I know I’m probably going to get lambasted here, but I think it’s only fair (especially in light of the article I’m working on for Aug. 2) to compare and contrast my two favorite young adult series. This will probably be a long entry or a series of entries.

Ways Twilight is better than Harry Potter:

• Readers can relate much more easily to the characters. At least readers in the target audience, that is.
• This series seems as if if could really happen. Stephenie Meyer does a really good job of making all the fantastical creatures (vampires and werewolves) seem very human if it weren’t for those little glitches that make them superhuman.
• The series isn’t just one giant battle between good and evil. There are many more small battles along the way that are also good vs. evil, but they’re varied.

Ways Harry Potter is better than Twilight:

• Everything in J.K. Rowling’s world (mostly) is completely made up out of her head. Definitely a much more imaginative series on a whole.
• The relationships between the characters seem much more real. The kids get in fights, some of the characters vacillate between good and evil, they develop crushes which quickly fade.
• This is one HUGE mythology series. There’s a whole backstory to everyone, no matter how small the character, and every player has a part in the battle. The same is not true for Twilight.

Ways both Harry Potter and Twilight are good:

• Both have gotten scores and scores of children and adults to read. Anything that promotes literacy is a plus.
• Both have encouraged increases in book sales. Again, a huge plus.
• Both are incredibly compelling to read. You pick them up and, before you know it, it’s four hours later and you’ve finished a 500-page book.
• The fantastical elements of both promote a healthy imagination.

OK, my brain has turned to mush. I’ve been contemplating this entry for quite some time now, but didn’t get around to it until now and seem to have lost a lot of steam

Do you have anything to add?

I have an unhealthy obsession with William Shakespeare.

I admitted to this fact years ago, and have tried to find a 12-step program but, alas, none exist for girls who fall in love with dead white guys. If there were, I’d also have to go in for a literary love affair with John Keats. But, that’s another story for another time.

As part of my love for Shakespeare, I read biography after biography of him. I read criticism and theory. I read the plays and sonnets.

Right now, I’m reading a biography which I picked up at a Renaissance fair several years ago. I’m barely 30 pages in, and am having an incredibly difficult time staying engaged enough to pick the thing up each time. It jumps around, there’s nothing compelling about the story the author is telling.

It’s just dull.

It’s almost as if I were reading a biography of my own life which, I can assure you, would be the single-most dull book ever published.

So, the question of the day is: Do I read this book or do I put it aside for something more interesting?

I hate not finishing books. It drives me crazy. I feel that, no matter how horrid the experience is for me, someone worked very hard to write that book, and it’s my duty as a reader to finish it. I feel the same way about the articles I write for my job.

But, at the same time, life’s far too short to spend weeks languishing on one book when there are hundreds of others calling to me.

I’ll give it another try. If it doesn’t go any faster after a while, I’ll put it on the shelf in hopes that I find it interesting enough to pick up later.

OK, everyone here is going to think this is coming completely out of left field given the glowing praise I’ve given Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series recently.

However, since I finished the three books, something’s been bugging me. Until about 15 minutes ago, I couldn’t put my finger on it.

While I believe the series is great for its plots, characters and writing – all the normal stuff that people like about books – I’m growing wary of the message it’s sending to its target audience. I realized this after listening to the audiobook version of “Twilight” (Hey, sometimes I get tired of listening to music while I’m working; give me a break) and listened to the scene where Edward and Bella first become a couple.

Here’s what bothers me: Meyer first shows us that falling in love and rushing into marriage can be a bad idea, as exemplified by Charlie and Renee’s hasty marriage nearly 20 years prior to the book’s opening.

Then, she throws Edward and Bella together, having them profess their deep, undying love for one another very shortly after they even begin talking with any regularity.

Now, I’m not at all saying that this sort of thing doesn’t happen. Having been on the receiving end of such a relationship, I know it does and it can be the best thing in your life.

However, couple the suddenness of Edward and Bella’s profession of love with their incredibly deep commitment at a fairly young age and – when we’re talking a wildly popular series with the teenage girl crowd, who aren’t exactly all that hormonally stable to begin with – you have some potentially dangerous consequences with the picture you are giving them of relationships.

In my research on this series (I’ve been trolling MySpace and other teen hang-outs in preparation for an article on the series prior to the release of the fourth book), I’ve found scores and scores of young girls – some not even in their teens – pining for “my Edward.” They gush about how great he is and how they hope, someday, they can find someone as perfect as he is; someone who loves them so completely.

