A little book by the name of "Twilight"

I'm sure by now you've heard of the phenomenon that is Twilight. You are probably more familiar with the film than the book -- chances are, you've seen the film but haven't read the book.

Since I'm a high school English teacher, I was bound to hear about the book sooner or later. I first saw it in a sophomore remedial reading class last school year. One of my female students kept lugging around this big fat black book everywhere she went. I remember repeatedly having to ask her to put it away during class-time. I was curious as to what a remedial reading student was doing reading such a lengthy book, so I asked her about it.

"It's about vampires," she replied. "You probably won't like it."

Little did she know her teacher was a secret Anne Rice freak. I've read all of Rice's vampire novels. (My personal favorite is Queen of the Damned. I refuse to see the film because I don't want to sully my mental image of that book.) I have always been intrigued by the mythology surrounding vampires. How they exist in seemingly every culture. Their historical significance. Their impact on literature, primarily Gothic Lit.

So yeah, I thought to myself in that moment, I probably would like it. I resolved to check it out.

It wasn't until months later, while I was hunting in Barnes & Noble for some good books to take with me on the long flight to Tokyo last March (trip of a lifetime!), that I encountered Twilight for the second time. It filled an entire table in the center of the store, books upon books, a whole tower of Twilight . Must be good, I thought.

Well, Twilight traveled with me all the way to and from Tokyo, Japan. I will be honest -- I didn't so much as crack open the front cover the whole trip.

It wasn't until at least a month after I'd returned from my trip that I first picked up the book. It was on a night that I had insomnia. The book caught my eye. So I started reading, thinking it would help lull me to sleep.

I stayed up the entire night, feverishly reading it all the way through.

Flash forward almost an entire year. I've read all four books in the series. I discuss the merits of the book with my students (female and male!). And oh yeah, in case you didn't know, I run another blog, one entirely devoted to Twilight. It's called The Danger Magnet after the main character, Bella's dangerous attraction to perilous situations. I started it just as a way to work out my questions and thoughts on the book and it became what it is today: a time-sucking monster that drains me of all productivity. ;-) (Don't tell my boyf -- or my boss, for that matter!)

(You can read my full book review of Twilight on my Examiner page.)

**********************************************

All content on this site is the sole property of Ana Cristina Simon, unless otherwise stated, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.