Book #53 week #39, Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

In Definitely Dead Andy and his sister Portia are planning a double wedding (not to each other of course) and Portia makes it clear to Sookie that she is only invited as a server and not a guest however Andy’s fiancé rectifies the situation. Sookie is now dating the weretiger Quinn. While out one night the couple is attacked by newly bitten teenage werewolves. Because this is witnessed by humans, the teens are arrested and murdered in jail. Sookie is recovering at home when Mr. Cataliades, the queen’s demon secretary, comes to take Sookie to New Orleans to settle her cousin Hadley’s estate. Hadley was a relatively new vampire and the Queen’s lover; she was murdered by a jealous vampire named Waldo. Mr. Cataliades is surprised Sookie is not ready to leave and it is discovered his niece, working as a messenger for the Queen, was murdered on Sookie’s own property before she could deliver the message that Mr. Cataliades would be arriving. Bill goes with them to New Orleans.

Hadley's apartment is locked under the spell of the landlord, a young witch named Amelia Broadway. Amelia removes the spell and they discover the body of a shapeshifter in a closet. But it is not a body after all, it is a newly turned vampire and he attacks the two women. The police break up the attack (vampire police) and Sookie and Amelia are taken to the hospital. While there Eric and Bill visit and Eric forces Bill to drop a bombshell on Sookie. Bill tells her the Queen forced him to return to Bon Temps to procure Sookie’s talent for the Queen’s use. He is to do this in any way possible even using seduction if necessary. I was pretty pissed at this revelation. Sookie came under the Queen’s radar due to Hadley. She told the Queen all about Sookie’s unusually gift. Sookie sends Bill away and walks her badly injured self back to Hadley’s apartment.

Sookie visits Queen Sophie-Anne. Although she is grieving for her lost love, Hadley, the Queen has married the King of Arkansas, Peter Threadgill. It is a marriage of convenience. In a jealous fit Hadley stole a bracelet of the Queen’s that was a gift from her new husband. The Queen needs this back or else the King will have grounds to divorce her and take her kingdom. Sookie agrees to look for it in exchange for financial help (to buy witchcraft supplies) to learn about the new vampire in Hadley’s apartment. The Queen agrees and comes to the apartment with her entourage to watch Amelia and her friends cast a spell that will recreate the events that took place that night.

The group watches as the man, Jake Purifoy, is killed but can’t see who did it. Then they see Hadley change him into a vampire to save his life and she puts him in the closet. Hadley is killed the next night. While Sookie cleans and packs up the apartment, Quinn arrives. Turns out Jake was an employee of his that had went missing. Quinn and Sookie share a pretty damn steamy encounter (if I can say so myself, who knew keeping clothes on could be so much fun!) in the kitchen which ends just in time for the pair to be attacked and kidnapped by some weres.  

Quinn manages to call the queen, asking for help. Sookie and Quinn are beaten up but they manage to escape from the van and flee into a swamp. The pair find a cabin and inside are the Pelt family (remember Debbie Pelt?). Eric shows up to help overtake the cabin. Sookie finally tells them the truth. The Pelts sadly accept the outcome and agree not to harm Sookie if she keeps this event secret from the pack who will punish the Pelt’s severely if this plot was ever found out.

Before going home to Bon Temps, Sookie and Quinn attend the ball of the newly married King and Queen. She found the bracelet and gave it to the Queen in secret. The King did not expect to see the bracelet. He was planning on it being missing so he could take over the Queen’s kingdom. Since this did not go as envisioned Peter starts an all-out attack on the New Orleans’ vampires. Sookie almost dies... again and is saved by Bill.. again. She escapes the building through the Queen’s bedroom where she sees Sophie-Anne, her bodyguard Andre and Peter fighting. Andre kills King Peter.

Sookie takes Quinn who is wounded back to the apartment and puts him to bed. Bill stops by to confesses he truly fell in love Sookie and still loves her but she tells him to leave and never come back. The next day after accidentally turning her lover Bob into a cat, Amelia asks Sookie if she can stay with her in Bon Temps. She needs to hide out from her coven while she figures out how to fix Bob. Sookie accepts and the two new friends head home.

Quote:
"Here I was, lying on a sidewalk in historical New Orleans, with my boobs hanging out of my dress, my hair coming down, my sandals on my arm, and a large tiger licking my face."

Goal reached!

