Saturday, January 15, 2011

Confessions of a New Twilight Saga Addict

I've spent the last three weeks of my life engrossed in the four books of the Twilight Saga, by Stephenie Meyer, like it was a true addiction; even now I'm feeling withdrawals. I was hesitant to read these books in the past for the following reasons:

1. Vampires? Really? I'll stick with my realistic fiction, thanks.
2. 500 plus pages per book? That will take me forever...
3. What's all the hype about? If I read them will I become obsessed too?

I started Twilight the day after Christmas and ignored my family and all responsibilities during that last week of vacation as I finished it and New Moon. Knowing that I was choosing to read over all other activities, I started to feel a little guilty. I would even sneak in a few minutes here and there, and if Peter came into the room, I'd hide the book, not wanting to see him roll his eyes at me again. Once he realized I was in it for the long haul and that the books seemed to be good for our love life, he didn't bug me about it anymore. In fact, he picked up Twilight and read it in a few days, both of us becoming sub-par parents.

Once school started again, I was eager and motivated to get all of my "chores" done as soon as I got home, so that, at 7:00PM, after putting the girls to bed, I could sit on the couch and read until 11PM, or whenever I started feeling guilty for staying up so late. I continued to neglect other things in my life; our band music arrived and I didn't practice my flute, I missed two weeks of volleyball because I wanted to finish Eclipse and then Breaking Dawn. I didn't allow myself to feel too bad about it, after all, I was enjoying my new routine too much.

Now that I'm done with the books and I've seen all three movies, I'm feeling a bit lost. I find that I'm not motivated to do any chores, and I spend lots of wasteful time on the internet or daydreaming about being a vampire. Last night, not finding anything to satisfy my mind, I picked up Breaking Dawn and reread the last chapter. Is this what it feels like to have an addiction? It does make me feel better to know that I'm not alone. There is quite a fan club out there for these books and for good reason. If you haven't read them yet, you should. Just beware that you will most likely leave your "real world" for a time, and you might have difficulty readjusting once you're through.