squeezed in a little reading before "Prison Break" started.

So, during biology class Bella and Edward are within close ... very close ... proximity of each other while in the dark. Mr. Banner was making the class watch, yet another, video. Bella and Edward both seem to have the urge to have physical contact, yet neither one dared. Nobody wanted to make the first move. The educational video was pretty much wasted material on this pair; it was impossible for them to focus on anything but each other.

The next hour Bella is in gym class hitting herself in the head and clipping Mike in one single swing of her racket. Now, that takes talent!

When class is over Mike starts in on Bella about his disapproval of her relationship with Edward. (Who cares what you think, Mike? What are you, her father? Jealousy doesn't become you.) Mike's observation is that Edward looks at Bella like she's something to eat. [giggle] If he only knew just how right he was.

Edward waits for Bella outside of the gym. From a couple of Edward's comments Bella figures out that he was eavesdropping on her and Mike. She was none-too-happy about it either. Well, she eluded to the fact that she wasn't very graceful in gym class, so he was curious.

Edward diffuses Bella's annoyance with an offer of an apology and willingness to let her drive on their little road trip on Saturday. That's probably the best offer she'll get, so she took it.

The following morning when Edward picks Bella up for school he plays "twenty questions" which lasts the entire day. He asked trivial questions from her favorite color to movies she liked and hated. I think it's cute that he wants to know every minute detail of her existence, yet, it would get old after awhile. Only because he has such a pretty, irresistible face, would I allow him to get away with it. Let's face it, who could resist that face?

After school they parked in front of Charlie's house for several hours, continuing the interrogation. This time he asks more difficult questions like what Bella misses about Arizona. Then he wants her to describe every detail that he wouldn't know about.

When Bella realizes that time slipped away from her, Edward tells her it's "twilight," and explains how, "It's the safest time of day for us . . . The easiest time. But also the saddest, in a way . . . the end of another day, the return of night." [page 224] I guess if you're a vampire and never sleep, the nights would be sad. I'd imagine it would be like the rest of the non-vampire world didn't exist since they're all sleeping. Meanwhile, vegetarian vampires, such as the Cullens, would just be finding things to do to bide the time until sunrise again.

Anyway, as Edward reaches over to open Bella's door, he freezes and clenches his jaw. "Another complication" was approaching; Jacob Black and his dad, Billy. As soon as Bella was out of the car Edward was down the street and around the corner. He avoided the Blacks like the plague.

Will Billy tell Charlie that Edward is bad news? Or will he mind his own Quileute bees wax?

Inspiration

After seeing the midnight release of Twilight (you can read about my experience here) I was inspired to finish my re-read of the book so that I can complete my chapter by chapter posts. So if anyone is interested, my thoughts on chapter 11 should be posted within a few days.

Not Happening

Well, "tomorrow" came and went with no post about chapter 11 in sight. I don't think it's going to happen any time soon either. I'll be packing for my trip to Hawaii. Then I'll be flying to Hawaii on the 21st and returning on the 29th. My intention is to take the book with me to do some light reading while traveling in comfort with the first classers. Yes, I'll probably be sipping some wine and taking full advantage of the free beverages. So, unless I find myself totally bored out of my mind while I'm in Hawaii (which is highly doubtful), my next post will be in November. Until then . . . aloha . . . a hui hou. See you when I get back.

Help, I'm Drowning!

If you're a returning visitor you'll notice that I'm stuck on chapter 11 of Twilight. The only excuse is that I'm finding myself to be an overachiever this year. Let me tell you all the things I'm finding myelf involved in:

1) MOMS Club Historian; I basically do the scrapbook pages.
2) Cub Scouts
3) Passport Club Scheduler and Checker
4) 1st Grade Classroom Volunteer

Did I miss anything? I don't think so. What I'm trying to say is that I'm drowning in volunteer activities and haven't had time to read. I'm going to try to post my insignificant thoughts about chapter 11 by tomorrow.

Twilight Book Club

Thursday was the big event: our first Twilight book club meeting. Our hostess was on the ball with the decorations. We were greeted with this welcome sign. Do you get the significance of the plastic "forks?"

Then there was the table decor complete with apples, a bat and vampire teeth (even though we know that vampires don't really have fangs or morph into bats).

I was even rubbing elbows with bats in the bathroom.

And, of course, we can't forget the wine.

