Just a Waste of My Time

Diction is what saves a piece of writing from utter disaster. When the librarian told you to read the synopsis and the first page of the book before you checked it out, she shouldn't have been ignored. Simply spend half a minute with a story and you can determine if it's worth your time.
Not that I follow my own advice. I've been known to fall in with the crowd when it comes to books. It usually happens the same way; I decide that I won't read said book everybody is obsessing over and usually do pretty well with that for a while. Then I hear some more about it and maybe there are rumors of a movie. Then I do some research on the book in question and, usually in a moment of weakness, purchase the book on my kindle and read away.

A brief summary of all the desperately cliched books I've become an expert of:

1. Twilight (I've read the entire four "novel" collection, consisting of Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn). At the time (seventh grade) I loved them. They were intriguing, addicting, and all the rage. I would have many a Twilight conversation throughout my day and absolutely loved tossing in my opinion. These days I never readily mention the lowly fact that I've read them all and if someone addresses me directly regarding this topic, I mutter a quick 'yes' under my breath and either change the subject or walk away.

2. The Hunger Games (The trilogy consisting of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay). This particular series wasn't as frowned upon and the movie certainly turned out better than Twilight - being that it was a far superior story (or an actual story). I didn't read the story until the purchase of my kindle last year, and when this occurred, I read them all in the span of as many days. When people ask me what I think of them, I used to say, "Oh, well, they were well written." Now I understand that that couldn't be farther from the truth. Yes, the story was intriguing (cliffhangers, anybody?), but that was all it was; story. It might have had controversial themes and a simile or two, but the only reason this book was so popular is because it was exciting and read like you absolutely couldn't put it down or you would miss some of the action.

3. Fifty Shades of Grey (The trilogy consisting of Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, and Fifty Shades Freed). Yes, I know what you're thinking. This one may be the most shameful. But in my defense, I am an addict of poor fiction. This book is everything they say it is and more. Whatever opinion you have of it, it's true. What most people don't know is that it was spawned from Twilight. Yes, this book is a Twilight fan fiction novel. E.L. James read Twilight and then wrote Fifty Shades of Grey. It follows a similar story line (Surprising new love, forbidden aspect, girl has to lie to family, revelations, dangers, can't keep their hands off each other, marriage, etc.) just a lot kinkier (more kinky?). I imagine it was intended to be a better version of Twilight, but really just manages to make me real uncomfortable real fast. Luckily, the movie hasn't come out yet.

So, is it really wrong that I'm reading these books? Granted, I probably should be spending my time reading books of actual character, but at least I'm reading.