Tagged: charlaine harris

May 25

What to read after….

So I have noticed that some of  the traffic lately is people asking the question “What to read after (insert series title)”.  I thought I would help you out by giving a few opinions on the searches I have seen.

What to read after the Sookie Stackhouse novels? 

-If you liked the supernatural side of Charlaine Harris’s books, check out the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs.  It deals more with werewolves and skinwalkers but still some vamps and other supernaturals.  I just started the first book and completely love it.  I believe there is books about different characters that show up in the Mercy books too.  Plus I love that Mercy lives in Finley, Washington.  I have totally been there!

-If you liked the hot, romance side, check out the Vegas Vampires series by Erin McCarthy.  I read this series in the last couple years and completely loved it.  It is a really fun, easy read.

What should I read after Twilight?

-If you like love triangles, check out The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith.  The first book actually came out in 1994 so long before Twilight.  The first two books were okay.  The second two got me hooked.  I loved the latest two.  Can’t wait to see what will happen next!

-If you are looking for another great young adult supernatural series, check out The Immortals series by Alyson Noel.   Another great series is the House of Night books by PC and Kirstin Cast if you haven’t read them already.

-For older readers (aka, maybe like 20 and older), the Jane Madison books by Mindy Klasky.  Total chick books about witchcraft.  Neko is one of my favorite book characters ever. 

What should I read after the House of Night novels?

-If you are looking for young adult, again I’m going to say The Immortals series by Alyson Noel or the Vampire Diaries.   

-For those looking for a little more action than romance, The Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare.  Absolutely amazing storytelling on these ones.  It has the whole angel thing going on that we see in HoN.  The entire series was hard to put down and even though it had an ending, I wanted more because I loved the characters so much.  I feel like this series could be read by guys or girls.  There is only a touch of romance which honestly, most books have that anyways.

-Again, for a little more action, the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld.  I’ve only read the first one but like it so far.

Non-series books about supernaturals.

-Anything by Neil Gaiman.  Note: I would not say young adult for any of them.  I read most in college and think that if I would have read them younger, I would not have understood them very well.  Gaiman is absolutely amazing.  Every book and story completely pulls me in.  My very favorite is Neverwhere.

-Devilish by Maureen Johnson.  Young adult novel that was a totally enjoyable read.  I’ve read more of Johnson’s work and really enjoy it.

And if you like comics…

-Check out my very favorite comic series, Fathom.  It falls in with a lot of these books I think because it is about a girl that was normal(ish) but then ends up sucked into a super natural world…an underwater one.

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Posted in This and that

May 22

Quoting: Burned

From Burned by PC Cast and Kirstin Cast

          “Yeah, ’cause we think you’re like Rachel on Glee,” Shaunee said.  “Super annoying, but she has to be in the show ’cause sometimes she comes up with good stuff and kinda saves the day.”

Alright, this quote jumped out at me for two reasons.  The first, most obvious one is that I love Glee and love Rachel. 

The second is that it was a pop culture reference.  I always wonder if I should put them in my own writing or not.  I’m an admited pop culture junky so tend to want to lay them on heavy.  It is a risk because if your readers don’t know what you are talking about the majority of the time, you might lose them.  It is also kind of like putting a time stamp on your book.  When I read The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith, I know no idea that the first part of the series was written nineteens years ago.  It seems so modern. 

Lately, I’ve been going by what genre I am writing to figure out how much to throw in.  For example, my crime book has very few.  Off  the top of my head, I can only think of a few clothing ones to show that my main characters is a designer kind of girl.  It aids to the overall story.  For another book, I am having the character work in a club.  It is much more light feeling and I think the pop culture stuff is fitting. 

I wish I had marked the page in Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris that had the best pop reference ever.  It was something about Sookie hearing Jace Everett’s Bad Things.  For anyone that watches True Blood, it is the theme song.  I thought it was so clever of her to put it in there.   An extra treat to all of us that are big fans of both you might say.