Claudia was even prepared with questions about the book. It was a good discussion. Only a couple of the ladies failed to read the book, but they were brought up to date pretty quickly. I had to keep biting my tongue to stop myself from blurting out spoilers for the ladies who didn't read the rest of the books.

We didn't officially decide on our next book, but I think we can assume that we'll be completing the series before even thinking about moving on. We already reserved November 21st for opening night of the movie. I can't wait! Thanks, Claudia, for such an awesome Twilight book club premier. It was the first, but it won't be the last.

Twilight: Chapter 10 {Interrogations}

The chapter begins with Bella, once again, wondering if she had dreamed about the previous day. The evidence (her missing jacket) is further proof that it really did happen.

The weather is foggy; no excuses for Edward to skip school. She's obviously anxious to see her beautiful Edward again. Little does she know that she'll be seeing him sooner than later: He was parked in the drive way, waiting to give her a lift to school. She could have turned down his offer, but why would she?

When they reach the school parking lot, it occurs to Bella that Edward's family wasn't with him. Brilliant observation that only took the entire trip for her to realize. I guess she was too busy drinking in Edward's beauty.

She finds out that the rest of the Cullens took Rosalie's red hot sports car. They all like to drive fast therefore indulge themselves with fast cars. It's not like they can't afford it.

As Edward and Bella walk toward the school, Jessica, with her eyes bugging out, spots them together. Jess remembers Bella's jacket and hands it to her. Jess has a million and one questions for Bella, but they have to wait until trig class.

When that time finally comes around Jessica drops the questions like they were going out of style. Bella fills in the blanks about what transpired with Edward the day before (leaving out all the vampire details, of course).

Bella admits to liking Edward; Jessica deduces that Edward likes Bella back. Bella concludes that Edward doesn't like Bella as much as she likes him. Edward is listening to the conversation, as promised, through Jessica's thoughts; he's disturbed by the last statement Bella makes, and brings it up during their lunch date.

When Edward makes Bella explain herself she verbalizes the fact that it seems to her that he's always trying to say goodbye when he's saying something else. (We already know how cryptic Edward is.)

The conversation turns into a debate: Bella arguing that she's so ordinary, and he's not; there's no way that he could possibly like her more. Edward arguing that if he's willing to hurt himself by saying goodbye to her to keep her safe, then that's a display of the ultimate sacrifice of love. (Well, he didn't say love, but I know that's what he meant.)

The topic of their upcoming trip to Seattle emerges. The weather forecast is sunshine which means Edward can't be out in public. They plan on spending the day together, alone. On one condition . . . Bella wants to drive because she can't stand the way Edward drives. On page 213 Edward remarks, "Of all the things about me that could frighten you, you worry about my driving." (I can totally empathize with that. I'd prefer to drive my husband rather than the other way around. It's a control issue. With all those crazy drivers out on the road, I don't like feeling helpless in the passenger's seat.)

Although Edward would prefer that Bella inform Charlie of who she'll be with on Saturday, Bella refuses; she'd rather take her chances. She knows that Edward would never hurt her. If that was his intention then why would he save her life so many times? He's her guardian angel.

Somehow, Edward's most recent hiking trip with Emmett comes up. As it turns out, the brothers were hunting bear. Grizzly is Emmett's favorite, Mountain Lion is Edward's. Bella wondered out loud if she would ever get to witness this hunting phenomenon. Edward was appalled by the thought. He doesn't want to discuss it any further and hurries them off to class before they're late; Bella was so deep into their conversation that she didn't realize the cafeteria was nearly deserted.

Twilight: Chapter 9 {Theory}

On their way back to Forks, Edward explains to Bella how his gift of reading minds works; of how his ability gains distance as his familiarity with a mind grows stronger (never more than a couple miles).

Edward's analogy put things more into perspective for me. I can see how not being able to escape everyone's simultaneous thoughts can be very distracting. It must be like trying to listen to ten people speaking to you at once. Edward, however, seems to have perfected the art of tuning everyone out, and zeroing in on one person. (I'm still practicing tuning out just two little people.)

After Bella looks at the speedometer and realizes Edward has a lead foot (he was going over 100 mph), she has a hissy fit. Bella goes on about how she was raised as a law abiding citizen because her dad is a cop. Edward hates driving slow (and from what I hear, so do some Californians), but finally slows down to 80 mph after Bella accuses him of likely being able to walk away from the car without a scratch if they crashed, then realizing that Bella wouldn't be so lucky.

