Greetings Bookworms!
I mentioned last week that I was going to be resurrecting some of my old posts that had been eaten by internet gremlins, right? Who’s up for another one? I’m imagining thousands of hands in the air even though I am acutely aware that I do not *have* thousands of readers. A girl can dream, right? In this early post, I talked about my fixation on vampire novels. Welcome to time-capsule Katie, y’all!
I promised I’d be honest in my blog, didn’t I? That’s probably a good thing, because I’m a terrible liar anyway. We’ve all got guilty pleasures. Perhaps yours is belting “Call Me Maybe” along with the radio. Or you have a secret celeb crush on Jesse Eisenberg. Or you cry at the end of the Care Bears Movie
. No? I guess that’s just me. It is time for me to confess my love affair with those sexy bloodsuckers of the night, vampires.
1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Oh Twilight. Stephenie Meyer, you weaver of tales. Sparkly vampires and teen love and werewolves and silliness. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I really liked the Twilight books when I read them. I read them before the movies came out, so I somehow feel that is justification. I don’t think they really provide a good message to young girls- I mean, Bella pretty much embraces a stalker and a dude who literally wants to kill her like all the time. But I couldn’t help myself. Blame my inner 13 year old. Bella’s falling for Edward reminded me of my awkward middle school crushes, only her story had a “happily ever after” and mine ended with a “you’ve got a booger in your nose.” I was bereft when I finished the series. She was immortal with a family and her beloved and she didn’t even want to eat people that badly. I had to clear my head of the swoony fog and get excessively annoyed with the movie marketing in order to break the spell of Twilight, but my inner 13 year old persists on some level.
2. Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries
by Charlaine Harris.True Blood
on HBO is based on this series of novels, albeit very loosely. Like VERY loosely. When I ordered these books 
(thanks Amazon!) there were 10 in the boxed set. I devoured them all within 2 weeks. Sookie Stackhouse is the heroine of the series, who happens to be telepathic (much to her chagrin). She’s also part fairy, so, there’s that too. These books aren’t especially well written, but they’re so imaginative. The town of Bon Temps reminds me a little of Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls
!!!!). It’s just got such an oddball cast of weirdos flavored with Louisiana accents and supernatural beings that it’s hard not to get swept up. Despite the fact that these books make my guilty pleasures list, I must admit that the recent contributions have been lackluster. The latest book, Deadlocked
, is the 12th in the series. I read it shortly after it was released, and pretty much nothing of note occurred for the entire book. I don’t know that I can blame Harris- how can you really keep a series fresh and interesting into the double digits? But… If you’re going to dive into these, throw in the towel around book 6. *Update: I finished the series and if you’re interested in my thoughts on the final installment, you can read them HERE.*
3. The Circle Trilogy
by Nora Roberts. Yes, THAT Nora Roberts. She wrote a trilogy of books about a vampire war. Morrigan’s Cross
, Dance of the Gods
, and Valley of Silence
kept me on the edge of my seat. I blame this ENTIRELY on my BFF. She told me she was reading these goofy vampire books she couldn’t put down, so obviously I picked them up. These books roll every supernatural idea into one crazy package. Time travel? Check. Witches and warlocks? Check. Shape shifters? Vampire hunters? Alternate dimensions? Check, check, and check. Throw in some romance for good measure. She’s Nora Roberts, for heaven’s sake, there MUST be some romance! Are you shaking your head yet? Yeah, me too. However, if you’ve got a high tolerance for this sort of thing, these are glorious.
To draw a comparison, if Shakespeare is the broccoli of literature (you know, REALLY good for you but a lot of people don’t like to eat it?), then these books are a giant bag of Doritos. They’re delicious, to be sure, but should only be consumed in moderation. Of course, if you’re suffering a literature famine, then damnit, eat all the Doritos you can find! Reading anything is better than reading nothing. Keep that in mind, my little worms.
Oh 2012. You were a good year. I’ve since changed my stance some on the idea of guilty pleasure reading. I don’t like that for YEARS I allowed myself to feel silly for liking what I like. I shouldn’t have to. You shouldn’t either. Talk to me Bookworms! Have you ever been embarrassed to admit how much you liked a particular book, genre, or series? Let’s just get it all out there, shall we?
*If you make a purchase through a link on this site, I will receive a small commission.*
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Isi
I loved Twilight too. Let’s face it: Edward may want to kill Bella, but in the end he is very loving, giving her EVERYTHING she wants (cars, etc). I want such a boyfriend!