Now, I’m not saying that this is impossible, nor am I saying this isn’t what all girls should aspire to find (since a lot of girls seem to settle for whatever comes along just for the sake of having a significant other). I am, though, saying that young girls are already feeling a whole lot of peer pressure when it comes to relationships. They’re dating in elementary school and having sex in middle school. They’re saying they love someone before they can really know what love is because they just don’t have enough real life experience behind them yet. They’re bombarded with movies and TV shows and songs and books telling them that all guys should be perfect or else they’re not worth anyone’s time.

Why can’t we just see a more realistic portrayal of a relationship in books? I’m not saying that Meyer couldn’t have created something incredibly deep and engaging, but she could have allowed Bella and Edward to slow down a little.

Not to mention the fact that they get engaged barely one year after first meeting. This may work for some people, but I wouldn’t make it a widely-held belief that everyone gets married quickly.

This has been long and rambling because, well, I’ve worked far too many hours this week and really need to go to bed.

All I’m saying is that I hope our young girls can critically analyze the relationships they are seeing portrayed in the fiction people are putting in front of them – whether it be in books or movies or whatever – so that they do not end up living their lives disappointed that they haven’t found their perfect vampire lover.

I have to take a quick moment and geek out – big time – about my newest favorite find.

It seems as if I’m always hitting trends on the upswing, meaning I catch onto them after they’re already popular. Happened with “X-Files,” “Harry Potter” and a good portion of my music collection.

Last week, it happened again, with Stephenie Meyer’s YPL Twilight series.

Wow. That’s all I have to say about this series. I finished the first book in one night, staying up until an hour before I had to get up and go to work to read it. The next day, I purchased the other two books.

They were both finished about four days later, including another overnight reading session.

I then ordered the fourth book in the series.

I know, I know, I’m 23 years old and these books are geared toward people nearly half my age. But, sometimes it’s good to put aside all the “good for you” classic literature and just devour something with sheer abandon.

These books, if you haven’t read them yet, are good. Engaging, funny, mind-bending. All the things that the popular YPL of my day – Lurlene McDaniel and the like – wasn’t.

But, that’s not the only draw of this series. Meyer makes me actually care what happens to these kids/vampires/werewolves, unlike the majority of YPL. Even Harry Potter didn’t give me this depth and understanding of characters. Either Harry’s all good or he’s all not; Snape’s all good or he’s all not – not much else to it.

With Bella and Edward and everyone else in Meyer’s lush alternate universe of Forks, Wash., there’s a whole lot of gray area. No one (well, with a few exceptions) is ever completely evil or completely good. And, when someone (read: vampire) is completely evil, you can almost write it off as instincts taking over and little else. In most cases, at least. Some of the vampires are just plain vindictive.

There’s also a lot of folklore and other literature referenced in these books, which is always a plus for me. Anything that gets kids to read more than they already do is, quite frankly, fine by me.

I’ll bet there’s even been an uptick in sales and rentals of “Wuthering Heights” since the series came out in 2005.

OK, that’s enough for now. I’ll hopefully talk more about non-nerdy subjects in the next entry.

I don’t know what it is about me and YPL. For some reason, I just become so engrossed in YPL fantasy that I can’t put it down. And then I have to recommend it to all the people (especially teenagers) in my life.

That’s the way it was with the Harry Potter series and the Bartimaeus trilogy.

Then, I began working on an article with suggested reading lists for kids this summer. The young adult librarian here at the local library told me about the Twilight series, saying kids just adore it. I’d seen the displays in Barnes and Noble for several weeks, advertising pre-orders of her fourth book.

So, a few weeks ago, I bought myself a copy. I have to admit, I loved the $10.99 price tag for a nearly 500-page book. Several dollars less than an adult book would cost.

Thus far, I’m about 120 pages into this, and I’m hooked. I even considered staying up past 11 p.m. last night (after I got home) to read some more of it when I knew full well that I had to be at work at 6 a.m.

I guess I’m just a hopeless kid at heart.

1. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
2. 12 Centuries of British Poetry and Prose
3. “William Shakespeare: A Popular Life” by Garry O’Connor
4. “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer

I always try to keep one anthology and one novel/poetry collection/drama on my plate at a time, alternating 100 pages at a time. I also have a very neurotic method for choosing what to read next (to be described in minute detail later), but here’s what I’m reading right now:

1. “The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath”
2. “Twelve Centuries of English Literature”
3. “Best Newspaper Writing 2007-08 Edition,” The Poynter Institute
4. “Ada,” Vladimir Nabokov
5. “William Shakespeare: A Popular Life,” Garry O’Connor