After just 39 weeks I have managed to reach my goal of reading 52 books this year! I thought reading one book a week would be a challenge but turns out when I get involved with a series I just cannot put them down.

This is the whole reason I started this blog. Not to get a ton of readers I really just wanted a place to keep track of what I read and what I thought about it. This is also why I am changing my format from summarizing books to laying it all on the line and talking about what happened and how I felt about it. You could read a summary or a synopsis anywhere and where is the fun in that?

If you have stumbled in here though I would love to hear opinions about some of the books I read or some recommendations of your own (check out the "book list" tab at the top to see what I've read so far this year). I don't know a whole lot of avid readers in my personal life so I really look forward to hearing other people's thoughts on books or book to screen adaptations.

Book #52 week #39, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I had to read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I've heard a lot of good things about it and it was recommended to me quite a bit. So I joined the waiting list at the library and was number 1230! Never been that high before, guess it is pretty popular. Lucky me though its been about a month and I am number 702 on the list I found a copy on the new books shelf so I promptly checked it out. So lets get to it:

Holy mind blow! For once I am okay with a book having an abrupt, unresolved ending. Truthfully I just wanted to be done with it. Gone Girl is about the disappearance of Nick Dunne's wife, Amy, on their fifth wedding anniversary. All signs point to foul play, maybe even murder.

**Warning Major Spoilers!**
The first part of the book is told from Nick's perspective with some of Amy's diary entries sprinkled in between. I wasn't sure what to think of Nick. He lies to the cops, why? He can't believe the things people say about his wife, she has a best friend? She has been nice to the neighbors? He portrays Amy as distant, cold and resentful. On the flip side Any's diary entries show the opposite. Nick is secretive, unappreciative, angry and even scary.

Part two starts off with a bombshell.. Amy is alive! She is hiding out in a little motel. Turns out she is framing Nick as a way of punishing him for his ongoing affair with a younger woman. Now the tables have turned. Amy is psychotic and Nick is simply a man who fell in love with the wrong woman under false pretenses. By this time my heart is hurting for Nick and I am worried about how he will prove he is being framed.

Once Nick figures this out he takes action. He does interviews admitting he did wrong by having an affair and that he loves Amy so much and wants her to come home. He promises he can be the man she needs him to be if only she would let him try. Amy falls for it. She makes her way home but kills a man (Desi a childhood sweetheart that is a bit obsessed with Amy) in the process all to make her story of kidnapping all the more believable. Amy convinces Desi to help her hoping for money but winds up trapped in his lake house until she kills him and escapes.

I was routing for Nick. Although the police have closed the case, with the help of one detective and his twin sister the truth has to come out. Right, right? Well Nick gives up when Amy surprises him with a pregnancy (she used his frozen sperm without his knowledge).

I have mixed feelings about this book. Towards the end it affected my own mood until I finished the book and I didn't like that. Everything sort of crashed for me when it turns out Nick has his own issues and is reluctant to get rid of Amy after everything she put him through. And it was a bit unbelievable that Amy had every single detail covered. Well except for two things. She covered herself in case Jeff and the girl (can't remember her name) from the motel came forward (Desi kept her in a room somewhere but she doesn't remember where) but what about the owner? Surely she is credible enough to be believed if she came forward and say she saw Amy on her own everyday. And what about Desi's mom? I was under the impression that they lived together, couldn't she testify that Desi didn't start spending all his free time at the lake house until weeks after Amy's disappearance?

This book just bugged me. There was no light at the end of the tunnel and that is fine, I don't just read happy books but there was no hope at all. Any loose end you could think of that might help Nick out was covered by Amy so completely it really was unbelievable.

Quote:
“We were the first human beings who would never see see anything for the first time. We stare at the wonders of the world, dull-eyed, underwhelmed. Mona Lisa, the Pyramids, the Empire State Building. Jungle animals on attack, ancient icebergs collapsing, volcanoes erupting. I can't recall a single amazing thing I have seen firsthand that I didn't immediately reference to a movie or TV show. A commercial. You know the awful singsong of blase: Seeeen it. I've literally seen it all, and the worst thing, the thing that makes me want to blow my brains out, is: The secondhand experience is always better. The image is crisper, the view is keener, the camera angle and soundtrack manipulate my emotions in a way reality really can't anymore. I don't know that we are actually human at this point, those of us who are like most of us, who grew up with TV and movies and now the Internet. If we are betrayed, we know the words to say; when a loved one dies, we know the words to say. If we want to play the stud or the smart-ass or the fool, we know the words to say. We are all working from the same dog-eared scripted. It's a very difficult era in which to be a person, just a real, actual person, instead of a collection of personality traits selected from an endless automat of characters. And if all of us are play-acting, there can be no such thing as a soul mate, because we don't have genuine souls.”

