By now, every single one of you has heard of the Twilight Saga a vampire romance that has become a phenomenon all to itself. It’s a series of four books and teenage girls can’t get enough of them. Our copies at the library are almost constantly checked out. But it’s not just teenage girls who are reading them adults are reading them, too. I’ve even read them myself, though I did try to hold out until someone told me I just HAD to take a look. I read the first one and, wonder of wonders, it wasn’t too bad, so I kept going.
Here’s a rundown: Bella Swan moves to the Pacific Northwest to live with her father. She meets a weird guy at school who’s very brooding and stand-offish and she can’t resist him. She finds out he’s a vampire and dates him anyway. Then she meets his family and they all get along great when she finds out they’re vampires that don’t feed on humans, but on animals. Needless to say, there’s a lot more to the story and twists and turns I can’t even begin to explain, including werewolves, witches, evil vampires, and lots of human-supernatural interaction but that’s the story in a very small nutshell.
So why do people like it? Well, for one thing, it’s very easy to read. It’s not really a series that makes you think particularly hard, but it’s a series that is very enjoyable plot-wise. The story itself is like brain candy and I bet once you pick it up and start, you probably won’t set it down. Don’t quote me, that’s just a feeling.
Edward, the vampire love interest, is very romantic and a hero with definite flaws. Bella is a strong woman, though she has a tendency to be a bit of a whiner (nice to know she’s not perfect). Bella’s friend Jacob has a whole slew of problems that are far too detailed to explain (wouldn’t want to ruin anything), and the characters are, on a whole, relatively believable, which is what brings a lot of enjoyment to the story.
Why else do people like it? The romance. True, this is not the first book to picture vampires as romantic, or at least very sexy. This book was the beginning, however, of the new vampire craze in teen fiction, giving rise to other supernatural heroes like fairies, werewolves, zombies, and the like. Harry Potter was earlier, true, but that particular series was relatively light and obviously did not happen in anything resembling our world. Twilight happens in a world that’s very real and, while I don’t believe in vampires, the setting makes it almost plausible.
The books are as follows: “Twilight,” “New Moon,” “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn.” Stephenie Meyer has also released a fifth book, though not quite in the series, entitled “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner,” which centers around a character in the Twilight novels that we meet for only a brief encounter. Another book, called “The Host,” is not part of the Twilight series but it is still a very good read.
“Eclipse,” the movie based on the third book, comes out June 30. Not only can you enjoy a movie that won’t make you think too hard, but will have an enjoyable story and you can patronize your local movie theater.
For those of you who want to watch the first two, as part of our teen movie club, we will be watching “Twilight” on June 23 at 2 p.m. and “New Moon” on June 30 at 2 p.m., just in time to head to a showing of “Eclipse.”
New Summer Hours: Normally during the summer, Meinders Library is closed on Saturdays. However this year, the library will be open from June-August at 10 a.m. until noon on Saturdays, as well as our regular weekday hours. Stop by and see us!
Stop in and sign up for the Summer Reading Program! Get your bag and reading log today! Every Thursday at 2 p.m. from June 24 until July 29 we will have fun activities in the library. Summer Reading Program is for children from age five to age 12 the younger kids (under seven) need to be accompanied by their parent or guardian. For the older kids (13-18) we will have movie showings on Wednesdays between those same dates, at 2 p.m. See you there!
Book Club Reminder: Book Club does not meet during the summer. It will begin again in September with a new exciting book! Stay tuned for more details.
If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714. The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. 8 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 Seventh Street SW, on the south side of the high school.