Review - Movie catch-up - June & July

June & July have been busy months here in the Northwest.  It's summer of course, by the calendar at least, although it's been a rather cool summer so far.  And summer, as we all know, even if it is cold and rainy, means two things:  lots of outdoor activities, and lots of great summer blockbusters!!

Since it's been too cool and drizzly most weekends to do much outside (I'm exaggerating of course! A little.), Bob and I have managed to see our fair share of movies.

X-Men: First Class * * * *

Loved it!  Loads of fun, with all the mutant-y explosion-y goodness anyone could ask for.  Somehow I managed to make it into the movie theater without any clue that the movie starred none other than my favorite Footloose dancer, Kevin Bacon, so that was a nice surprise, and I thought he made a fair villain.  The story was good and tied nicely into the history books with the Cuban Missile Crisis, and also set up the back stories for some of the main characters in the later films.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Bob said he didn't hate it.  That's high praise from him...

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon * * * *

Again, I liked it.  It wore on a bit long towards the end, but I thought it was fun that, for once, the city being destroyed wasn't New York or LA.  Patrick Dempsey was a riot, Shia LaBeouf was his usual self, if a tad more whiny.  The new girl did OK, and I liked her better than the old girl.  I never did figure out why his parents were in this film, as their presence made no sense, but it was a fun cameo.  Everyone keeps saying how it was sooooo much better than the second movie, blah blah blah, but I have to be honest and say that I've liked all three.  I didn't think the second movie was that bad, or confusing, and have never understood why people have so many issues with it.  Maybe I'm just not enough of a movie snob.  Whatever.  I liked T1, and I liked T2, and now I like T3.  It was awesome, and the moon scenes were killer kool.

Bob thought it was ok.

Green Lantern * * * *

I wanted to see Green Lantern because the previews were funny and I have a little crush on Ryan Reynolds.  I also adore Blake Lively.  I was not familiar with the Green Lantern story at all and the movie did a good job of filling in the history so that I didn't feel confused or lost.  Was it the best movie ever?  No.  But it did have lots of Ryan Reynolds, which made me feel generous with the stars.  It was fun, and a little predictable, but still, fun.  Green Lantern ties into the Avengers conglomeration with the SHIELD agent showing up at the end again, and I'm really digging how they are subtly tying all these super heroes together for the big Avengers movie coming out next year.

Bob said, "Meh."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 * * * * *

You've read the hype, you've seen the clips, and studied the movie posters.  You know this movie is amazing.  I don't need to say it, but I will.  This movie is the most awesome thing I've ever seen, ever, and it's made of awesome, dipped in awesome, cooked in awesome, rolled in you've-gotta-be-kidding-me, and served with a side of OhMyGodThat'sSoAwesome!!!

The story felt complete, even though there were details missing, and characters that we didn't see as much of as we might have wanted, but everything worked.  It was perfectly balanced and paced.  Beyond that I will only say two things:
1. The true story of Severus Snape may quite possibly be the greatest and most tragic unrequited love story ever written, and I sobbed my heart out during that portion of the film.
2. Nevile Longbottom was so Frakkin' HOT when he killed Nagini, I CAN'T EVEN TELL YOU HOW HOT THAT WAS.

If you haven't seen HP7.2 yet then I don't even know what you are doing here, you should go see it now.

Oh, and Bob loved it too.

Captain America: The First Avenger * * * * *

So with Captain America we swing back to the Avenger prequels.  This one was much better than Green Lantern, in part because it was more serious, and not as cheesy.  The 3D was amazingly well done without being obnoxious, and the story was just GOOD.  Chris Evans did a great job, and was gorgeous as usual.  The story takes place during World War II, so it's set earlier in time than the other Avengers, but by the end of the film we've caught back up to the present, and once again Samuel L Jackson shows up with his sexy eye-patch to do his SHIELD thing.  Good film, good FX, and a much better storyline than Thor and Green Lantern, which do little more than set up who their characters are, where Captain America really tells a complete story all by itself.

Bob thought it was ok.

So that, as they say, is that!  The upcoming films that I'm looking forward to are:
Cowboys and Aliens (hope to see that this weekend!)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (OMG!  I can't wait!!)
Conan the Barbarian
Fright Night (I love me some David Tennant!)
Abduction
In Time

Have you seen any of these movies this summer?  What did you think, and what films are you looking forward to seeing?  Let me know in the comments!