Book #51 week #39, Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

Dead as a Doornail opens on the first full moon since Jason was bitten by a werepanther. The bites were effective and Jason does change into a half man, half panther. Instead of being frightened by this Jason is excited. In the meantime, while standing outside talking to Sookie, Sam is shot in the leg. Since obviously Sam will be unable to tend bar for awhile Sookie asks Eric if he can spare anyone to help out. Eric agrees to let the bar borrow his new employee Charles Twining. Charles is a charming, one-eyed, pirate vampire and after a night or two staying with Sam, Sookie reluctantly agrees to let Charles stay with her.

Along with Sam being shot so are other shape shifters and weres. Some are killed and some are injured, like Calvin Norris who has to stay in the hospital for while after being shot in the chest. Although he wasn't shot, the head of the Shreveport werewolves is also killed. Leading Alcide to invite Sookie to his funeral. A strange event which will also determine who will run for the new lead of the pack. Alicide's father will be running for the spot against a man named Patrick Furnam. On a less serious note, Bill is now dating! The woman's name is Selah Pumphrey and she is quite high and mighty and bitchy. Bill keeps bring her on dates at Sam's bar, trying to make Sookie jealous I suppose, how lame is that!

One night while sleeping, Sookie's house catches on fire. Claudine, Sookie's fairy godmother, saves her while Charles is outside having killed the suspect. It is discovered that the guy is just a regular human passing through town and he has a Fellowship of the Sun card in his wallet. Sookie's kitchen and car are destroyed in the fire. Sookie takes Sam up on his offer to stay at his empty apartment rental while her house is repaired. Tara loans her old car to Sookie even though their relationship is strained due to Tara's new boyfriend; the weird and scary vampire Mickey.

While returning to her new home one afternoon Sookie is shot in the shoulder. The bullet matches the bullets from the other shootings except for Sam's. So Sookie and Sam (in his collie form) head out to look for the killer. And they find her! It is Sweetie Des Arts, the new cook at the bar who is angry she was bitten and is now a shifter so she has made it her mission to kill shifters. Sookie was targeted because she smells like a shifter from hanging out with them however Sweetie never did realize Sam is a shifter himself. Detective Andy sees the commotion, steps in to help and ends up killing Sweetie himself.

Back at the bar the phone keeps ringing. Charles is answering it and telling Sookie it is just prank calls. Bubba shows up at the back door with an urgent message for Sookie. The message is from Eric (he was the one calling) after digging in Charles past he discovers Charles is a hitman sent by Hot Rain. The intent is to avenge Long Shadow's killing way back in book one Dead Until Dark by killing someone Eric cares deeply about. Turns out Charles staged the fire at Sookie's house and murdered an innocent man in the process trying to cover his tracks. As soon as Bubba leaves Sookie is attacked by Charles but he didn't count on the humans in the bar coming to Sookie's aide. The local men manage to overpower and kill Charles. I was really shocked. I really didn't think these guys would try to take on a vampire.

Due to her concern over Tara's welfare, Sookie contacts Eric for help. Even though he was nice to Tara and showered her with expensive gifts, her old boyfriend Franklin Mott from Club Dead gives Tara to Mickey to settle a debt. Mickey is not treating Tara well and Eric agrees to remove Mickey from the picture in exchange for the truth of what really happened between him and Sookie while he had amnesia. Eric contacts Mickey's maker and asks her to call Mickey home. Before that happens though Mickey attacks Sookie and Eric. Eric gets knocked out and Mickey tricks Sookie into inviting him in the house or else he will kill Tara. Once inside he attacks her and she rescinds his invitation before she is hurt too badly. Mickey ends up leaving town due to the call of his maker. Before I get to Sookie telling Eric what happened between them let me talk about the weres first.

