Stephenie Meyer: Author of the Twilight series and the Host

Many people know Stephenie Meyer as the author of the very famous Twilight series and the creator of Edward Cullen. That's how I first came to know Stephenie. I read the Twilight series out of order, I read Eclipse first because it was one of the bestsellers at the time last year and the story looked pretty interesting. When I read it I realized that I had come in on the third book of the series, but that didn't stop me from falling in love with all the characters. After reading Eclipse I immediately set out to buy and read all the other books before it and if you can't tell from previous postings, I was hooked!

When Stephenie Meyer's other book, The Host, came out I was even more in shock to find that she had yet again created a world so unique and creative it amazed me that the human mind could come up with it. Everyone calls Stephenie the J.K. Rowling of America and in many aspects that's true but it's also very different. Both of these amazing authors have created a pop-culture phenomenon that has reached so many people. They also both created a world so amazing it's no wonder that many kids dream of being in that world. But to me, even though I do LOVE J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer has a bit more of an imaginative mind. Rowling's world of Harry Potter was not entirely made up by her, with many of the creatures and other aspects of wizarding life made up for her. The same goes with Stephenie and her vampires but she became different when she turned the picture of scary Dracula in our heads to someone who was so insanely gorgeous and normal (at least as normal as a vampire who drinks blood can be). Now the world of the Host, that was a world that I have never heard of before and something so unique that only her mind could have made it up. That's what amazes me. If you haven't read the Host yet I suggest you do. I'm an author myself and I love making up stories but seeing myself creating a world so different that you just want to be there seems practically impossible. My mind is just not capable of coming up with something so insanely brilliant.

J.K. Rowling was my inspiration for writing but now I look up to Stephenie Meyer as the motivation to keep me going. Stephenie has young kids on her own and a crazy life but she still finds time to write the stories that she loves to write. Whenever I have writer's block or just feel like giving up I think about Stephenie and her success while I'm listening to not only her favorite band but has now become mine as well, Muse. I just sit there with the music in the background staring at the words that I have written on the computer and immediately I come up with the most amazing idea that the next two hours are lost to me and by the time I'm done I 've realized that I've written almost 15 pages. I can not wait for Stephenie's next work and hopefully she will publish the Edward Cullen version of Twilight called Midnight Sun.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Many people thought that the Harry Potter saga ended with the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But of course J.K. Rowling can never let go the one story that she truly loves. Last year at a charity auction the book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, was sold for a very high price. J.K. Rowling took that as an opportunity to publish the book and distribute it world wide for her charity, Children’s High Level Group.
This book was the same book mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when Professor Dumbledore left it for Hermione Granger in his will. The Tale of the Three Brothers and three other short stories are, according to J.K. Rowling, famous bedtime stories for wizard children. Now this book is really cool because after all the short stories you get an in depth look on the stories through the perspective of Albus Dumbledore. This book provides a whole new way of getting into Dumbledore’s mind and they way this truly intelligent, powerful, clever, and slightly odd headmaster of Hogwarts really thinks. If you are a Harry Potter fan I really suggest you read this book (it is also very short so it’s an easy read!).

Poetry Through Art

The poem, Lady of Shallot, was made into a painting by Waterhouse. The painting in my opinion doesn't give a good interpretation of the poem. The painting itself just depicts this woman getting up from her chair and looking at the viewer as you see here. The story is about a woman who wants to escape the small island Shallot to see her true love Lancelot in Camelot. The woman looks mainly like she's trying to escape prison. In a way it has to do with the poem because she has heard rumors that if she stays in Shallot weaving then she would die. What I would do to change the painting is have her look out the window and out into the distant land of Camelot. There in the distance would be the knight Lancelot who she is looking to with starstruck eyes. Her weaving basket would be beside her and you would see the whole Camelot seen through the mirror that it talks about in the poem.

The next poem, the Fall of Icarus, was made into a painting by Bruegal. This painting was okay if you look at it closely. At first it looks like a normal scene in the Greek island, Crete. Only if you spend some time looking at it, like I did, do you actually notice Icarus drowning in a small corner. The painting itself is beautiful but in my opinion it should have more of a focus on Icarus. If I could actually paint something else besides stick people, Icarus would be a major focus, since the painting is about him. I would put him falling into the water with his wings wax wrapped all around him, pulling him down towards the dark ocean. Or I would also paint him flying up to the sky really close to the sun, with his wings slowly melting. The ocean would be below him and he would be looking down to what would seem his obvious death.

World Without End by Ken Follett

Okay so I promised you that I will give a different view on World Without End once I finished it. Unfortunately I can't finish it anytime soon due to the fact that I have to read a novel for a test and another one for a newspaper article (yes, I'm on the newspaper). So I decided I'll give a temporary review on this novel. Again, this novel isn't appropriate for children under 14. Reader discretion advised.

We're back at Kingsbridge Priory after 200 years and it seems like things can't seem any worse. The bridge collapses on the last day of the Annual Fleece Fair, killing hundreds of Kingsbridge townsfolk and visitors to the town. This bridge changes the lives of Merthin Carpenter, Caris Wooler, Gwenda, Brother Godwyn, and Squire Ralph. A story filled with love, war, and a pride for yourself and others, this is the story of the legendary Kingsbridge Cathedral and how it brought completely different people's lives together.

So the summary that I just gave you sounded pretty good right? Sounded just as good as Pillars of the Earth for a little bit. The very sad thing is it doesn't come close to the first book at all. Pillars of the Earth kept me riveted through over 900 pages. Never did the book seem dull or without any action. The description was vivid and I always loved the main characters. World Without End is a different story. The description is great and that's probably why this book exceeded a thousand pages. There is so much description that it gets you bored very easily. I will admit though that the characters are well developed. Every character, even the ones that you only see for one page, have a huge background story. Don't get me wrong, that can be great, only a true writer can come up with that. The bad thing is that he tells their whole entire story in tremendous detail. So you're getting information on characters that you don't even really care about.

Plus, there isn't as much action or drama going on in this novel. This one is missing a lot of the fights stories, even rape stories which were common back then. I'll admit there are some parts that are really good and that kept me riveted for about 20 pages. But riveted reading for 20 pages isn't the same as riveted reading for 1014 pages. That's what Pillars of the Earth did for me and I never wanted to put it down. I felt like I was being forced to finish World Without End and when I feel like that I really don't want to finish the book. Overall, it was okay, but Ken Follett can do better. :( Maybe I'll go back to it one day and finish it.