Finally, Edward coaxes Bella into sharing her theory of just what she thinks Edward is. She tells him about how she tricked Jacob into telling her what he knew about the Cullens, and about going home to do research on the internet, then giving up because even if Edward was a vampire it didn't matter to her. She was still curious, though. So Edward killed some of that curiosity with answers.

First the myths: Vampires don't burn in the sun or sleep in coffins. However, they can never sleep. (Can you imagine what you could get accomplished if you never had to sleep? I'd have at least an extra seven hours in my days. That's assuming my boys continued their sleeping pattern.)

Then on to the big question of Edward's (and the rest of the Cullens's) diet. Jacob said the Cullens were supposed to be safe because they don't hunt people; only animals, but the Quilutes still wanted them off of their land just in case. Who could blame them? Better safe than sorry, but Edward agrees that the Quilutes should keep their distance; Edward himself considers the Cullens to be dangerous.

He goes on to tell Bella about their inside joke: calling themselves "vegetarians" because they drink only animal blood, and not human blood. He compares it to "living on tofu and soy milk." While the animal blood doesn't completely satisfy their thirst, it keeps them satisfied enough to resist the urge for the alternative . . . most of the time.

While Edward answers a lot of Bella's questions, he also raised a new one: why can't vampires be out in the sunlight where anyone can see them? What would they see? He promised to show her some time.

They both confess that being separated makes each of them anxious (aww, isn't that cute?).

Once Bella is safely at home and in the comfort of her own room, she concludes three things: 1) Edward is a vampire. 2) A part of him thirsted for her blood. 3) She is "unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him."

I Shouldn't Have Watched

Last night a light bulb went off just fifteen minutes before the 25th Annual MTV Video Music Awards was about to start. I raced to find out what channel MTV was on (I never watch MTV). I marked it in my calendar (but neglected to look at it) for the sole purpose of seeing the Twilight cast shine in the moment and announce an award, or so I thought. All they did was announce the performance by Paramore (a band I had never heard of, but that doesn't mean a thing because I'm completely out of the hip-hip/rock music loop). Three of the four cast members were given the chance to say their lines, but when it was Rob Pattinson's turn, he totally got cut off, like a guillotine, by that Russell Brand character. And just who is this Russell Brand anyway? He didn't give his fellow Brit a chance to put a word in edge wise (or is it ways? whatever). That deflated moment was a huge letdown.

I should have kept my streak (of never watching MTV Award shows) going and avoided watching the VMA altogether. I couldn't relate to the music. I couldn't relate to the host. I was annoyed by most of the performances, most of the time. (The Jonas Brothers' performance was, oddly enough, pretty decent.) I couldn't appreciate Russell Brand's vulgar sense of humor either. Thank goodness the kids were already in bed and couldn't over-hear his blatant sexual references. Are you with me, or am I just getting old? I give the MTV VMA two thumbs down.

No Post, Yet, for Chapter Nine

With Picasso going back to school last week plus the fact that I've been trying to read a thousand other books (Web Design for Beginners, punctuation books, Pride and Prejudice, etc.), and spending way too much time updating my Aloha Monkey Tales blog, my copy of Twilight has been collecting a little bit of dust. No, I haven't given up on reading it, so don't give up on me. I'll be posting about it this week; I promise. If I don't then, somebody, poke me.

Shout Out to a New Fan

I just want to give a shout out to the newest fan of the Twilight Fever: My mom.

We belong to a very anti-legalistic book club; reading the book isn't a requirement. Ideally we're supposed to be meeting monthly, but with everyone's busy schedules, that's not always easy to do. We usually meet at Claudia's house on a designated Thursday evening. Socialize. Catch up on what we've been doing--while sipping a glass of wine. Eat. Socialize some more. Then discuss the book. The trend seems to be a short discussion--say, five or ten minutes--if the book wasn't so good, or a long in-depth discussion if the book was a hit.

At our upcoming meeting we'll be discussing Enter the Past Tense: My Secret Life as a CIA Assassin--that was my recommendation after reading the book. I know it was a good book and what the gist of it is, but so much time has passed since I read it that I'm not sure if I'll be able to discuss it intelligently. Oh well, I'll still have my wine.