Sookie attends the werewolf competition for the new leader. Alcide wants Sookie there to try and pick some brains and see if the competition is fair. It is not, Sookie discovers Patrick is cheating and she speaks out about it. As punishment the last part of the three part competition will be a fight to the death instead of just until too injured to go on. Patrick overpowers Alcide's father and he is killed. This ruins the relationship between Alcide and Sookie! Aww I was so sad. I really likes Alcide. While there Sookie meets the emcee Quinn and for no reason at all the first image in my mind when reading his description is this guy:

It has been hard for me to shake this image! In my favorite part Sookie tells Eric what happened when he was cursed. The had lots of sex, which surprised Eric but not as much as the revelation that he offered to leave everything to be with Sookie. Not even the knowledge that Sookie killed Debbie and he hid the evidence shocked him as much. Bill shows up to help patch the window Mickey broke and Sookie lets it slip that Eric now knows what happened. Bill knew Sookie slept with Eric because he could smell Eric all over her and now Eric knows as well. And Bill knows that Eric knows which makes for an awkward and awesome for me moment. I am still very much on an anti-Bill kick.

Quote:
“Did we have sex?" he asked directly. For about two minutes, this might actually be fun. 

"Eric," I said, "we had sex in every position I could imagine, and some I couldn’t. We had sex in every room in my house, and we had sex outdoors. You told me it was the best you’d ever had." (At the time he couldn’t recall all the sex he’d ever had. But he’d paid me a compliment.) "Too bad you can’t remember it," I concluded with a modest smile.
 
Eric looked like I’d hit him in the forehead with a mallet. For all of thirty seconds his reaction was completely gratifying.”

Book #50 week #39, Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

I am really loving the Sookie Stackhouse series!

Dead to the World starts off on New Year's Eve. Even though they are still broken up Bill informs Sookie that he is going to Peru to work on his vampire database. On her way home from a very long night at the bar, Sookie passes a very tall, very blond, very naked somebody running down the road. It is Eric and he is scared and confused. Turns out he has amnesia forced upon him for refusing the demands of some powerful werewolf witches. After talking to Pam and Chow, Sookie agrees to hide Eric at her home until this whole mess is sorted out. Meanwhile Jason goes missing.

As the time passed Sookie begins to fall for the new kinder gentler Eric and soon they begin having a sexual relationship. Which I have to say is pretty damn hot. I know the show has a lot of sex but surprisingly the books do not. It is more sprinkled here and there rather than being heavily saturated with sex. I like Eric a lot so this turn of events made me really happy. Eric even starts calling Sookie "lover" and offers to leave his whole life and business to stay with her and take care of her forever.

Eventually the vampires team up with the Shreveport werewolf pack (Alcide and even Debbie are there) and some local Wiccans to fight the witch coven that cursed Eric. Before setting out to battle, Bill shows up and sees Debbie. He informs Alcide that he knows Debbie because she was present and even participated in Bill's torture in the last book Club Dead. Upon hearing this Alcide abjures Debbie (meaning he officially servers all ties to her) in front of everyone  The coven is defeated and Eric returns home with Sookie while Pam works on Hallow (the head of the coven) to reverse the spell on Eric. Debbie is waiting for Sookie when she returns home and shoots at her but Eric jumps in the way. This gives Sookie a chance to grab Jason's shotgun and kill Debbie. Eric then disposes of Debbie's body and car.

By the time Eric awakes the next evening, the curse has been lifted and Eric has no memory of the events of the past few days. Sookie is a bit sad, I would be too! But now she is able to focus on finding Jason. Turns out he is being held in a storage shed out in Hotshot by a werepanther named Felton. Felton is in love with Crystal who is dating Jason. He feels she is only dating Jason because he is not a were and their specific gene pool is all muddled up due to years of inbreeding. This is also why Crystal's uncle Calvin has propositioned Sookie to marry him and help diversify their gene pool. Anyway Felton has been biting Jason with the hopes of turning him into a werepanther so Crystal will be uninterested in him. Calvin agrees to handle Felton's punishment if Sookie agrees not to involve the police. She agrees and it is implied that Felton is killed for his actions against Jason.

I really liked this book. Seeing Sookie and Eric together was awesome. Even after he is back to normal he sends Sookie a new coat to replace her damaged one. Not knowing what happened while he had amnesia is driving Eric crazy and I kind of enjoy that. I also enjoy the fact that Bill seems to know something was up between Eric and Sookie.

