Any Other Sookie Stackhouse Fans?

Fox

Fri, May 14 2010, 1:56 pm

Anyone else read Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series?

It's set in a slightly-alternative-universe Louisiana and concerns the adventures of a young woman with unwelcome telepathic abilities. There are vampires (who are now "out of the coffin" and shop for synthetic blood at Wal-Mart) and a handful of other supernatural beings.

Let me say that I am so, so, so not a fan of fantasy-type plots or vampire books. These are kind of unique, though, because they focus on the day-to-day relationships between the characters. I don't necessarily recommend them for imamothers -- they do contain the occasional s-x scenes; however, they're a lot of fun if you don't mind skimming past the inappropriate parts.

Here's the weird thing: I started reading these books in 2002, and they were not particularly popular. I always had to order them from Amazon or Border's. Charlaine Harris participated very actively on her website, and there was a small community of intelligent, enthusiastic readers.

Well, fast-forward seven years, and rights to the series were bought by a producer who turned the whole thing into an HBO series. Now it gets huge publicity, the books are on the bestseller lists . . . it's all very bizarre to me! I'm really happy for Charlaine, who's had some hard times in her life and definitely deserves the success and recognition. But it sure feels strange to have my personal literary guilty pleasure turn into a pop culture item!

Fox

Fri, May 14 2010, 4:41 pm

DefyGravity wrote:

Isn't there a new book coming out this month?

Yes -- "Dead in the Family" Definitely one of the better ones in the series. I haven't seen it, but I've been sort of curious about "True Blood" -- the old-timer Sookie fans seem to be divided about it. Apparently it follows the general outline of the books but dumbs down the complexity of the relationships a lot.

Fox

Sun, May 16 2010, 12:37 pm

In addition to the great juxtaposition of supernatural with mundane (for instance, one of the vampires has a real dilemma getting a credit card; he's 163 years old, but his credit score isn't very impressive -- the Civil War era merchants he did business with didn't report to TransUnion, it seems!), I really enjoy the fact that Sookie learns not to make snap judgments based exclusively on appearances. For example, the character that appears initially to be steady, reliable, and family-oriented turns out to be less than honest; the character introduced as a "bad boy" turns out to shoulder a lot of responsibility which he takes very seriously.

A lot of Charlaine's other work also features this underlying theme, and I've discussed with other frum Sookie fans the fact that a lot of families and individuals in shidduchim could benefit from Sookie's fictional experiences!

A refuah shleima, NativeMom! The new book will definitely buoy your recovery!

Fox

Sun, May 16 2010, 12:56 pm

I haven't seen "True Blood," so I can only tell you what I've heard: most of the people who read the books first do like "True Blood" -- they say the casting is amazing! But the books are apparently much more nuanced and the characters are more complex. Definitely read the books! Except for the occasional s-x scenes I mentioned (and trust me, bodice-ripping scenes are not exactly Charlaine's strong point, so you're not missing anything!) and the occasional bad language (like many a Southern belle, Sookie is occasionally moved to strong language), they're fun and light while still being smart and even a little deep sometimes.

Rollerblades

Mon, May 17 2010, 10:08 pm

I started watching True Blood but hated it so much I almost didn't read the books when the library's hold came through.

The books are 100 times better than the series. It's a total shame how they are dumbing down the books with the televised version.

Anyone read the Vampire Diaries? Another set of books made into a TV series. The books were AWFUL, but the TV show is amazing.