Teaser Tuesday - Coyote, Part 2

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

----------

I didn't get much reading done this weekend, as we spent three days in Utah, but I'm still working on "Coyote" and still loving it!  The Teaser this week is from about mid-way through the novel, as the interstellar colonists are learning to survive on Coyote, a mysterious planet that has become their new home.

 The Tease:

 "Gill Reese had intended for Carlos to become a man that day; perhaps the boy had taken a step in that direction.  Yet although Henry would share many drinks with Carlos at the Cantina, never once did he ask why he'd lowered his gun at that critical moment on Levin Creek.
He never asked, and Carlos never told him."

 - Coyote, by Allen Steele

What's your Tease?

TV News - AMC's The Walking Dead

Some of you may have already seen this, but the word out of Comic Con this afternoon is that Season 2 of AMC's The Walking Dead will premiere on October 16th, 2011! 

Hooray! 

I heard that Season 2 will consist of 13 episodes, which as you know (if you've been paying attention) is more that twice as many episodes as Season 1!  However I haven't yet found any confirmation of that on AMC's website.

There's a new 4 1/2 minute trailer for Season 2, which combines old and new footage of the show.  It is, quite simply, breathtaking! 

I've never been so excited for the end of summer before, but at least we have this to look forward to!

Book Review - Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen,06/15/2011, * * *

Bob and I went to see the movie version of this novel several months ago, and I completely fell in love with the story.  I loved it so much that I decided to read the book.  Usually that happens the other way around - I nearly always try to read the book before seeing the movie, but this time I made an exception.  Now I kinda wish I hadn't.

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:

"Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.

Jacob was there because his luck had run out - orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive 'ship of fools'. It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act - in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival."

My thoughts:
The reason that I wish I hadn't seen the movie first is, most unusually, that I actually liked the movie better than the book.  (I know, right?  You just did a double-take, didn't you?)  That almost never happens to me, but I'll say it again, I liked the movie better than the book.

Why?  Well, it's isn't because of the writing - the book is very well written and researched, and you can tell that the author spent a lot of time working on the details.  It fits together nicely, it flows, the pacing is good.  The characters are great, and there are characters in the book that weren't in the movie, so there were fascinating new characters to explore.   Rosie the Elephant is just as intriguing and wonderful and sweet in the book as she was in the movie.  I loved it all.  It was great.

So what is my damage, you ask?  In the movie, the story is narrated by an older version of the main character, Jacob Jankowski.  We see him briefly at the beginning and end of the story, (brilliantly played by Hal Holbrook), and hear his voice-over occasionally, and that's it.

In the book though, the older Jacob has nearly equal time, and his chapters ended up feeling really tedious as he complained about being old, and the nursing home, and his family, and on and on and on. I seriously wanted to skip his parts, they got so tedious and boring, and the older Jacob was not a likable character at all.  I get what the author was trying to do and the point she was trying to make but the problem is that these chapters interrupted the flow of the story so severely, stopping the action that is happening in the past and catapulting us into the present so abruptly that it was jarring, and made me not want to continue reading through those chapters.  Whereas the movie, by cutting out all the day to day living in the nursing home and fighting with the nurses, the naps and the meals, ended up with a tighter and better focused story, and ultimately a much more enjoyable story.

Now I honestly think that if I had read the book first, before I saw the movie, I probably would have enjoyed the book more, and still would have loved the movie every bit as much as I do now. I originally gave the book 4 stars on Goodreads, but I've changed it to 3 stars after thinking about it.  I would highly recommend that you both read the book and see the movie.

But I'd also recommend that you do it in that order.

What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know!

Teaser Tuesday - Coyote

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

----------

 The Tease:

 "She can't see the stars...Even Earth itself is invisible; it's somewhere below the long cylindrical boom of the ship's primary structure, which stretches away until it meets the enormous drum of the main engine.  A shame; there won't be many more opportunities for her to be alone before launch, and she would like to see Earth one last time."

 - Coyote, by Allen Steele

What's your Tease?

Movie News - John Carter Trailer

So, we did in fact go to the theater to see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" this weekend, and during the upcoming movies / endless commercials portion, they showed a full length trailer for "John Carter!"  The trailer actually made the rounds on various blogs at the end of last week, but seeing it on the big screen made it so much more exciting!!

If you haven't seen the trailer yet you should definitely check it out - it looks incredible, and I can't wait to see the movie in March 2012!!