Our current reading material is--yup, you guessed it--Twilight. Again, my recommendation. Well, I think a couple of the other ladies in the club suggested it too.

So on to dear, old young Mom. She started reading it over the weekend while spending the night in Eastern Washington She called last night to tell me I was right. (Those words are always music to my ears.) She got up to chapter eight or nine; right around where I'm currently at. She got stuck in traffic while driving home and was almost tempted to read the book while driving. (Those are signs of an addict.)

How about you? Are you in need of Twilighters Annonymous yet?

Twilight: Chapter 8 {Port Angeles}

As the chapter begins, Bella is in Port Angeles dress hunting with Jessica and Angela. The "boy talk" creeps into the conversation (what else is there for teenage girls to discuss?). Angela nonchalantly mentions that Tyler has been telling people that he's taking Bella to prom. This tidbit sends Bella into a fuming rage.

After Jess and Angela purchase their ensembles, they go for a stroll while Bella goes her separate way searching for a bookstore.

Bella is so caught up in la-la-land, lost in her thoughts about Edward, that she doesn't realize she's headed straight toward sleeze town.

After being pursued by a gang of creeps, she realizes she's being herded by them--with less than honest intentions, I'm sure.

Then, just in the nick of time, a silver car skids to a stop, within feet from her, with the passenger door wide open. A familiar and furious voice barks at her, "Get in."

Edward is in a murderous mood. It takes every ounce of self control he possesses to restrain himself from going back to finish those hooligans off. With his temper cooled down, they head back into town to search for the girls.

Just as they pull up in front of the Italian restaurant, La Bella Italia, they spot Jess and Angela exiting the building. They claimed to be worried about Bella, but not worried enough to stop them from eating.

Of course, the girls are surprised by Bella's unexpected guest, so Bella matter of factly announces that she just ran into Edward. As if that's an every day occurence.

Being the chivalrous gentleman that he so obviously is, Edward asks the girls permission to drive Bella home so that they don't have to wait while Bella eats.

While in the restaurant, Bella is surprisingly put off by the extra attention given to Edward by the female employees.

The theme of their conversation seems to be how trouble follows Bella. She thanks Edward for saving her twice now. Edward says, "Your number was up the first time I met you." "You remember?" (I've read the first chapter of Midnight Sun, Twilight from Edward's POV, and I want to comment more here, but I don't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't read it yet.)

Edward explains to Bella how he followed her to Port Angeles, only to lose them. He goes on to tell Bella how he read the thoughts of the people around him to find her. And he finally saw her face through the eyes of one of the "men" who followed her. That's when he saves the day.

When Edward and Bella leave the restaurant, Bella is looking forward to the hour drive home. She's desperate to spend more time alone with Edward. I wish I could be a fly on the wall (or window) when their dialogue begins. I guess I'll just have to wait until the next chapter.

Midnight Sun; Delayed Indefinitely!

Thanks to an insensitive, dishonest individual--or possibly individual(s)--Stephenie Meyer has announced, here, that she is indefinitely delaying working on the much anticipated release of Midnight Sun--Twilight from Edward's POV. It saddens me to no end that someone could make such a bad choice and ruin everything for the rest of us innocent bystanders.

From the statement that Stephenie made, I'm speculating that it was someone whom she knows and trusted that allowed a copy of an incomplete draft to be scanned and illegally distributed on the internet. Who could blame her for feeling betrayed (I know that feeling), and want to put this project on the back burner?

Since the incomplete draft is illegally floating in the internet realm, I think Stephenie decided to take control of the reigns and post her draft--legally--on her website. Even as I type, I'm downloading all 264 pages. Although this isn't the version that Stephenie wanted her fans to read and experience, I'm going to read it anyway; We don't know how long we'll have to wait for the final print.

Twilight: Chapter 7 {Nightmare}

When Bella gets home from spending the day at the beach--where Jacob spilled the beans about the legends of the werewolves and vampires--her mind is racing out of control.

She tries to drown those thought provoking images with heavy bass music--a Christmas gift from Phil--blaring through her ear phones.

When she falls asleep a very vivid dream occurs. Jacob and Mike are both warning her to run from Edward. Jacob is replaced by a red-brown wolf--could this be a subconscious premonition? She jerks herself awake yelling, "No!" as the wolf launches to attack her precious Edward.