Quote:
“We could go back," he said. In the dome light of the car, his face looked hard as stone. "We could go back to your house. I can stay with you always. We can know each others bodies in every way, night after night. I could love you." His nostrils flared, and he looked suddenly proud. "I could work. You would not be poor. I would help you."
 
"Sounds like a marriage," I said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. But my voice was too shaky.
 
"Yes," he said.”

Book #49 week #38, Divergent by Veronica Roth

Now here is a book I was really looking forward to! Apparently there is a movie deal in the works. As with my new format expect spoilers read on at your own risk!

Divergent is the story of sixteen year old Beatrice (Tris). In what use to be Chicago, the citizens are divided into factions. Tris belongs to the Abnegation faction which means selfless, they are the people that always put others first. At sixteen each person is given a mental test to see what faction is right for them and the following day they can choose to stay with their faction or leave their families and move to a different faction.  Tris' test results are inconclusive and she is unofficially labeled as Divergent and told by her instructor to tell no one. She chooses to convert to the Dauntless faction (bravery).

Once in her new faction all pledges, if you will, are required to compete against each other for a spot in the Dauntless community. Needless to say Tris makes the cut but not without threats to her life from the other pledges. During the competition stage Tris and her instructor Four fall in love with each other. After the competition it becomes apparent that the knowledge faction is working in conjunction with the leaders of the Dauntless faction to declare war on the Abnegation faction (they control the government). They are doing this by way of injecting the Dauntless citizens with a serum that allows the person to be mind controlled.  This is where the Divergent come in, something is different in their brains that does not allow the mind control to take place.

I loved this book! I loved that Tris is sensitive, selfless and selfish, brave and scared. I really love Four, he is very smart and brave of course but also mysterious with good reason to be. I thought the story flowed very well and for a YA book the author wasn't afraid to kill off characters and didn't gloss over the violence. It was so sad when Al died and also Tris' parents. Overall I felt this book was about discovering oneself. Who we really are and what we are capable of.  I can't wait to get my hands on book two; Insurgent.

Quote:
“Somewhere inside me is a merciful, forgiving person. Somewhere there is a girl who tries to understand what people are going through, who accepts that people do evil things and that desperation leads them to darker places than they ever imagined. I swear she exists, and she hurts for the repentant boy I see in front of me.

But if I saw her, I wouldn't recognize her.”

Book #48 week #38, Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

I really didn't read anything this week until Friday night. It is just my luck that my library carries several copies of Club Dead, I even saw two last time I was there, but when I need it they are all checked out! So I had to wait to have a copy transferred. It came in on Friday along with another book I've been dying to read and lets just say I didn't accomplish much other than reading this weekend!

I am trying something different this post. I am getting kind of bored just writing synopsis of books, if you wanted that you could just read the cover of the book! So I am going to talk about how I really feel and that means spoilers. So not only will I recap book #2 Living Dead in Dallas I am going to recap book #3 Club Dead as well. So spoiler alert! : )

In Living Dead in Dallas Lafayette is murdered right off the bat and his body found in detective Andy's car. After some probing around it is reveled that Lafayette has been talking to multiple people about his involvement in a secret sex club. Meanwhile Sookie and Bill are fighting and his car breaks down so Sookie storms off. While walking she encounters a strange naked woman, a maenad, who attacks Sookie and cuts her back with her claws. The maenad tells Sookie this is a message for Eric.

Bill takes Sookie to Eric who explains what the woman is and tells Sookie she has been poisoned. The vampires with the help of a strange doctor set her right again and Eric tells Bill and Sookie he has a job for them to do. The pair head to Dallas to investigate a vampire disappearance. Long story short a new cult called "The Fellowship of the Sun" is behind the kidnapping. They want to eradicate vampires. Sookie gets herself kidnapped and almost raped and killed. The missing vampire is set free and all return to the vampire mansion to celebrate. Eric is there undercover and the group is ambushed by the cult members who fire into the house from outside. Sookie is able to "hear" them and shout a warning over the music only the vampires are able to hear, this means the human companions are the ones mowed down. Eric throws himself on top of Sookie and takes a bullet in the process. Nevertheless he enjoys this situation too much while Bill on the other hand is overcome by his vampire nature and goes after the attackers without so much of a thought of Sookie's well being.

