Reading Resurrection! With Vampires!

Ok, so I’m not really sure what my recent reading hiatus was about. Maybe it was adjusting to the new work schedule and the crazy amount of incredibly dense Summary Plan Details I have been reading. (though, I could probably answer any questions you have about your FSA account!) Or maybe I was just being lazy. Or maybe I have become so accustomed to someone else telling me what to read and an imposed reading schedule, that I have no idea how in the world to actually choose reading material for myself.  Or maybe I am still really gun-shy (and cheap) about actually buying books for fear I will spend money on something I don’t like.  Probably a combination of all of the above.

But. I am happy to report that all seems to be back on track – I spent ALL DAY yesterday reading. Literally read a whole book. And I am only partially embarrassed to admit that this resurrection was sparked by none other than Miss Sookie Stackhouse.

As of this moment, I have officially devoured the first three books (Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead) and 58 pages of the 4^th (Dead to the World) in the Sookie Stackhouse series in about a week and a half.

Reading these books sort of remind me of Nacho Cheese Doritos. You open a bag and think, “just a few…” and then suddenly you have an empty bag in your orange stained hands. Except instead of sticky orange fingers you end up finishing one and grabbing the next as if you were just turning a page. (Yup. That happened.) It’s mental junk food. And just the sort of thing I can sink my teeth into after a long day at work (Yup. I went there).

I know what you are thinking, “why bother to read the books when you already watch True Blood?” 

(look at that, I’m a telepath just like Sookie!) I’ve said it before; when I watch a movie or a show or anything else that I like and is based on a book, I want to read the book. Because of course, the book is always better.

That holds true in this case. I love me some True Blood. I really really do. But it is “inspired” by the books, so there are some really interesting differences. I like the feeling of trying to figure out how things have been rearranged and where they will overlap and how the plot will be altered and when things will be the same.  (I won’t spoil things, but Lafayette! And Tara! And Jason!  And Terry! And that whole Maenad situation! So different!)

Admittedly, it’s a little hard to read the books without picturing the actors. In some cases, that’s ok with me – I will picture Alexander Skarsgard any day. In other cases, not so much, like with Vampire Bill (sorry Stephen Moyer).  But, the books have given me a whole new appreciation for Sookie herself.

Book Sookie, as I have come to call her, is a much more fleshed out and complex character than TV Sookie. Book Sookie is interesting and conflicted and feisty and afraid and a smartass and a delicate lady and just so much more real than TV Sookie. Her motivations and actions make more sense in the books. Once you know what she is actually thinking it’s not so crazy to understand why she would bother entangling herself with vampires and werewolves and whatever else she encounters along the way.

It’s fun to have these parallel worlds, so similar yet so different in some ways, to play in. Watching and reading are already such different experiences in general anyway. With these, it’s almost like two different but somewhat related threads weaving similar stories but with different stitches. I can root for Book Sookie to hurry up and hook up with Eric while still wanting TV Sookie to get it together and realize Alcide is perfect for her.

And the whole time, I can sit back and relax and keep and imagine of Vampire Eric in my head…Resurrected indeed…