I also read the first 3 or 4 books of Sookie, and I love the character: sometimes she is soooo stupid that you are laughing all the time. And there is ALCIDE too… that’s a good reason to read it 😉
I haven’t read the trilogy by Nora Roberts, but taking into account that I liked the other books you have mentioned, I should give it a try :DD
AMB
I’m probably the only person the face of the planet who hasn’t read Twilight! I tend to avoid gory themes, like vampires and zombies, but that does mean I end up missing out on some interesting/fun reads.
Words For Worms
It’s way more broody than it is gory, there’s very little gore in Twilight, actually. Still, knowing your reading preferences I’m not sure they’d work for you. If you ever do read them I’ll be excited to hear your thoughts. All of them.
Heather
Okay, I liked the Twilight books the first time I read them, which was before the movie came out as well, but they didn’t hold up when I re-read them. Maybe it was part of my post-Harry Potter hangover… not sure.
I do, however LOVE LOVE LOVE the Sookie Stackhouse books. I’ve even read that whole what happened after book she wrote (horribly disappointed to learn what happened to some of my favorites).
I was also embarrassed to admit my deep and abiding love for Nora Roberts for a very long time… but then I realized that sometimes you just need to read a book that has no value other than pure entertainment. I don’t want to think about it, I don’t want to try and figure out complex things, I don’t want to feel sad… I just want to escape, and Nora Roberts does that for me, and I’m perfectly okay with that. Ironically enough, The Circle Trilogy is one of my favorite series that she’s done… I wish there were more than three books actually.
Words For Worms
I didn’t read the what happened after book! By the time it came out I was kind of over it all, plus I’d been ‘shipping hard since book 1 for Sookie and the fella she ended up with so I didn’t want to find out if they weren’t happily ever after. I’m so glad to find that The Circle Trilogy has some love out there. It really was a ton of fun.
thatashgirl
I fully admit that sappy Historical Romance novels are me weakness. And there’s a lot of brilliant one’s out there with great characters and humor. End of the day, they make me happy and there’s never any harm in that.
Now if only they would design better covers. Thankfully eReaders have solved that problem for many people.
Words For Worms
LOL yes!!!!!! Oh man, the covers of romances can be so cheesy, no wonder nobody takes them seriously. One of the reasons I love my kindle. “Hey whatcha reading?!” “War and Peace!” (They can’t dispute me if they can’t see the Fabio-esque cover. Or the term “rogue.” That’s a dead giveaway.)
Michelle
You mention some of my favorites here. I refuse to admit that they made movies of the Twilight series because they totally ruined the experience for fans. Granted, I’ve seen them all, but I agree the marketing went WAY overboard and had a hand in making the series one of the most mocked in a while.
I still have not finished the Stackhouse series. The last few books were just so boring. I’ll get around to it one of these days. After all, I have just one more to go.
I thought I was the only one who loved the Nora Roberts’ vampire trilogy!?! Seriously good stuff there. It does have everything plus that special Nora spark. Now, I want to reread that series because I loved it so much!
Words For Worms
Yesssssssssss! We should have t-shirts made up for The Circle Trilogy fan club! I’m stoked to find fellow lovers! I wonder if I re-read Twilight if my feelings would still be the same. Hmmm… I should try that sometime. The Sookie books got pretty dreadful with the dull toward the end. I stuck it out, but yeesh.
thatashgirl
I have to read this trilogy.
Words For Worms
Oh Ash, you’d love it!
Samantha
I read the Twilight series before it was popular or turned into movies, as well. The movies lightened up the books more than I’d like, at least that’s how I felt about them at the time. The first one was always my favorite, the second I always skipped to close to the end where she goes to rescue Edward (because mopey mope brainstuff blech) and then by the time I reached the final book I wanted to throw it across the room. At the time, I felt that Stephenie Meyer wrote Bella very sarcastic and “somewhat witty” in the first novel and by the last one it was sappy, “oh I love everyone and everything’s perfect” and it made me annoyed and bored. So…*looks up* that’s a lot of thoughts about Twilight. Anyway.
I also agree with your last bit about guilty pleasure reading…I think it’s ridiculous for anyone to feel guilt or shame for what they like to read. Who cares? It’s part of what reading is FOR, is pleasure. So read what the hell you want. 😀
Words For Worms
I hadn’t given much thought to Bella’s evolution, but you’re right. She was sort of spunky in a broody way in book1 and devolves from there.