Saturday, June 27, 2009

The Sookie Stackhouse Series & True Blood

I've been reading Charlaine Harris' 'Sookie Stackhouse' (aka The Southern Vampire) series the past few weeks, alternating between one of the books in the series and others on my pile. I won't go into describing them all as I don't think it is necessary.


The books are about a Louisiana waitress with the power to read minds, which makes everyone she knows think she's pretty much a nut. She can't date because she finds it difficult knowing what the guys she dates are thinking about. Her world is full of vampires. They came "out of the coffin" two years prior to the start of the book series, and the world is still reeling from the implications. The vampires that came out want equal rights and have stated that since the Japanese have come up with a blood substitute that provides for all their nutritional needs, they don't need to feed on humans. Most people, though, do not believe this. Eat tofu every day of your life after being a carnivore and let them know how it goes for you. Other vampires are mad that they've been "outed" and lie low.

In Sookie's bar walks in a vampire. She immediately knows he's one; she can't read his mind. All is calm. The books deal with Sookie, Vampire Bill and all the crazy cast of characters she meets by becoming involved with Bill.

These books are not for the young. There are sex scenes, death and blood galore, which is pretty much why I don't feel like reviewing them. They're not as sexually graphic as the Laurel K. Hamilton "Anita Blake" series, which I stopped reading. I mean, come ON. The books took a left turn to porn, oh, around book 6 or 7 and David and I both agreed we were done with them.

true blood 02 Pictures, Images and Photos

HBO also came out with a series based on the books, called "True Blood," named after the most popular brand of synthetic blood on the market for vampires, 'Tru Blood.' The series tries to stay close to the books, but does make major changes with character development, making some characters (Tara) that in the books are just background people into main characters and not killing off people (Lafayette - well, not yet anyway), and adding people that I have not even read about yet (Amy? Not sure where she comes from, or if she's even in any of the books I have not read yet. I am on # 4).

Also, the accents are killing me (Anna does not do a good job, I am sorry. But I love how Vampire Bill says "Sookie."). This is HBO, though, so BIG TIME sexual content, language and gore! If sex scenes make you squeamish, do not watch this show. Season two just started two weeks ago, and Season 1 is available on dvd to rent from Netflix or Blockbuster. Not the best show HBO has ever done, a bit campy, but not bad.

1 comment:

Kellis said...

We have so many books in common. I had requested this series from my library! (Don't have HBO though, and I haven't seen True Blood.)