Friday, May 7, 2010

Good-bye, Sookie

Sookie Stackhouse, I'm breaking up with you. In print, anyway. I've long been a fan of the novels about you, but after the tenth in the series, I think I've had enough. And, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I like the t.v. show better.

Actually, that's two vampire book series this year where I prefer the t.v. show to the books they're based on. I couldn't stand the Vampire Diaries series but love, LOVE the show. I tried to read the books three different times and couldn't get past the first 100 pages. This is very unusual for me. When I start a book, I finish it - no matter how good or bad it may be.

Much to the bewilderment of my parents, I've always been a fan of vampire stories. I can trace it as far back as Bunnicula in elementary school. Does anyone else remember the story about the vampire bunny that drained veggies?

And then, in middle school, I discovered Anne Rice. I was a pretty innocent 12-year-old and much of what she was writing about went completely over my head but I had older friends that were reading her novels and I wanted so badly to appear cool that I started reading them. Needless to say, it was an eye-opening experience. To this day, I can't believe my parents let me read those books.

When I think about it though, Mom and Dad were always pretty good about letting me read what I wanted. Whether it was Anne Rice, Ken Kesey, Kurt Vonnegut, Harper Lee or anyone of a hundred other authors, it was always my decision.

Boy, this sure didn't end up where I thought it was going to...

7 comments:

  1. I just got the most recent one in the mail a couple of days ago, but have to finish another book before I start it. I've been worried, because I almost put down the last one! I enjoy them as total trash, but my patience has grown thin with Harris' treatment of Sookie. How many times do I need to read about her being raped, almost raped, or literally tortured? There's a story line I want to see resolved (I'll bet you can guess which one), but I've said since halfway through the last one (when I realized that I was hardly enjoying the book and just wanted to know what happened) that this current one was make-or-break...

    Is there a spoiler-free way to tell me why you've given up?

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  2. I quit for all of those reasons. And the introduction of Alexi Romanov. Sorry, but Elvis was enough with the famous dead.

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  3. Elvis was too much for me. I read the first one (after the end of season 1 of True Blood so I wouldn't be spoiled), but I haven't really had much desire to read the others.

    One of my friends, who is still reading the series, bought the most recent paperback. She started it, but she thinks it sounds so familiar that she isn't sure whether she read the hardback of it. The book was either so unmemorable that she doesn't remember reading it, or the series is getting so repetitive that you can't tell one book from another.

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  4. Jen - it's so repetetive, you can't tell one book from the next. This is one of the rare cases where the t.v./movie adaptation is a superior product.

    I stayed with them this long mostly out of habit. Same thing with the Anita Blake books. I keep thinking that we'll finally come to some sort of resolution so I can stop reading...

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  5. Bunnicula! hahahaha

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  6. I came here to say the same thing, Megan. Bunnicula! I TOTALLY remember that book. hilarious.

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  7. It is okay to give up on a series. Give yourself permission to just say no the new Anita Blake books.

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