Since Bella was awake--at 5:30 in the a.m.--she decides to bring her dinosaur of a computer to life to do a little research on vampires. She must have "Googled" it and found Vampires A-Z. Sounds like a quaint little site.

Out of all the information overload, the one statement of significance--and relief--is in reference to an Italian Vampire who is "said to be on the side of goodness, and a mortal enemy of all evil vampires."

By entertaining the idea that Edward could be a vampire, Bella feels as if she's losing her mind. Whatever he is--or isn't--she knows he's no mere human; he's something much more. And what if he IS a vampire? She can't deny the fact that she's simply smitten with him--an obsessed teenager in love, really.

When Bella goes back to school she's disappointed that Edward never showed up. She goes home and tries to find distractions to keep her mind busy. She ends up lying on the lawn, reading Jane Austen books until she falls asleep. When she wakes up she finds the sun is setting, and Charlie is pulling up into the driveway. On page 148 she says, "I looked around, muddled, with the sudden feeling that I wasn't alone." I wonder if Edward was there watching her sleep.

At the end of the chapter, Bella is picked up by Jessica and they're stopping to pick up Angela on their way to Port Angeles to do some dress shopping. Lauren was supposed to go, but something more pressing came up--lucky for everyone else involved. I wonder what kind of mischief the girls will get into while on their little excursion.

Could It Be True?

OMG! Could it be true? I just read, here, on Twilighters Anonymous that Taylor Lautner –a.k.a. Jacob- has confirmed that he’s getting ready to film New Moon next January! I guess the speculation of the possibility of filming all three books simultaneously was off base. On the brighter side of things, it gives Taylor time to grow into his character-maybe not all seven feet, but every bit helps right?

Hmmm, I wonder if they’ll be filming in Washington again. Maybe I can ditch the kids have someone watch the kids and get a look-see at some movie making action.

This is exciting news, and I’m sure my favorite Twilight websites will keep me posted.

Twilight: Chapter 6 {Scary Stories}

It's been a busy week, and I've been spending way too much time online doing nothing. We went to Olympia's annual Sand In the City event on Friday afternoon and fried our brains in the sun. Read more about that here.

Now on to chapter six. Why do all the girls (with the exception of Angela) at Forks High have to be such haters? -Two faced haters. Jessica pretends to be Bella's friend, but deep down inside she's jealous of Bella's obvious blossoming relationship with Edward. I guess when the Cullens first moved to Forks, Jessica wanted to hook up with Edward but got shut down. Aw, poor little Jessica.
Lauren is just as jealous, but I don't think she tries to hide that fact. She's just an all out biotch.

Bella is miserable knowing that she won't be seeing Edward for a few days while he and Emmett are out "hiking."

During their beach outing Bella meets Jacob Black, who obviously has a crush on Bella. She takes advantage of the situation by flirting with Jacob to pump him for information about the Cullens. This is when Jacob, unknowingly, breaks the treaty by telling Bella the legend of his werewolf ancestors, and their treaty with the vampires - the Cullens.

Bella is in awe, and it all starts making sense to her. Although Jacob thinks these legends are all a hoax, Bella believes every word and locks that information away in the back of her mind.

Twilight: Chapter 5 {Blood Type}

Edward seems to enjoy playing cryptic word games with Bella. Like on page 87 when he says, "I decided as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly." I don't know how I would take that. I'm pretty sure I'd feel offended somehow.

During Biology lab, Bella feels faint at the sight (and smell) of Mike's blood (not even her own) and is sent to the health room. I was in a time warp, reminiscing about my high school days; the day I took an 'F' for the day because I couldn't bring myself to prick my finger. With the heightened HIV awareness and spread of diseases, do they still do this in school? But I digress. This was before giving birth to three kids; before I was poked and prodded just for being pregnant. If I could relive that day again right now, I wouldn't even break a sweat.

Twilight: Chapter 4 {Invitation}

My favorite quote: "I don't see how that is any of your business." Stupid, shiny Volvo owner. (page 83)

Bella starts seeing Edward in her dreams-what warm blooded girl wouldn't? She sees herself as pathetic for letting Edward's very existence penetrate and influence her every thought.

Jessica pleads for Bella's blessings to ask Mike to the school spring dance. Is Bella Mike's mother now? Would Jessica honestly not ask Mike if Bella had a problem with it? I doubt it. Jessica, being the center of her own universe, is peeved when Mike doesn't give her an immediate answer. Mike and Jessica deserve each other.

