New Updates And Recommendations From Stephenie Meyer

Steph finally updated her website and she is recommending some new books and music check them out.

Hey everybody! I hope you all had a great summer. I'm sorry I don't update more, but it's crazy how busy you can be without really having anything to update about. I decided to do an end of the summer recap like I did last year—just the books and music and movies I enjoyed most. I love to share good stuff.

First books. I didn't have a ton of time to read this summer, but I did discover one really wonderful two-book series. Dreamhunter
and Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox. It is like nothing else I've ever read. The characters are so real, you'll feel like you know exactly what they look like and how their voices sound and what they would say or do in any given situation. More than that, you'll want to hang out with them. Then the world is so amazing and unique. You will want to go there. You will want to walk into "the Place." And you will want to sleep in a dream opera.

I also got an early look at a book I've been eagerly awaiting: Catching Fire, the sequel to Suzanne Collins' phenomenal The Hunger Games. It not only lived up to my high expectations, it surpassed them. It's just as exciting as The Hunger Games, but even more gut wrenching, because you already know these characters, you've already suffered with them. Suzanne takes the story places I wasn't expecting, and she's never afraid to take it to very hard places. Stunning. You won't sleep when you're reading this one. It hits shelves September 1st. I suggest beginning in the early morning and clearing your calendar for the day.

Then music. No matter how busy I am, I can always listen to music, so I have a longer list of recommendations here. So, awesome CDs I discovered this summer:

* Animal Collective — Merriweather Post Pavillion
* Silversun Pickups — Swoon
* White Rabbits — It's Frightening
* The Dead Weather — Horehound
* Grizzly Bear — Veckatimest
* Meese — Broadcast

I really should have known about Meese a while ago, but thanks to a mislabeled CD mix, I didn't realize Meese was responsible for one of my favorite songs until I went to their concert. And then I was glad that I already loved them, because the guys in Meese are possibly the nicest people in the world.

Then some albums that I've had for a while now, but that I can't stop listening to:

* The Weakerthans — Reunion Tour
* Elbow — The Seldom Seen Kid

Seriously, Elbow owns my ipod right now.

Also musical, I got out to a few good concerts. Meese was with Jack's Mannequin and The Fray—lovely. If you haven't seen these guys live, do. And then I got to go see Blue October again. I love their shows. You can't really know Blue October until you see them live. It's an amazing experience.

And finally movies. Mostly when I get out to a movie, it's a kid's movie. So Pixar's Up was the highlight of my summer. And then this Saturday I went to see an actual grown-up people movie, yay! Admittedly, I went to see the New Moon trailer on the big screen (yes, I'm a total dork. Who cares? It was worth it). But then I stayed to see Bandslam because the reviews were so good, and I was glad I did. With my hopeless love of music coupled with my total lack of musical ability, I really dug Will. He's my hero right now. It had a good soundtrack, as one might expect, a lot of very quotable one-liners, and it turned upside down some of those lame female-interaction stereotypes. It's a good time.

So that's my "How I Spent My Summer." I hope you guys had a really good time this summer, and found some great stuff of your own. I love this world full of stories and songs waiting to be discovered! And I also love you, the awesome Twilight (and maybe a few Hosts, too) fandom. I stalk your websites all the time—you guys are hilarious (I recently added LTT to my stalk list; thanks for the laugh lines, ladies). I'm looking forward to seeing some of you in November for a little movie release that I'm excited about. Too many months to go!