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Posted in Quotes

May 14

Charlaine Harris @ The Bagdad Theatre

******Contains a small spoiler from Season Three of True Blood*******
*****Contains some spoilers from All Together Dead**********

I was very excited that this week I got to go see a Q and A with one of my favorite authors, Charlaine Harris.  As you might already know, she is the author of the Sookie Stackhouse books (along with many other books) that the HBO show True Blood was based on.  Her most recent book, Dead in the Family, just became a best seller as well.

Alright, so what were people asking….

I asked her about advice to writers.  A couple other people did as well and each time she said write a great book.  Kind of a given so not the best advice ever.  She did talk about her writing processes a little though.  I found it interesting that the first book was not written thinking it would be a series.  She said that when she is stuck she thinks about who will show up at Sookie’s door than goes from there.  Interesting advice.  I could definately see that as being a good writing exerise.

She got asked many questions about True Blood.  I liked that she agrees with the show writers decision to deviate from the books so that even if you read the books, the show is a surprise.  She said this season she is looking most forward to see what they do with the Fae.  Yes, they are showing up in season three! I’m excited for Alcide. 

Harris said her favorite scene from the show was the pie scene after Sookie’s grandmother passed away.  Lots of people at the q&a asked food related questions.  Harris laughed that the meaning of the show was pie.  She didn’t know the secrets of Lost but the secret of True Blood was pie. 

She also said that she wishes she would have written a character like Jessica.  She loved that character.  Jessica is the vampire that Bill was forced to change on the show. 

As for favorite books, Harris said she enjoyed writing Altogether Dead a lot.   That was the one in which Sookie goes to the vampire summit with the Queen.  Harris said it was fun to get to come up with a way to blow up a building. 

A few people asking questions and a few in line said that Dead to the World was their favorite.  That is mine so far as well.  I think it is because I’m Team Eric all the way.  It seemed liked most the crowd was as well.  In the series, Bill definetely turns into a bad-ish guy or at least kind of a jerk.  Eric has his romantic moments which I love. 

Of course, someone asked her about Stephanie Meyer and Twilight.  I think she had a very good opinion on the subject.  Obviously, vampire books are going to have things in common.  She wrote her first Sookie novel five years before Twilight so obviously she didn’t rip it off.  Harris said that she was proud to see any female making a living in writing and being sucessful.  I completely agree with her on that.  Again, I find it interesting how people are so negative on Twilight.  In line I overheard a girl complaining about how awful of a writing Stephanie Meyer was.  She pointed out she was no Virginia Wolfe.  Of course she isn’t!  She never tired to be.  She wrote a fantasy book for teens.  There is no comparing the two.  Plus the girl in line also mention how she read the entire Twilight series twice.  If the books were so awful, why read them twice and see the movies to compare?  If a book makes you want to read it twice, it is a good book.  At least that is what I think.

I know there was lots of other questions that Harris answered but those were a few that stood out to me.  I can’t wait to start reading Dead in the Family.  I’m almost done with Burned by PC and Kirstin Cast so I’ll start it after I finish that one.

Here are a few pictures I got of Charlaine Harris.  Sorry they didn’t turn out very well.

 

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Posted in News/Current Issues

Mar 22

The Vampire Diaries by LJ Smith

+++++++Contains spoilers from the book series The Vampire Diaries+++++++++

+++++++Contains a some spoilers for the Sookies Stackhouse novels+++++++++

****Seriously, I’m not trying to ruin anything.  Read the books before reading this****

 

          I’ve always been the kind of person that once I start a series of books I like, I tend to read them straight through.  The Vampire Diaries by LJ Smith certainly has me hooked right now.  Insert cheesy vampire reference about biting in to the series here.

          In the first book, The Awakening, we are introduced to the love story between the vampire Stefan and the high spirited Elena.  The Struggle introduces the third part of the love triangle, Stefan’s brother Damon.  In The Fury an unknown threat looms over the city.

          The fourth book, Dark Reunion stands out against the other three for me.  The main storyline is that yet again, there is an unknown treat looming over the city.  The huge different between the other books and this one is that the main character completely shifts.  In the first three, Elena is the center of the story even though it is an omniscient third person point of view.  Dark Reunion shifts to being focused on Bonnie who is one of Elena’s best friends.