Back at home Sookie and Bill break up for a few weeks. Since Bill is out of town Sookie commissions Eric to accompany her to a sex party. Even though she asks him to pretend to be gay, Eric is all to happy to oblige and takes every liberty he can with Sookie while there. Although she is not happy to be there, Sookie's friend, Tara is at the party with her fiance Eggs. Sookie soon learns that three other members of the party are responsible for the murder of Lafayette. Before anything to graphic happens the party is interuppted. Bill, Andy, Sam in his collie form and the maenad are all outside. The maenad kills all the humans at the party except for Eggs and Tara who Eric glamors to forget the events of the evening.

Club Dead
Bill and Sookie's relationship is strained as Bill is spending all his awake time working on a secret project for the (Vampire) Queen of Louisiana. Bill informs Sookie that he must travel alone to Seattle and he should be back in eight weeks or so. Eight weeks! While he is gone Sookie gets attacked by a biker (werewolf) while at work but she is saved by Bubba who has been sent by Eric to protect her. Eric informs Sookie that Bill has disappeared. He was last known to be in Mississippi not Seattle with the woman who changed him, Lorena. Lorena has summoned Bill and then turned on him. Eric goes on to tell Sookie that Bill was going to break off their relationship after making sure she is taken care of financially. Eric then convinces Sookie to go to Mississippi and try to find Bill using her gift. I am really pissed off at Bill at this point!

Eric sets Sookie up with a werewolf named Alcide to accompany her on her trip under the pretense that they are dating so she can get into an exclusive supes only club. Of course there is physical tension between Alcide and Sookie but she manages to keep it in her pants so to speak. One night at the club they have an altercation with Alcide's ex Debbie who is there celebrating her engagement to another man. The second night Sookie ends up getting staked in the side while intervening in a murder attempt. The (vampire) King of Mississippi takes Sookie back to his mansion so she can be healed. Eric is with her by this time, undercover, and he gives her his blood to heal her. He also starts to show her a good time if you catch my drift but they get interrupted by Bubba who has found Bill being tortured in the pool house. The next morning Sookie frees Bill and kills Lorena in the process. She puts Bill in the trunk of a car and drives back to Alcide's apartment. While checking on Bill, Debbie pushes Sookie into the trunk with him and when Bill wakes up he is in desperate need for blood due to the torture. Bill ends up biting Sookie pretty badly and begins raping her before he wakes fully and realizes what he is doing.

Sookie is naturally pissed at Bill and asks Eric to take her home leaving Bill in Mississippi. Eric is happy to help (isn't he always : ) but they get attacked by bikers on the way home and then ambushed at Sookie's house. Miraculously Bill shows up on time to help Eric, who has been shot several times, kill the 6 or 7 attackers. In the end Sookie breaks things off with Bill and rescinds both Eric and Bill's invitation into her home. In a very sweet move Eric does arrange and pay for Sookie's driveway to be re-graveled.

At this point in time I think I am switching to team Eric or maybe even team Alcide. I like Bill and I know he cannot do anything about his vampire commands but I feel he isn't that into his relationship with Sookie. Even though she is a fictional character I cannot help but be jealous of Sookie! Having all these hot men want you all the time must be really difficult ; )

Quote:
“How grateful are you?" he whispered, his mouth hovering over mine. His eyes were very alert now, and his gaze was boring into mine.

"That kind of ruins it, when you say something like that," I said, trying to keep my voice gentle. "You shouldn't want me to have sex with you just because I owe you."

"I don't really care why you have sex with me, as long as you do it," he said, equally gently.”

True Blood Show vs. The Books

Coming off of a marathon session of the first season of True Blood (thanks library for renting a whole season for only 2 days) I sat down today all excited to write a comparison of True Blood season one versus Dead Until Dark (the first volume in the Sookie Stackhouse series) but alas there is no point. When talking to a friend about the differences between book vs. show I learned that this is the only season that followed the book at all! Boo that sucks.

Well I can't help myself so I will post a little about how I feel about the show. I expected the show to be cheesy and I was not disappointed. I love Anna Paquin but it took sometime to get use to her playing a blond haired, respectful southern belle complete with accent to match. It is just so unlike her.

Don't get me wrong here I know in TV or movie adaptations changes are to be expected. The producers have to keep the material interesting and exciting and sometimes what is in the book doesn't translate well into screen form. Most of the main plot of season one is on par with the book with minor changes here and there. So not a huge deal overall. I did not like the adding of new characters or giving very minor characters, at best, big roles. Mostly however I did not like the character changes.

