Reading the Twilight Saga.....for the THIRD time!

I know what you're thinking. I've lost it. My concern is that you're right.

I love to read, always have. I remember reading dozens of books during my summer breaks from school. Of course, as a teen I read the Sweet Valley High books, Fear Street series, all of the garden-variety youth fiction. When I entered high school, my tastes matured, and I started reading classics. I loved The Great Gatsby (which is still one of my favorites), The Canterbury Tales, The Scarlet Letter, Pride and Prejudice, pretty much any and all literary gold. The older I got, I prided myself in that I preferred reading literary classics instead of whatever bestselling book everyone was discussing at the moment.

Then came Twilight. Oh, I put it off for a while. Over a year, actually. I groaned internally while my coworkers, friends and others went on and on about this "amazing" saga. I couldn't understand it. My coworkers and many of my friends are well-educated, witty, fairly brilliant people. Yet there they were, raving over this TEEN fiction? Made no sense at all.

When the movie came out, it was nearly impossible to escape the frenzy. The books began flying off of the shelves, posters everywhere, barbie dolls portraying the characters. It was Twilightpalooza. Ridiculous. Finally my younger cousin convinced me to watch the movie. I tried my hardest to be open-minded, but there was no use. The lead actress was awful. She can't act her way out of a paper bag. Edward was a little better. The rest of the cast was fairly decent. I found myself interested in the story, overlooking the dialogue that was obviously written with teenage audiences in mind. When the movie was over, I was suddenly intrigued. I know that novels are always better than movies. I realized that I wanted to read the saga. I convinced myself that I should read the series, if only to have something to read. I had nothing to read at the moment anyway, having recently finished everything in my small collection (some for the third and fourth times). My cousin gave me the first book, Twilight, and I started reading...

I couldn't put it down! I was captivated. It wasn't the topic of vampires that got me, nor the forbidden love issue. It was Bella and Edward's intensity for each other. The need to be near each other as much as possible. The aching desperation when they couldn't be together. I couldn't get enough of it. I must admit, though, the rest of the story was fascinating in its own right.

Before I knew it, I had read the entire saga. I was suddenly depressed that the story wasn't going to continue. I wanted more. More of Bella and Edward. I watched the movie again, just to get a fix. It's still hard to watch the movie, despite my love for the story. I can't get past that terrible actress...

I distracted myself for a few months by taking on some different novels and a new series. Eventually, though, I found myself wanting to get lost in the story again. I bought the collection and read it for a second time last week. After a few days, I was still daydreaming about the world of vampires, werewolves and romance. I realized that I don't want to let go of that world yet. I tried to make myself start reading something else, but I couldn't get my mind to shift from the Twilight world. So yesterday, I started reading it AGAIN. Have I lost it?