About two months ago I picked up Twilight, the first book in the four book series by Stephenie Meyer. The craze surrounding this series put me off reading it for a long time, besides which I've never been into vampirish or werewolvish books before.
The first book was on sale and I needed something to read on the long drive between Townsville and Darwin. (For anyone who has ever driven the Barkly Highway you will understand my need for a boredom buster.)

I had read about a third of the book before I was finally able to look past what I had first taken for plain language and amateurish style and see what a clever writer Stephenie Meyer really is. It hasn't been that long since I was a teenager and I was impressed with how the author was able to so skilfully recreate the angst and the confusion and the obsession that comes with those years. This book made me feel like I was seventeen again. It was brilliant.

I finished Twilight and the next three books within two weeks.

This got me thinking. Does complexity of language compare to complexity of story and emotion? Does it matter what style a book is written in when it has you turning pages and keeps you up past midnight finishing 'just another chapter'? Isn't that what storytelling is all about? Enthralling your readers and keeping them wanting more? I think so.

I'm not saying that the two are mutually exclusive. Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris had me hooked and was also filled with some of the most beautifully descriptive, emotive language that I have ever read. I've read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon countless times and never get tired of how well crafted each sentence is, how perfectly each word is placed amongst it's brethren. Superb.

There are so many different stories to tell, in so many different ways. It makes my heart glad to know that I will have an entire lifetime to read as many as humanly possible.

Thank goodness for writers.