From Twilight to Breaking Dawn

I have to brag on myself for just a minute.  I accomplished something in the last 5 days that was not an easy task.  I read all four books in the Twilight series in five days!  The first book has 498 pages and the last book has 754 pages.  The other two books have page amounts between that margin.  (A grand total of 2,444 pages altogether.)  

I understand that I am way behind on the wholeTwilight hysteria that has been sweeping our nation.  Let me just clarify that I am not on that bandwagon, which is precisely the reason it has taken me so long to even want to read the books.  I enjoy a well written story, so much so, that I can become immersed in the characters and drama and lose all desire for food, sleep or human interaction (my husband will agree wholeheartedly with me on that statement).  That is, until I know the final outcome for the characters in the story.

I decided to read the books when my sister-in-law generously offered to let me borrow hers and mail them back to her.  She enjoys the books and movies immensely and has even read the books to my brother.  To my complete surprise, he enjoyed the books and has even gone to see the first two movies with her.  

I had seen the first two movies as well (prior to reading the books) and enjoyed the story line enough to know that the books would be far better (books always are).  My sister-in-law felt in her opinion that the third book, Eclipse, was the most fascinating.  I agreed, until I read the fourth book, Breaking Dawn, yesterday and was mesmerized by a few key things.  

Part of my hesitation to read the books, besides the obvious of not wanting to be a bandwagon member, was the focus that I knew it would require of me.  You may laugh at that statement, but I did mention a moment ago that if a story is written well enough I will become immersed in it.  If the hype surrounding these books lived up to half the stories I had heard, I knew that it would consume me until the final outcome was revealed.  (This had already taken place with books such as Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion.  Not to mention, many many others.)  

I have many other things going on in my life right now that require so much of my attention, and I was unwilling to share any of it with fictional characters that did not depend upon my point of view of them to survive.  But with the generosity of my sister-in-law, I gave in and spent five days pouring over page after page after page until the satisfaction of knowing what was to be for them was revealed.  I did not want to merely be entertained, but desired to learn something from what I had read (as I do with all books). 

I was surprised when the moment finally came.  It hit me 3/4 of the way through the fourth book.  What I had been searching for.  What made these books make sense for me.  Why I had given up precious time to gain something from them.  

I have posted my revelation on my blog Being A Bride.  This is not a cheap ploy to get you to visit my other blog (or is it), I just felt the explanation was better deserved upon those pages then upon these.