well, maybe there's some hope for this planet, after all

the host
stephenie meyer
. . . . . . . . . .
If you absolutely must read Stephenie Meyer's latest, a few tips:

1. Don't buy The Host from your University Bookstore. You will undoubtedly run into Writing Fellow friends of yours who will now take every opportunity to mock you for the rest of your life.

and

2. Once your flushed face is back to its normal shade, don't settle into read on the sloping west corner of the Arts Building. It may be delightfully sunny and wonderfully warm, but running into your Tall, Dark, & Handsome crush while fending off bodysnatchers isn't all that great for your library cred. You might have connected over Tolstoy, but that bridge is going to need a little reinforcement after such an encounter.

That being said (and hopefully done---don't say I didn't warn you), enjoy it. Because The Host is the same sort of crazy ride the Twilight series offer, plus a little bit more.

Without giving you any sort of outline, plotline, or endline, I will say this: The Host makes you think. Sure, Twilight's fun, and intriguing, but intellectual discussion ends somewhere around "Doesn't Edward just *dazzle* you?" and "I run with the wolves. Back off." Meyer's sci-fi, however, confronts you with a world where humans could be the bad guys, and the tipping point has you questioning some of the very basics of human nature. You may have to talk friends past the alien-invasion, two-souls-in-one-body thing, but in the end, you're going to have something to talk about, something to learn about.

Talking to a reporter this afternoon, we laughed at our shared first reaction---"Wait, Stephenie Meyer can write!"---and then had to admit it: the book deserves its place on library shelves. It's a compelling read, a mind-stretching adventure, and a well told tale. While certainly no Natasha and Pierre, Meyer's Jared and Melanie are worth the read, and even (it's true!) the blush.