Aggh so frustrating! A lot of the characters are pretty true to the book; Sookie, Bill, Sam, grandma. But others were not. Take Sookie's brother Jason for instance, in the book he is handsome, slightly dumb and a ladies man. He is all those things in the show as well but also addicted to vampire blood and ends up joining the Fellowship of the Sun, what??? Oh and Lafayette... in the book he is a funny and flamboyant man. In the show? Still flamboyant and a little funny but also a hardass wannabe.

Then there is Eric. Where to start. I normally cut actors some slack because they will never live up to everyone's version of the perfect _______ whatever. But to me Alex Skarsgård looks more like a sad puppy than a burly, mean viking (don't hate me! I just don't like him, maybe he will grow on me). Then there is his personality. In the book Eric is tough and mean but also inappropriately funny. In the show he just comes off as indifferent all the time and so far all the sexual tension between Sookie and Eric is no where to be found. 

I hate feeling so torn. Especially since I can't stop once I started something so I will probably continue the TV series and just cross my fingers that it isn't too bad. Maybe I will post updates on character development because I don't think I will be able to compare books vs. show at this point.

Anyone else feel torn like me? I think if I hadn't started reading the books the show would appeal to me more.

Book #47 week #37, The Leftovers by Tom Perrota

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta has been on my reading list for sometime now and I have finally gotten around to it.

This novel follows the lives of quite a few people living in a smallish town. The planet has experienced a "Sudden Departure" or the Rapture if you will. The event has been named the Sudden Departure due to the fact that the people taken seem to be randomly chosen. Christians, Buddhist, atheist, good, bad, young and old were taken, while some obvious candidates for a rapture were left behind. Now it is three years later and people are finally trying to move on and piece their lives back together. But it is difficult, insanely difficult.

I liked The Leftovers, it is well written, the characters are interesting, some I wanted to shake and say "what the hell are you doing?!!". It flows very nicely and it is easy to jump around from character to character. The book is very thought provoking. It made me think about what I would do in these people shoes or heck what would I do if this really happened. But in the end I literally said "aggghh" out loud. The one question that was always on my mind, that keep me flipping the pages is never answered. Why? Why did this happen? Why were some people taken and not others? Why damn it, why?!

Quote:

“Meg was going to have to learn for herself what Laurie had figured out over the summer — that it was better to leave well enough alone, to avoid unnecessary encounters with people you’d left behind, to not keep poking at that sore tooth with the tip of your tongue. Not because you didn’t love them anymore, but because you did, and because that love was useless now, just another dull ache in your phantom limb.” 

Book #46 week #36, Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

It didn't take me long to move on to Sookie Stachouse #2 (aka The Southern Vampire Mysteries) Living Dead in Dallas. That is my problem with series.. I need to know and I need to know NOW! I like to start posts about sequels with a recap of the book before the one I am posting about so if you haven't read book #1 you might want to stop reading now.

**Warning Spoilers for book #1**
Dead Until Dark- Sookie Stackhouse is a telepathic who lives with her grandmother. Her parents died when she was young in an accident leaving grandma to care for Sookie and her brother Jason. Working at a bar in a small town is pretty boring until Sookie meets the vampire Bill. Vampires are now members of mainstream society. She is relived to find she cannot read vampires minds and it is a welcome break for her. Pretty soon people start turning up murdered by strangulation but with fang marks on their bodies. Sookie asks Bill to help her investigate at a well know vampire club. While there Sookie meets Eric, an older and stronger vampire than Bill. Basically Bill has to answer to Eric. Sookie is able to use her powers to find out who is stealing from Eric, a move that almost costs her her life. Now Eric is very interested in her and has contracted Bill to use Sookie's powers whenever he needs to. Being wary of Eric, Bill decides to become a vampire investigator that way Eric will be his boss and owes Bill his protection, this protection extends to anything belonging to Bill and that means Sookie is protected from any unwanted advances from Eric.

Getting back to the murders it doesn't take long until Jason is considered a suspect and their grandmother is among the victims. It is clear that Sookie was the intended target. In the end it is a friend of Jason's who is killing women who have been known to fraternize with vampires and he almost does kill Sookie as well but she is able to overpower him due to the vampire blood she has been ingesting. And on a side note we discover that Sam (Sookie's boss) not only has a thing for her but he is a shape-shifter as well!

