At 14 I think I was still reading lots of Andre Norton from the library, but had outgrown all animal authors (Kjellgaard, Terhune, Payton et al.)

At the used bookstore I was buying lots and lots of old pulp fantasy, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Very Barton Fink

They should totally do a movie of West's life. His bio is very Coensesque.

I was very amused when I found out that "O Brother..." goes back to "Sullivan's Travels".

I remember how stoked I was when I realized Andre Norton was a girl (being as I was a remarkably naive child whose thinking was of a level of "Not male/boy/other type of human=girl/person like me"). I've been fond of Andre ever since, beyond liking the stories.

That's an interesting take, Kat, since a very big deal was made of the fact that The Host was Meyer's first foray into adult fiction.

bahahahahahaha. Really? I read it entirely with an eye to it as being YA. But I read most things and think, "Hmm... could I teach this to middle school? Or can I give it to a specific 8th grader and they can handle it without too much debrief?" I mean, I think for some kids Life of Pi would be a perfect book. If you can get past the religious navelgazing of the first half.

I was curious how she would handle the love story elements of it, since she's been so adamant about the chastity angle in the Twilight books, but I didn't know anyone who'd actually read it.

There's no chastity element that I remember. It was just creepy because it's hard to figure out who to root for, the soul or the being in which the soul is implanted. I liked it quite a lot in spite of the slow start.

Also, in all fairness, I LIKED Twilight and I like the series. Do I think it's Great Literature? Absolutely not. Would I teach the book? Again, absolutely not. Do I think it's escapist pulp? Absolutely. But in my world of reading there is absolutely a place for escapist fantasies.

I don't think the spinelessness (and, as an aside in Book 4 Bella's so spineless that her self sacrificial BS in light of being pregnant with the Half Vamp Baby actually has her having her spine broken.... it's so beautifully [and I wonder if it is subliminal or actually intentional] ironic) of Bella is actual a role model, but I do think she's accessible in that many of these girls (and as readers they are almost 100% girls) also feel like they lack agency and they lack the ability to control their world and destiny. Seen more as Bella as a stand in and not a goal or model of behavior, the appeal is much more understandable.

It makes me happy to see kids eager to read this because it makes me happy to see kids eager to read. It's the same reason that I don't knock the awful goosebumps series.

I have heard very good things about The Spooks Series/Wardstone Chronicles. Anyone with any knowledge?

I just read the spoilers for Breaking Dawn.

WHAT THE SHIT??

Hahahahahahah! Sorry, P-C, I laugh only because I read the whole thing.

I mean, I read about the baby earlier, and I guess I didn't find that too crazy, but I didn't know it was a demon baby that was going to eat its way out of Bella's belly or something. And then Bella becomes a vampire?? That's how you resolve your epic human/vampire romance? I mean, it's one thing to let Angel become human, but...ARE VAMPIRES NOT BAD AT ALL IN THIS UNIVERSE OR SOMETHING?

I sort of feel sorry for the people who read the whole series now. At least the ones who read it seriously and expected a good resolution and whatnot.

It has the worst final line of a book, EVAR.

What is it??? I'm dying to know now.

Wow. Granted that I haven't read the Twilight books, only the recaps/synopses/spoilers, but still -- that shit sounds even WORSE than the Anita Blake books, which I didn't actually think was possible.

WRT the actual birth of the baby it totally makes me wonder how awful SM's experience with childbirth must have been.