I'm getting my life back...

I finished my marathon reading all 4 "Twilight" series books in one week. I started reading and couldn't put the books down, so the house and family got a bit neglected last week! Here are some of my thoughts: I love to read. I read some fiction, and mostly inspirational/self-help type books. I thought Stephenie Meyers was a great writer-- I loved the imagery she used throughout and I loved her intricately-woven plot. It kept my attention for the most part throughout. Normally, I really don't like fantasy-type books (I could never get into Harry Potter books, for example), and when people mentioned vampires and werewolves I was turned off. It was a great read, I thought. What I didn't like was books 2 and 3 were a little slow in some parts. Books 1 and 4 were my favorite. Bella's character started annoying me some because she came across as very co-dependent. Her desperation for Edward, and not being able to survive, function or thrive without him was a little much. Even when they were together in a relationship, but apart due to her employment or something, she was so desperate to be in his presence again. That made her character a bit weak, I thought. However, I remember feeling like that in high school when I was head over heels over a guy, too. Nonetheless, I sometimes felt that relationship got a little too dramatic for me, and Jacob was a bit too dramatic and demanding too.
I was glad she ended up with Edward -- that's who I was rooting for. I thought it was interesting to see how Bella transformed into a beautifully mature person when she married Edward. That emotional drama stuff evaporated in the fourth book. She seemed more at peace with her identity. I also liked the good vs. evil theme throughout; that element of LDS doctrine we understand about the 'natural man', or in this case, the natural/newborn vampire who doesn't restrain himself against inappropriate appetites and passions. The Cullens as well as the wolves honored their treaties, or we could make the parallel between their treaties and our covenants... no matter how tempting the way of the world looks, we honor our word and we fight the battle to the end, as we have been entrusted. I liked that message... Stay the course and don't cross the line the Lord has drawn in the sand. The enemy is outside our borders. Another interesting parallel was the pro-life, pro-family subtleties woven throughout the books. Edward was inherently good and wanted marriage and fidelity, even when Bella was weak. Then Bella was going to have her baby no matter how hard the pressure from her new family was to sacrifice the fetus (they were sure she wouldn't survive the pregnancy or labor anyway.) I only had one unaswered question: how was Bella going to handle seeing Renee, her mother eventually?
Well, that is my synopsis. I can't wait for the movie. Anybody want to go?