Edward's eyes go through the transition of getting darker then back to liquid gold. Is Bella the only human who notices this? Maybe she's the only human naïve enough to get within range to notice.

Bella fails miserably at her attempts to pay Edward back with indifference for ignoring her-so she thinks. She wants him, and she won't be happy until she possesses his heart.

Edward makes his first attempt to warn Bella that he's hazardous to her health. Yet, he always appears out of thin air to retrieve her fallen items. Who's obsessed with whom?

After a long, agonizing day at school, both Eric and Tyler add fuel to the flame when they ask Bella to the spring dance. She attempts to save their egos by going with the ruse that she'll be in Seattle on that day. Of course, since Edward can't seem to stay away from Bella he offers to drive her to Seattle himself on the day of the dance.

Twilight: Chapter 3 {Phenomenon}

I cringed as I read about Bella getting ready to fight the elements-icy roads-to drive to school. Maybe it's just because I grew up in Hawaii where icy roads are just unheard of, but I would've gone with plan B:stay in bed. Was Bella going for a perfect attendance record? Then again, if she had stayed home she wouldn't have been rescued from mortal death by her knight in shining armor. How did Edward do that? How did he reach Bella impossibly fast and save her from being crushed by a moving van? How is it that he didn't get a scratch on him, yet he caused dents in, not one but, two vehicles? I'm sure Bella will persuade Edward to tell her the truth...eventually.

Twilight Movie; Breaking News!

Suh.weet! I just received the breaking news from Summit Entertainment about the Twilight movie being in theaters three weeks earlier than originally planned! Opening date is now November 21st. I love it! Can't wait!

Twilight: Chapter 2 {Open Book}

Ah, Edward's heart melting crooked smile makes it's debut during their biology lab.

Bella is stunned when Edward speaks to her, very cordially, for the first time. She doesn't know what to make of it. Who cares? He's eye candy; just get over it, Bella. She fleetingly catches a glimpse of Edward's face and notices his penetrating eyes are no longer black, but a golden tone of butterscotch, only darker.

Edward displays his frustration in not understanding Bella's explanation for moving to Forks when she clearly despises the cold damp climate. How could she possibly know that she is the sole individual invisible on his mind reading radar? He admits to Bella that, despite her mother referring to Bella as an open book because she has such a readable face, he finds her very difficult to read - quite literally.

Twilight: Chapter 1 {First Sight}

Bella moves from Phoenix, AZ to the small town of Forks located in the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington. Before reading this book I had never heard of Forks; I wasn't even positive if it was an actual place. I learned that: 1) I could feasibly drive there in about three hours and, 2) my mother-in-law lived there for a year at one point in time.

Bella first lays eyes on Edward while in the Forks High School cafeteria. She learns about the Cullen family from Jessica, one of the school gossips. I didn't know that Rosalie and Jasper were perceived as twins and shared the same last name. I also didn't know that Carlisle and Esme were so young. As I read about them and their nurturing parental roles I automatically think of them as being older.

While Bella sat next to Edward in biology class he was very rigid and antagonized. It was obvious that he was offended by Bella's mere presence. Bella couldn't figure him out. Her feelings were hurt by this unprovoked rejection.

Bella had a rough first day at school.

Welcome to My Twilight Zone

Since being introduced to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series one short month ago I've been obsessed with all things Twilight. On July 17, 2008 my Twilight reading marathon was set into motion. The transition into New Moon was a smooth one since I bought both books at the same time. In contrast, there was nearly a one week lag in between before I was able to get a copy of Eclipse; I was like a junkie waiting for my next high. On August 1st - the day before the release of Breaking Dawn - I was lucky enough to get my copy of Eclipse at Half Price Books. The very next day I took possession of the much anticipated Breaking Dawn. The timing of my obsession couldn't have worked out better. My reading marathon lasted just about three weeks. I could have gotten it done quicker if my family hadn't gotten so used to regular meals and baths.

I have other non-Twilight books that I attempted to read unsuccessfully. They just don't hold a candle. Instead, I decided to re-read the series. This time I'm reading it a lot slower to absorb all the details that slipped by me the first time I zoomed through the pages. I've also decided to post about my progress as I go through each chapter. It will probably be more of a monologue but I've grown accustomed to talking to myself anyway.