Twilight

It's actually not bad! A little high-falutin, and certainly on the sappy and cliched scale. I like Bella a lot, though, and can really relate to her: how she's friendless, hates gym, can cook, and has read all the Brontes and Shakespeares. I would have enjoyed this story as a teen and I still do. All the Edward moments are very sweet, but they are overwrought, as are Bella's many admirers. Seventeen is too old for Bella, I think - she would have fared better as a fifteen or sixteen year old.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

HP5 flows much better than HP4, but I still find satire so hard to read. I don't enjoy reading about Umbridge and the tortures she inflicts on students, although her come-uppance by Fred and George is hilarious. There is just too much badness in this book, save for brief moments of laughter. The Department of Mysteries IS a perfectly wonderful bit of imagination. I have to admit - I can't put this book down.

The Enchantress of Florence, Salman Rushdie

This book is beautifully written and the idea is captivating, but it didn't captivate me. I was bored by it. The things in it have already been done. And that is that.

New Moon

Oh... I really like Bella Swan. She is terribly obsessive, but I am the same way -- incorrigibly constant. The way boys fall for her is completely unrealistic, but what girl's story wouldn't want that? Jacob... in fact, all of the characters.... rely on description from Bella's part, so they aren't very well drawn. I think of rubygillis's classic pattern of a romantic boy and his comic rival, and she does it so much better - so much more lively - than S. Meyer. The climaxes are always extremely melodramatic. I really enjoyed this one because - isn't Volterra the fictional city in Maurier's Flight of the Falcon, which was in turn based on Urbino? I had thought so, but I could be mistaken.

Eclipse

Oh dear. You have to admit this is a pretty good love triangle. I like Jacob, and I like Edward, and I don't despise Bella.

Breaking Dawn

Utter crap, as in, Smeyer's writing needs SO much editing to tone down her language, but still such a guilty pleasure. I'm surprised that Bella really DID become a vampire after all the times and delay. I'm not fond of the half-breed baby as a plot device. Having Bella and Edward start a family right now, it's too soon to think of them as parents. I'm also not sure if the switch to the Jacob chapters were effective.... the book has been so consistently about Bella's voice, and Bella is a decent narrator. I'm glad Bella and Jacob's friendship has been resolved, but