Reading and popularity

When I posted my impossibly long thing about Twilight on Sunday, I was already halfway through the first book. I finished the fourth one today :D I love reading like that! Good heavens, it's amazing how much reading I can get done in a sitting... After all that, though, I stand by what I said before: it needs a serious editing job, and there are a few major structural flaws in the plot (such as an over-use of dei ex machina) that would be really fun to re-write. I can easily compare it with Harry Potter, though I need to read all of those again before I try. My biggest peeve about the books are the views on marriage and the poorly constructed reasons for them to abstain from pre-marital sex (as long as the books have been out, I don't think I need to worry about spoilers), and even then, my issue is not the fact that I disagree with the author's views. My issue is that these characters are hugely popular, and they are horrible role models! I cringe to think of so many young girls reading these books. But I'd better not go off on a tangent :) Suffice it to say, I enjoyed reading them, but it will be a very long time before I read them again, and they'll fall under the category of mature reading when I have kids.

To clarify, and continue

I realized after posting my thesis on Twilight yesterday that I forgot another thing I was going to mention: despite my intense desire to simply dismiss them as rubbish because of reviews and how popular they are, I'm planning to give the Hunger Games books a try. After I finish Twilight, of course :) And again, after the books, I'll probably have to watch the movies, if merely for the ability to say "yes, I have" when somebody says "you don't know, you haven't seen them!" Ah, lemmings...

While I'm talking about hugely popular book series,
I should write something about Harry Potter...

Things I Don't Like

How do you learn to be open-minded while still standing for what you believe in? Maybe that's a little too deep for what I'm actually talking about, but it's worth considering. Something I've been learning more and more in my library classes is that I need to be able to discuss any subject with a straight face (as opposed to the face above this post: let's not make that face). What do I mean by that? Well, for instance, the things I feel negatively towards (like Apple products, gay marriage, or Twilight) should be things I can talk about without being negative. And to be fair, I should be able to make things I dislike equal with the things I adore: like cheese, opera, and Charlotte Bronte. It's not my place to judge anyone: EVER. Inside a library or outside. And I certainly can't force my own opinions on others, even if I wanted to. While I'd like to be able to influence people in a positive way, I can do that much better through my attitude. Amazingly, I'm actually learning to consider things more carefully, with less bias one way or another. Some things are, naturally, a matter of right and wrong, and are not up for discussion. But matters of opinion... I'm surprising myself with how flexible I can be. For instance, I've always loathed Apple products, but my husband talked me into looking at iPods to replace my Zen Mosaic (which I still love, it's just dying). Now I love my iPod Nano almost as much, and I can use the speaker dock to play my music, too. 

What are the rules on photo credits
when you get it from Google Images?