New Moon

New Moon, Stephenie Meyer's follow-up to Twilight was a bit weaker over-all, but still delivered the same mix of goofy romance and pseudo-suspense that keeps the tweens and cougars coming back for more. Darling Edward wasn't as ubiquitous, as he and his family decided to skip town in an effort to keep Bella out of the imminent danger generally brought on by living in close proximity with a pack of vampires, but in this book we really got to know Bella's childhood friend Jacob Black.

After several months of intense moping (which thankfully were not actually described and were noted only by empty chapters), Bella attempts to pull herself out of her funk by spending more time with Jacob, who lives on the nearby Quileute reservation. Jacob is (of course) in love with Bella, and she becomes completely attached to him, too, but only in the love-you-like-a-brother way. All seems to be going well when out of the blue, Bella is hunted by some non-vegan vampires and Jacob turns into a werewolf.

Our happy lovers are ultimately reunited, but not before a big misunderstanding sends Edward on a suicide mission to Italy. That vampires and werewolves are mortal enemies in this mythology means Jacob is left a bit out in the cold at the end of it all, but there are two more books during which I'm sure this can all get happily resolved for everyone.

Next up: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by acclaimed Japanese author Haruki Murakami. My reading diversity meme showed a gap in Asian lit, and this has been sitting unread on my shelf for too long already. Plus, I cannot stomach another romance just yet... the rest of the Twilight series will have to wait a while!