Amendments to Summer Reading List

My summer reading has begun and I have realized that a few changes to my initial list are in order.

I have already read both Twilight and Slaughterhouse Five. See my thoughts on Twilight below. Slaughterhouse Five was excellent and I highly recommend it to everyone. It's a great exploration of living in the moment and letting go of attachments, not to mention war.

Speaking of books about war, I happened to pick up the book, Johnny Got His Gun, from the bookstore recently. I was thinking I would just read it after my summer reading was through, but a friend wants to read it as well, so it has been moved up on my list. If you recall, I wrote a brief review about the 2008 film last fall. It was excellent and now I want to read the original work behind it.

I finished Twilight, and to my own chagrin, have become slightly obsessed with reading the series. I just finished the second book, New Moon, and am going back and forth about whether I should finish the series. When I read Twilight, the first book in the series, I told myself that it would be the only one I would read. That was, until I found myself at a bookstore, next book in hand. A young girl stared at me with big eyes from across the kiosk of Twilight books. "Are you reading the Twilight books?!?!?!". "I've only read the first, now I'm going to read the second one", I told her. She stared at me in disbelief. "I've read them all, three times! You should skip New Moon and read Breaking Dawn. It's the best one!" As she said this her mother rolled her eyes.

Here I am conflicted. It's great that kids are reading books, but I don't really like the message it sends to young girls. When reading the books myself, I am drawn into this overly dramatic, star-crossed love affair between Bella and Edward. But, when I'm not engrossed in the story, and think about the situation in a larger context, it really just sounds like an unhealthy teenage relationship. If I were Bella's parent or even friend, I certainly would be concerned about her being in an abusive relationship.

But even thinking all this, I will probably read the other books. I mean, you cannot just stop in the middle of the story. I have to know what happens in the end!

To make time for these additions (although I tend to finish the Twilight books rather quickly), I have decided to give up on The Baby Catcher. If I haven't finished it in 5 months, I need to be realistic and just let it go. Also, I may put off The Audacity of Hope until the fall. All other books on the list are still a go in my mind and I am looking forward to reading them.