i have read…

…and read some more in the past 2 weeks. five good sized books to be exact and i don’t ever run across fiction that bring up really strong emotions. and never, ever, does a book reduce me to sniveling but that’s exactly what this one did. i just finished “the host“ by stephenie meyer. now i know there is both love and disdain for her junior fiction (depending on age and sex), but this book is written for an adult audience that understands the complexities of metaphysics. it was a deeply touching and well crafted story. very thought provoking and multi-faceted. and i had thought that talent had died out with octavia butler, but obviously ms. meyer was paying attention, too. the only thing that dried those tears up was the dreaded thought of her writing a sequel and it becoming a subsequent series. jesus, not everything has to be a fucking franchise! sometimes, you should just leave well enough alone. nothing diminishes a well crafted tale like a bunch of half cracked follow ups. (wachowski brothers, anyone?) i understand, “twilight“, being a series for young adults. that needed to be built up and told over several volumes. i get it. but “the host“? i think it said what it needed to say and to drag it on any further, just waters down the message and the integrity of the characters. i mean, anne rice should have taught us that a little goes a long way and any more than that just becomes a ridiculous and trite parody of talent. please ms. meyer, just leave well enough alone!