I'm obsessed with True Blood the tv series (I get the DVDs from the library since I don't have cable) and so in 2009 I started to read the books the series is based on. And they're fantastic.
Note: the tv series is loosely based on the books. Some of the characters have the same names, but act completely differently, or survive on the tv show and are killed in the books, etc etc. This is not a loyal adaptation.
The books, written by Charlaine Harris, are not Serious Literature. They're quick, entertaining reads, about 300 pages each. It's an interesting premise Harris has built on: a telepathic waitress, Sookie, connects with vampires because she can't read their minds. Vampires have "come out" to all of humankind; there are other "supes" (supernatural beings) that are still "underground". Many parallels can be drawn to the vampires' "coming out" to the actual, real-life coming out of LGBT people in America, and to general xenophobia and the desire for isolationism from anything deemed Other.
I don't know if I'd actually classify the books as mysteries, but things go bump in the night, people die, and Sookie is usually at least partly involved in figuring everything out.
Sookie manages to get involved in everything: vampire politics, werewolf leader brawls, fairydom. To some extent, it's kind of ludicrous how she attracts the attention of everyone who's not a "normal human." It's along the lines of Bella in the Twilight books insisting she's not attractive, but all the boys in her high school (including a 100+ -year-old vampire, zomg) hit on her. Eyeroll.
What I enjoy most about Sookie, I think, is that she seems very realistic. Frequently, she has moments of confusion and conflict about how her life is progressing, and being changed, through her interactions with vampires and other "supes." Can she consider herself to be Christian if she's killed people? Should she use her power to read people's minds to help the vampires (who might use the information to punish a human)?
I recommend the series for anyone who enjoys supernatural quasi-mystery stories. I've now read ten of the novels in the series; the eleventh was just released. There are also miscellaneous short stories which I haven't read. Some of the short stories present details or plot points for the novels, and I got through about a third of the sixth book, thinking I had forgotten a major plot point of the previous book, before I looked it up and came across the existence of the short stories. But I got through the series fine without the short stories.
Ratings: 4 out of 5 (I really liked them)
Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label romance. Show all posts
08 May 2011
The Thorn Birds
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough is one of those books that gets mentioned (often in online discussions of completely unrelated things) what I feel is quite frequently for a (to me) random novel. I don't know why the book was mentioned so much, but it seemed that many of the discussers enjoyed reading it, and I decided to give it a go.
The plot follows the life of Meggie Cleary, from when she is a young girl in New Zealand in the early 1900s who moves with her family to a sheep station, called Drogheda, in Australia, to when she is an old woman. Meggie is the only daughter of a large Irish-Australian family, and is quite pretty. She is proud, aloof, and naive. Fiona Cleary, the mother is not affectionate, at least outwardly, toward her children. Meggie, as a result, uses two men in her life to meet her affection needs: she adores her oldest brother, Frank, and confides in him, but when Frank leaves the family, Meggie shifts her affections to the new area priest, Ralph de Bricassart. This relationship as Meggie grows from a young girl to a woman is a (the?) main focus of the novel.
Ralph de Bricassart, the other main character of the novel, is a Catholic priest who is ambitious but flawed. He hopes to move up the hierarchy of the Church, but is continually drawn to Meggie and Drogheda. To me, Ralph's turmoil is an interesting theme throughout the book--much more interesting than Meggie herself.
Quite often in the novel, I found myself having uncharitable thoughts toward Meggie--I frequently found her impetuous and childish--but I almost think that's a requirement for the heroines in some of these epic stories.
A few of the minor characters are also intriguing. Meggie's aunt, Mary Carson, who owns Drogheda, is completely ridiculous and manipulative, seeing Meggie as competition for Ralph's affections. Mary's jealousy creates a situation with major consequences for Ralph. Fiona, Meggie's mother, is genteel and obsessed with her parlor furniture even in the dusty outback; she is also somewhat cold, or at least not openly loving, toward the majority of her children. Fiona's past is a fascinating subplot of the story.
In summary: very entertaining, soapy, epic-romance-y read. Forbidden love! Church politics! Australian outback! Worth it if you enjoy this type of novel; otherwise, not entirely noteworthy.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 (It was okay)
The plot follows the life of Meggie Cleary, from when she is a young girl in New Zealand in the early 1900s who moves with her family to a sheep station, called Drogheda, in Australia, to when she is an old woman. Meggie is the only daughter of a large Irish-Australian family, and is quite pretty. She is proud, aloof, and naive. Fiona Cleary, the mother is not affectionate, at least outwardly, toward her children. Meggie, as a result, uses two men in her life to meet her affection needs: she adores her oldest brother, Frank, and confides in him, but when Frank leaves the family, Meggie shifts her affections to the new area priest, Ralph de Bricassart. This relationship as Meggie grows from a young girl to a woman is a (the?) main focus of the novel.
Ralph de Bricassart, the other main character of the novel, is a Catholic priest who is ambitious but flawed. He hopes to move up the hierarchy of the Church, but is continually drawn to Meggie and Drogheda. To me, Ralph's turmoil is an interesting theme throughout the book--much more interesting than Meggie herself.
Quite often in the novel, I found myself having uncharitable thoughts toward Meggie--I frequently found her impetuous and childish--but I almost think that's a requirement for the heroines in some of these epic stories.
A few of the minor characters are also intriguing. Meggie's aunt, Mary Carson, who owns Drogheda, is completely ridiculous and manipulative, seeing Meggie as competition for Ralph's affections. Mary's jealousy creates a situation with major consequences for Ralph. Fiona, Meggie's mother, is genteel and obsessed with her parlor furniture even in the dusty outback; she is also somewhat cold, or at least not openly loving, toward the majority of her children. Fiona's past is a fascinating subplot of the story.
In summary: very entertaining, soapy, epic-romance-y read. Forbidden love! Church politics! Australian outback! Worth it if you enjoy this type of novel; otherwise, not entirely noteworthy.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 (It was okay)
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