A few of my friends have been urging me to read the "Twilight" book series by Stephanie Meyer but I've been a little nervous about delving in - I mean, remember the "Harry Potter" debacle? The last book in the series? Sobbing on the couch, like in the middle of a weekday when I should have been working? Plus, I don't read vampire books. And furthermore, I thought I was going to start on good literature again? Maybe read "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" or reread "Wuthering Heights." I've been stuck on mysteries forever and I need to move on. And moving on to a series of vampire books written for young adults doesn't cut it, I don't think so, not with the intellectual set.

But the thing is I got to Grand Central a few minutes early for my train last night and hopped into Hudson News to see what was happening in the celebrity gossip mags and there it was right in front of my face. "Twilight," the first book in the series. So I picked it up, and before I could get a grip and put it back one of the sales clerks was all "Are you ready to pay? Ready to pay??" and since it's insane with commuters in there at 6 p.m. and none of them had time for my indecision I said yes, and I bought it.

I haven't started it yet because I have been (and I really mean this) looking to become a little more productive lately on the creativity front. Maybe do some more freelancing or something. It's been a long winter - that is apparently never going to end - and Nora and I have been cooped up inside for way too long. The last thing I need is a book series addiction that will result in more time on the couch, and less time, um, OFF the couch.

So my entire ride home from New York, I didn't touch it, afraid to begin. Instead I listened to old episodes of "This American Life," ones I've already heard, on my iPod and tried to ignore the cover of the book, basically radiating from inside my bag.

We'll see how long I can hold off. Who knows, maybe I'll get real into an old fave from college instead, say Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason." Probably I will! Take THAT pop culture.