         The shift is natural when you read in within the series.  The Fury ends with Bonnie writing in Elena’s journal which sets up for her to take over in the fourth book.  Since we are still gettings lots of different people’s view, the story is still told similar to the others. 

          I found this shift is the center character interesting because I really can’t think of another series that did the same thing.  If anyone else knows of one, let me know.  Harry Potter books all centered around Harry.  The Twilight Saga centered around Bella although I guess the last book did have a huge shift in perspective.  Hmmm.  Maybe that idea came from The Vampire Diaries since they were written almost 20 years ago.  I’m not being serious about that last one.  I think that lots of idea in books overlap and a lot of times, it isn’t intentional.  I know that when I wrote 60 or so pages about a girl and Greek gods, I had absolutely no clue that Percy Jackson was out there with the exact same concept.

          Sorry, I’m getting off point.  Sometimes a series is all told from different people, like the Vegas Vampire books by Erin McCarthy are each centered around a different person even though the same characters are present.  Wasn’t the Babysitters Club books written that way too? 

          Like I already said, in the series, this shift worked.  LJ Smith was taking a risk getting rid of the character she had attached her readers to but it definitely worked.  This made me think though, how will that work for the tv show?  I still haven’t watched it.  I fully intend to buy the dvd when it comes out so when that happens, I’ll blog again with comparisons.  I don’t know how close the book and the show are but I have a feeling that even if they are close now, they will not follow the story line of moving Elena out of the way.  It just wouldn’t work as well on tv. At least I don’t think it would.  It is kind of like how New Moon the movie had to find a way to put more Robert Pattinson in because fans are so obsessed with him.

          Guess we will have to wait and see if Vampire Diaries makes it that far on tv.  Kind of like we have to wait and see what True Blood does with Bill.  After the first few books Bill fades out to a minor character and Eric becomes more prominent.  I hope so much that True Blood sticks with the books.  Eric’s character is so much more interesting and funny and charming.  So far on the tv show they have showed a little of that but I want more.  Plus this season I am excited to see Alcide. 

         Hmm, maybe I see why people always associate me with being vampire obsessed, lol. I hate when people say that but I guess it is kind of true.  I think I’ve always loved supernatural books.  Then of course I got hooked on Buffy and Angel.  Oh Angel.  And Spike.  Okay, I’m going to stop typing now since I’m going off on too many tangents.

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Posted in Book Reviews

Dec 28

More Sookie Stackhouse!

******Contains details from Sookie Stackhouse books and some spoiler/info I’ve found on season three.*********

 

 

          So I’ll admit, the first few Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris did not really catch my attention.  The first two books I thought were okay but they did not stand out to me.  I found them entertaining but I thought the television series was doing a better job at really filling out the story.  Obviously, the show varied a lot from the books but it did it in a way that stayed true to them.  Does that make sense? Anyways, I ended up deciding to pick up Club Dead as a fast read.  I am now completely hooked on the series!

          Club Dead really picked up for me because there was more than here is Sookie and Bill and here is a problem happening.  It made it, here is Sookie and Bill is gone but Eric is there and another guy and Sookie has tons of stuff to deal with.  I absolutely love what a strong character she become in this book.  She basically kicks ass.  Plus I think Harris really caught on to Sookie’s voice in this novel.  It came alive more than the previous books in my mind.

          The next book, Dead to the World was actually my favorite in the series so far.  Hate to spoil this to all the Bill fans out there, but he’s out and Eric is in (at least for this book) and I absolutely love it.  Pam also starts to have more personality in this book.  This book was funny, sexy, and a story that I could barely rip myself away from.  Now I’m only two books (plus the short stories) away from being completely up to day.  I’m actually quite sad about that.  I want more!

          Besides the books,  I can’t wait for more True Blood. I liked both seasons so far (yes even the crazy Greek stuff in season two) so am interested to see if it will follow the book.  If so, I think the book is going to get better and better.  Before I wrote this, I decide to see if I could figure out where season three was going.  Let’s just say, big question mark at this point.

