Salman Rushdie vs the Vampires

buenos new year to you.

salman rushdie is a brilliant writer. I am casually strolling thru his book, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, at a snails pace, enjoying the sights and sounds, the fruits and berries of his labor. while I am in deep reverence, in awe with his natural ability, I am also not 100% engrossed as to not be easily distracted by certain happenings in the nearby woods, happenings that require my complete all encompassing attention: teenage vampires. that's right, I have been, if I may be so crude, sucked in.
my youngest kin/cousin once removed or so, lent me book one of the Twilight series. no, correction, she lent my dad the book. he got thru a few chapters before he started to feel the effects of the teenage angsty romance venom at which point he struggled to keep his eyes open, interest peaked, eventually retreating back to that alternate universe adults call 'reality,' but not before utilizing some degree of practical magic to turn the book into a paperweight. enter me. at first I was just reading a few chapters here and there, before bed, between classes and work. then I got some mercifully brief yet still wicked head cold that put me out for a good 33ish hours. the first 6 of those I spent alternately taking in plenty of fluids (could someone tell me exactly how many cups is in a plenty? thx) and polishing off the remaining 300+ pages of said pop vampire tome numero uno in which beautiful old dangerous white people spend their waking hours (read: all day, all night) working hard not to take in plenty of fluids. or at the very least, strictly monitoring exactly what type of fluids are imbibed.
so, now I'm mildly hooked. I admittedly have a proclivity for the drop dead gorgeous undead. and while the series leaves some to be desired in certain literary aspects (er, book two plot?) and in protagonistic character traits (the heroine's lily liveredness is somewhat draining), the overall experience is indulgently satisfying, a nice quick distraction off the main path. now, where were we, mr. rushdie?

ps
I am fascinated by horror stories and how they reflect certain trends/aspects of society. I read recently that the popularity of vampire movies today has a bit to do with the recession/lack of goods to be had, in that vampires exemplify the sexy alluring measure of restraint. hmmm, interesting. perhaps I need to read books 3 and 4 to really get a good perspective. research, my friends, strictly research.