Twilight: Blood wasn't the only thing that got sucked in.

I'm sure by now you've heard of the Twilight Series. It is one of those book series that, similar to the Harry Potter series, came from a virtunally unknown author and rocketed to instant fame when it found it's tipping point.

Stephenie Meyer sold 22 million books in 2008! That's more than any other author. So obviously, I had to jump on the bandwagon to see what all the fuss was about.

I got on the waiting list at the library for Twilight knowing little about the book. All I knew was that it was a teen romance involving a vampire. I'm not really much of a fan of science fiction, so obviously I was very skeptical.

Well guess what?

I couldn't put it down. Literally. I took it with me everywhere. I read it while waiting for my carpool buddy. I ready it while I was on the roller beds at the chiropractor's office. I read it on my breaks at work. I read it in the mornings and late into the night.

Here's the weird thing. It's not that great. The writing is very simplistic. The story plays out like a teen drama on the CW. It's fluff. Plus, if I try to reason logically through the story, it makes no sense.

So what's the deal? I obviously got sucked into the story. Shallow writing or not, I had to know what happened. There were moments while I was reading it that I actually felt silly, caring about something so ridiculously implausible as a vampire. And yet, I still found myself enjoying it. This review on Amazon summed my thoughts up well ...

Rather than feeling as though I were trudging through a heavy piece of fantasy fiction, I was able to let my mind relax and float into the story as if I were watching some strangely intoxicating reality show about a clumsy teenage girl and a thoroughly confused vampire. In the end, despite their flaws and not fully understanding their logic or reasoning, I even enjoyed the characters Meyer created.

This is a novel you should pick up when you just want to shut off your brain for a little while and escape reality. Basically, you shouldn't try to read this novel with too serious an eye.

Exactly.

There were certainly moments when I got more than a little creeped out. One night, while I was standing in the kitchen reading a very suspenseful scene (the baseball scene, for those who have read it) someone opened the front door and I almost jumped out of my skin.

Reading the last few chapters, I was totally engrossed. The ending is great. Even though it won't win any Oscars, I do, in fact, want to watch the movie. I've put the trailer for you below.

Oh, and for those of you who are fans, did you know that Stephenie Meyer has written the story from Edward's perspective? You can read it on her web site.

So now I'm on the library's waiting list for New Moon, the next book in four-book series. As my brother pointed out, some would consider reading fluff like this a waste of time. But then, isn't that all fiction? It's entertainment, pure and simple, and to that end, it fulfilled it's purpose. I was entertained.