          I tried not to read too much since I don’t want to spoil the season for myself.  I have never been one to read television spoilers.  The anticipation of watching it each week is better.  I found two sites that said a little bit and interestingly enough, the said complete opposite things.  First was IMDB.  It has episode one listed as “Pack of Wolves”.  There is two other titles for episodes listed two but it has no details on any of them.  This makes me super exicited because Club Dead introduces us to the super sexy werewolf Alcide.  He sticks around for more of the books too.  Plus, who doesn’t love a werewolf/vampire/girl with weird mind power love triangle?  Sorry, I had to referred to Twilight at least a little.  I bet you anything that people will say True Blood is copying Twilight even though Club Dead was out years before Twilight.  

          Personally, I really hope this is the way that the story goes.  It makes sense with the ending of last season, if I remember right.  Could Bill have suddenly disappeared because of A) vamps trying to get his computer disk, B) Lorena calling him, or C) the Queen showed up?   All of these (well minus A, since we don’t know about his computer stuff yet) would fit with the last season plus the book.  Plus didn’t I hear rumors about Evan Rachel Woods showing up more in season three.  Sidenote to anyone that has read the books, how perfect is she for that role?

          I also found a site that listed news about a girl being cast as Crystal.  This makes me super hopeful for the show following the books.  She doesn’t actually show up until Dead to the World but she is definately a big(ish) character. She is a character that is meant to be disliked but not exacted hated. I think seeing her on screen will be funny.  Maybe the show is going to roll two books into one season. I’d be okay with that because I can’t wait for more Eric! Plus that would make Quinn show up sooner too. He is going to be someone super hot, obviously.         

          Another site I found that I can’t remember the name of listed episode one as “Mine”.  It then gave really long details on every little thing that happens in this episode.  I scanned through it (again, not wanting to ruin it for myself) and found that it was giving a completely different story than Club Dead.  There was something about other vamps trying to take Sookie and Bill saying “She mine.” There was a lot of stuff on Layfette and Tara.  Layfette is not in the books at all so it would seem if they are focusing on him that they are getting even further from the books. 

          Only time will tell I guess.  What do you think will happen in season three?  Have you read the books?

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Posted in Book Reviews, Thoughts on books, thoughts on movies

Jul 30

The undead are rising!

          At least trends involving zombies look to be on the rise.  Is anyone else as excited as I am about Zombieland?  Looks brillant.  Looks like zombie books are going to be a hot comodity here soon.

http://www.observer.com/2009/media/pocket-books-goes-all-zombie-craze-signs-zombie-beatles-book

          Has anyone read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?  I keep seeing it and thinking about it.  I haven’t read the orginal book (shame I know) so I feel like I should first. 

          I’m not at all surprised that zombies books are on the rise.  Books tend to go in trends. Perfect example, has anyone noticed how many vampire books are out right now?  I went in Barnes and Noble a few weeks back and they had an entire table stacks high with different titles that were young adult books only.   They probably could have made a whole other table for adult ones too.   The Sookie Stackhouse books are definately selling well everywhere.   Personally I love the Vegas Vampire books by Erin McCarthy which are usually in the paranormal romance section.  I started reading them a couple years ago.  By the way, Bled Dry (which was published in 2007) has lots of plot points similar to Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyers (published a year later).  Hmmm.  Actually I don’t think Meyers was copying by any means but I definately had the feeling of this story has been done before only sexier.

          The part of this article that bothered me was how they said they wanted to make the new book Paul is Undead a huge franchise.  I understand dreaming big but isn’t it a little early to tell the press about all these dreams when for all you know the book could completely flop.  What is that phrase about getting ahead of yourself?  I can’t remember right now but it feels like that is what they are doing with this book.

          I do however think it was very smart to make a zombie book that was original.  Doing another classic meets undead clash would just seem like trying to hard to capitalize on another book that did well.  The idea was original with P&P&Z but if it is done again it will feel like a copycat.