Living Dead in Dallas takes our new twosome to, well you guessed it, Dallas. Eric has contracted Sookie out to the vampires of Dallas in order to help them locate a missing vampire. Naturally she needs an escort and that would be Bill. But first a coworker has been murdered and the body left in a police officer's car outside of the bar and Sookie gets attacked by a crazy woman beast in the forest as a message to Eric. The attack almost kills her yet again.

Now they are in Dallas. While investigating the vampire's disappearance Sookie discovers a new anti-vampire organization called "The Fellowship of the Sun". Seemingly a little nutty but basically harmless at first. Their main mission is to help vampires see the light, quite literally as in "meet the sun", but they should not be underestimated.

Quote:
  
I looked up into Eric's eyes. Incredibly, he was excited. He smiled at me. "I knew I'd get on top of you somehow," he said.
"Are you trying to make me mad so I'll forget how scared I am?"
"No, I'm just opportunistic."
I wiggled, trying to get out from under him, and he said, "Oh, do that again. It felt great.”

Book #45 week #36, Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

This series, the Sookie Stackhouse series, was recommended to me. It is the series the TV show True Blood was based on (which I have yet to watch but will check out from the library, we'll see how the show matches up).  I like vampires so what the heck. "Like" might be an understatement here I've been obsessed with vampires as long as I can remember.

Dead Until Dark is about Sookie Stackhouse, a twenty-five-year -old waitress in a bar in a small town in northern Louisiana. Her life is pretty uneventful and she has been waiting to meet a vampire. Vampires have recently come out in mainstream society and are no longer hiding. Finally one day while at work in walks a vampire.

Sookie is frustrated. Frustrated with her "disability" (she can read minds) and frustrated sexually. She is still a virgin at twenty-five because her mind reading intensifies with physical contact. Turns out she cannot read vampire's minds so there just maybe some hope for her yet! Everything is going well until people start turning up dead and naturally the new vampire in town is under suspicion.

I really liked this book more than I thought I would. The cheesy cover really through me off. Before I saw the cover I was expecting a more serious book. Dead Until Dark has its serious moments (and sexy moments) but it is also fun and funny. Though not as funny as the cover led me to believe, talk about "Don't judge a book by its cover!'. I'm glad I gave it a shot. Really short book though, I tend to like my books a bit longer luckily it is a long series!

Quote:

“Eric appeared to be counting my eyelashes. I tried to keep my gaze on my hands, to indicate modesty. I felt power tweaks kind of flow over me and had an uneasy feeling Eric was trying to influence me. I risked a quick peek, and sure enough he was looking at me expectantly. Was I supposed to pull off my dress? Bark like a dog? Kick Bill in the shins? Shit.”

Book #44 week #35, A Hundred Flowers by Gail Tsukiyama

After reading The Street of a Thousand Blossoms and The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama I am hooked! So naturally I had to pick up her latest book A Hundred Flowers.

This novel is set in 1957 China under the rule of Chairman Mao. Tensions are rising as the people are not happy with their new life under the rule of a communist party. Chairman Mao has decided to open the government up to criticism and suggestions from the people, many intellectuals fear this is a trick aimed at locating any resistors to the new government power. 

In walk our new characters. There is Kai Ying (a herbalist), her husband Sheng (a teacher) and their six-year-old son, Tao. The family lives with Sheng's father, Wei, a retired college professor. Although Sheng has promised Kai Ying he will not do anything to harm his family a letter is written to Chairman Mao criticizing the communist party. Sheng is then arrested and sent to be "reeducated" for an indefinite period of time. 

A Hundred Flowers follows the journey of this torn family trying to survive after the head male of the household is suddenly ripped away from them. Kai Ying must focus on her work and patients in order to keep money flowing in. Wei is struggling with a heavy secret that is tearing him apart. Tao is trying to find a way to connect with his absent father. Once again Gail Tsukiyama has shown her knack for making a scene come alive. She has such a great way with words. Although I did enjoy this novel it is my least favorite of the three books I have read by Tsukiyama. Good story but easy to put down and pick up again at a later time.

Quote:

“Wei cleared his throat and said, “Have you heard the saying `The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher’? It seems I’ve been the pitcher most of my life. I’ve forgotten how to be fluid. It feels as if I’m finally learning now,” he said.”