"I'm not the most dangerous thing out there."

Oh. My. God. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. This is only the first in the series. There are four books altogether, the fourth comes out on August 2, so I guess I started reading just in time. My online book club was all abuzz about this series, which is a young adult series that started in 2005, with a book a year since then, for the past few weeks. I heard something about it being a young adult series involving teenage romance and vampires, and I tuned out. For a while. Finally last Sunday, I gave in when I saw the books were on sale at Target. I bought only the first book, and was still doubting it when I read the back:

About three things I was certain:

First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him

- and I didn't know how dominant that part of him might be -

that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Right? So not something that would make me want to read a book. Either way, on Monday night at 10:00, I got in bed to read the first few chapters before I fell asleep. At 5:00 am, I finally shut off the light to go to sleep, having read all 500 pages in one sitting. Addicted. Obsessed. Here is a link to the Amazon.com description/review of the book, which still won't convince you it's worth reading:

http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Book-1-Stephenie-Meyer/dp/0316160172

I have since gone through the rest of this week (until today) fighting myself not to stop off and buy the next two books in the series, on the grounds that I need to get some sleep, and I was afraid I would stay up all night reading again. Today I bought the second book, New Moon, and plan to read most of the night tonight. I have already loaned Twilight to someone, and have someone else waiting to borrow it once I get it back, and I have convinced two other people that they need to buy it immediately. I actually used the words "intoxicating" and "breathtaking" to describe this book. And the kicker of it is, I cannot explain why I am so obsessed with this series. I have viewed most of the websites dedicated to the books (except those that would spoil the ones I haven't read yet), I've watched both trailers for the movie - yes, the movie! - that comes out in December (multiple times), I've considered attending the midnight release party the night the fourth book comes out (and ultimately decided against going, as I might just be one of the oldest people there - how bad is that?) I think I will, however pre-order the fourth book, and stop by the store AT midnight to pick it up - or at the very latest, I'll go first thing in the morning.

I'm not kidding, these books are totally geared toward teenage girls, and I (and a lot of women I know) am so smitten with them, it's insane. Here's a link to the video of the cast of the movie being introduced at a panel discussion earlier today at Comic-Con (if you don't know what Comic-Con is, good for you. That means you are not a huge nerd):

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/comic-con/?p=48

Notice the screaming? It's out of control, right? I confess: I watched the video on the edge of my seat with excitement, and am still trying to find a video of the full Q&A panel interview. I am a huge nerd. But at least I acknowledge that something is wrong with me.