          What do you think about the zombie trend?  Will you read Paul is Undead?  More importantly, quick Zombies or Vampires?  Haha, just kidding.

Does anyone else remember when some kid hacked an electronic sign in Texas to say this?

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dwarning%2Bzombies%2Bahead%26fr%3Dyfp-t-151&w=316&h=259&imgurl=www.journalstandard.com%2Farchive%2Fx1452244443%2Fg13c10475eb1f01e6d78a64b8253fe96325e3522e83b66c.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.journalstandard.com%2Fnews%2Fx1851002780%2FCaution-Zombies-ahead&size=16k&name=Caution+Zombies+…&p=warning+zombies+ahead&oid=d3faa2a0493e73d2&fr2=&no=9&tt=9&sigr=125e8og56&sigi=12v32mk8c&sigb=12h6jlfq9

 

Probably one of my very favorite news items of all time.  I really want to know if anyone believed it.  Like was anyone driving, saw the sign, and went home scared and prepared for an attack?

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Posted in News/Current Issues

Jun 29

True Blood vs Sookie Stackhouse novels

I often hear people comparing books to movies.  I think something that happens less is comparing books and television shows.  Obviously, there is not a huge market for tv shows based on books but there is some.  It seems like not as many people pay attention to those book series though. 


For example the other day at work I was talking about True Blood with a coworker and I said that I know what was going to happen because I was reading Living Dead in Dallas (if you read TV Guild magazine this week it kind of indicated which story lines are staying with the books).  He has no clue that there was even books.  I found that so weird because I thought it said somewhere before or after the show that it was based on the series.  Not to mention the fact that the first two books which have cover with the actors on them have been sitting on the end caps at Target.

Then last night before a work meeting I stopped at the bookstore.  My boss asked me what I bought and I said Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs then explained that it was the series that Bones was based on.  Again, no  one around us seemed to have any clue that the show was based on books.


Why is that? Maybe it is just because I’m such a huge bookworm but I usually pay attention to if a show is based on one.

Especially with True Blood, I have noticed people complaining about it not sticking to the books.  Personally I actually have no problem with that.    I feel that in any case (tv or movie) that there is two ways to do it; you can recreate the book or you can use it as a reference.


In the case of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, the reader really is only getting Sookie’s side of the story.  We don’t see any backstory with Jason, Sam, or any of the other characters.  When you are making a tv show, there has to be more than one storyline going or it gets boring.  The shows writers do a great job as far as I’m concerned with using the characters in a way that is true to the books while still making there stories better for tv.  


Furthermore, I don’t think the books are necessarily amazing pieces of literature.  They are more of a fast and entertaining read.   Along with that though, I think it takes an enormous amount of talent to write a book that is successful and a number one best seller on the New York Times list.  I fully admit, I have every intention of reading the whole series because I do really enjoy them. 


With Bones there is a far bigger gap between the show and books.  Sure the main character is named Temperance (which I named my cat after by the way) and she is a forensic anthropologist that works with the FBI but that basically ends the similarities.  I don’t see people complaining about how different those to are though.  Maybe it is because they are so different that people have an easier time seeing that the tv show is just using the books as a starting point.


The Tempe books are extremely well written.  I don’t read tons of crime series but I do think that Reichs’ novels are among the best I have come across.  They are written on a high reading level but are so good that I can’t put them down so end up finishing them in days.  The story comes together in such an interesting way in each novel.  The show writers do a good job at bringing that element into the episodes as well.


So what does everyone else think?  Have you read a series that had a tv show based on it?  Do you think True Blood or Bones is completely ruining the books or doing them justice?


On a sort of related note, I noticed the other night that the last four books I have read were Deja Dead, Death Du Jour, Dead Until Dark, and Living Dead in Dallas (currently reading).  Do you see something in common? Maybe I should read something not so morbid sounding next, haha.  Actually next I will definitely be reading Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs.  Maybe after that I will go for something less dark sounding.

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Posted in Thoughts on books, Thoughts on tv

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