Reading Fast These Days

Sometimes, if a book doesn’t capture my full attention or I’m occupied with other things that can’t be put off, I read slowly. A book can take days. For example, I’m still technically reading Bourne Ultimatum, although reading a paragraph every few days hardly counts. Other times, when the book is interesting or not too convoluted, I read faster.

Over the weekend I read three books in a series by Stephenie Meyer. They’re labeled as Young Adult, although by the time I was at the end of Eclipse, the newest in the series, I was amazed as what passes for Young Adult compared to my teen years. I assume the genre would be paranormal romantic suspense.

I chose the series because I caught a bit of the author being interviewed on the morning network news. Apparently she’s being compared to J.K. Rowling. Not because the books are similar in subject matter, but because her books seem to have captured the hearts of teen girls. Her first two books in the series, Twilight and New Moon, have sold over two million copies.

The books involve the every day world – kids in high school dealing with parents and each other – and the paranormal world – vampires and werewolves. It was interesting to see the world she created for vampires and to a lesser degree, werewolves. That was my main reason for reading the series, to see how she handled the “other” world.

I would recommend all the books, primarily for teen girls. But I would also recommend you read Eclipse first. It has quite a bit of violence and a bit of sexual innuendo. But keep in mind that I haven’t read much young adult, Harry Potter withstanding, since I was a teen and that was a few years ago, back during the Revisionist period of Nancy Drew and when The Bobbsey Twins were hot.

Currently, on the recommendation of good friend and best CRM in all of Barnes & Noble, Jo Virgil, I’m reading Stiff by Mary Roach. Nonfiction. The subtitle is: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Very interesting. Even a bit humorous. But if you’re at all squeamish, don’t read Chapter 3.