Breaking Dawn (Stephanie Meyer)

So I read Breaking Dawn and got done with it yesterday. Yeah, yeah, it took a while since I got it at 12:10 AM on August 2. But still!

Basically, it was good. It was a little long, a little slow and a little unexpected. I could not, in a million years, have predicted what happened at the end of the book. I was floored by the first 150 to 200 pages.

As far as final books of a saga go, it was pretty good. It wrapped up basically every loose end I could think of and I was pretty happy. I'm looking forward to Meyer's next book, which will be the first book of the series, Twilight, in Edward's point of view.

If anyone else read the book, tell me what you think. I can't say too much yet, since people haven't finished it yet and I don't want to let out any spoilers. :D

Sundays with Vlad (Paul Bibeau)

I just finished reading a fantastic book called Sundays with Vlad by Paul Bibeau. It is basically a (pop) cultural analysis of the development and spread of the Dracula legend.

The book was endlessly entertaining. Bibeau covers most aspects of the vampire legend. He goes over the historical Vlad the Impaler who was the VERY vague basis off the Dracula myth that was created almost single-handedly by Bram Stoker with the publication of Dracula, published in the late 1800s. Also covered in the book, are the movie adaptations of the novel and the extension of vampire propaganda. Also: Role-playing, vampire crime, people who believe they are either psychic vampires or sanguinarians (they actually drink blood) and even a politician in Minnesota who believed the state should impale criminals, such as rapists and child abusers.

If that doesn't sound gripping enough, there's something wrong with you.

Bibeau's humor was often understandable, even though he grew up in a much different generation that I did. He makes countless current pop culture references as well as personal anecdotes to bring the audience closer to his humor and his personality, which glows through the entire text.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book. I bought it on a whim during Spring Break with some generous Barnes and Noble gift cards and am very pleased with the purchase. The first chapter, in which he details his trecherous honeymoon in Romania with his wife, left me suspicious of the rest of the book but it pulled itself out of the gutter, so to speak, and was entertaining, so much that I was wishing I could be reading all throughout the school day and putting off homework in order to read it.

I'd give it, probably, 4 out of 5 stars, just because there were some parts that I wanted to be done with way faster than others, such as the visits to Romania and Hungary. But other than that, the book was humorous and fun to read.

O, Vampire Novel (where art thou?)

So I'm a total fan of vampire novels. I first got into the whole vampire literature scene in seventh grade when, at a state National History Day competition, I wandered into a used bookstore and was compelled to buy a $2 copy of Interview with a Vampire (by the legendary Anne Rice). I've now read that book five times since that spring five years ago.

The summer before freshman year, I found the book Sunshine by Robin McKinley. I immediately fell in love with the novel. I went out and bought myself a copy and have since read it four times by now. It was a new twist on vampire stories and I loved it.

I've also read some little-known vampire novels as well as the famous Twilight series. Needless to say, I've loved (nearly) all of them. I'm a sucker for the suckers, so to speak.

But I can't seem to find any really good vampire novels anymore. I'm anxiously waiting the fourth installment by Stephenie Meyers for her Twilight series but I've given up on Anne Rice (I read up to her sixth Vampire Chronicles novel, "The Vampire Armand" but I found there was too much sex between men and sex with minors for my taste...) and Robin McKinley doesn't show any signs of extending the story of Sunshine and Constantine (though I desperately wish she would). I could check out the classics, such as Dracula but I want to read a fresh twist or a fresh face or a fresh novel. I'm too lazy to carve my way through nineteenth century literature (that's for next year... in AP Literature).

Yet as much as I've read up on my vampire lit, I still can't solidify my own vampire writing style. I'd love to write a vampire story - whether a short story or more of a novel-length - but I can't seem to start it, make it realistic or keep my interest going. All my vampire stories are dark(ish), romantic(ish) and shallow-sounding. So I need someone who can manage to make a fantastic novel featuring vampires in some way. Preferablly Neil Gaiman... because he's amazing... but I am sure anyone could do it.

And David Archuleta (on American Idol) is fantasic and amazing!

By the way: I hate the stupid url-html system on Blogger. I want to type in my OWN html links, but it won't let me. I have to do its dumb links instead. It's frustration-making.