Book Review - Dead Until Dark

 The Sookie Stackhouse Series, by Charlaine Harris
1. Dead Until Dark, 6/26/2011, * * * *

So, it seems kind of weird to try to do a "review" on a book that I just finished doing a "Read & React" on, because I've already said a lot about what I thought of the book and characters specifically.  What's left to say?

Let's start with the Goodreads synopsis:

"Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life-and one of her coworkers checks out....

Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn't such a bright idea.

A fun, fast, funny, and wonderfully intriguing blend of vampire and mystery that's hard to put down, and should not be missed."

My thoughts:
Earlier this spring we got HBO at our house so that I could watch their adaptation of GRRM's Game of Thrones.  Once I realized that the subscription also included HBO On Demand (or whatever it's called), I quickly raced through the first three seasons of True Blood, which I hugely enjoyed.  The show increased my interest in the book series, and gave me a general idea of what to expect when I picked up Dead Until Dark.

The book is good - great pacing, nice mystery, intriguing love-triangle possibilities.  But I have to say that I was slightly disappointed that some of my favorite characters from the show (Lafayette, Tara, Jessica), were either not in the book at all, or else took a serious back seat role.  (As in, all the way in the very back of the very long car that's two cars behind the car that I'm in).

However, there's also a lot that is good about the book.  It's very obviously the first in a series, and as such a lot of time is spent setting up the characters and settings, many of which while seeming to go nowhere, will probably be followed up on in later novels.  The author is very good at describing the settings and environments, but sometimes a little too good, such as when Sookie decides what to wear and showers and shaves her legs, etc.  Sometimes the reader just really doesn't need to know that much detail and just wants to move along to the next plot point.

And there are some great plot points, including several things that were different from what I had expected by watching the series, and that I think were handled better by the book.  Overall, I think that it is a good, solid, first book and does a good job in setting up the series.

~Ang at Eastern Sunset Reads also posted a review of Dead Until Dark - you should definitely check out her review as well!!

Have you read this series?  Liked it, loved it, hated it?  Should I continue on with Book 2: Living Dead in Dalas, or skip it?  Leave a comment and let me know what you think!!

Movie Art - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

Recently a string of absolutely amazing movie posters have been released, all very simple with just the artwork (which IMHO is serious art) and the phrase "It All Ends 7.15."  Nothing else is needed really, everyone knows what the movie is and the artwork is so iconic as to need no description.

Since the movie opens at midnight tonight I thought I'd share some of my favorite posters - they're all amazingly fabulous, but these are my favorites!

I already showed this one several weeks ago, but I still love it.  It rocks and it rocks HARD!


















Here we see Hogwarts, our beloved castle, in flames above the lake.  The reflection in the water is incredible!

In this banner, we see our heroes escaping on the dragon - poor thing, it must be desperate to get back into the sky again!

This one is my favorite of them all, I think!  Little Neville is all grown up and ready to do battle!!  As the under-rated hero of the saga I think he's always been a little overlooked, until this final book, and here he has finally come into his own.  So look out, or he'll own you, too!

Even the villains are in on the action!  There are at least a dozen more out on the 'web, just do a quick search and you'll find plenty (there's lots more villains, along with all the good guys!)  I'd love to see which ones are YOUR favorites!


So while I won't be seeing the movie this weekend (This weekend will be a tad busy, so I think I'll wait until next week), to all of you who will I hope you have a great time, and I look forward to hearing your comments and reviews of what you thought of the final episode in the Harry Potter saga!

Happy Viewing!!

Teaser Tuesday - Heartless

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

----------

 The Tease:

 "Motioning Ivy to stand, Alexia handed her the handle (of the parasol) and said, "Spin the parasol three times and repeat after me: I shield in the name fashion.  I accessorize for one and all. Pursuit of truth is my passion.  This I vow by the great parasol."

 - Heartless: The Parasol Protectorate, Book the Fourth, by Gail Carriger

What's your Tease?

Read and React: Dead Until Dark, Part 6

Welcome, everyone to Part 6 of our Read & React!

There are spooky vampires in the woods, yet another murder victim, and Sookie has an epiphany, as we continue with Chapters 11 and 12 of Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris, which is the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series.  Please join me as I read (& react!) for the very first time to this highly praised novel.

Before we begin, a quick note on spoilers: There will be some (OK lots) - but only for the chapters actually covered in the post, and as we go on, the chapters that have been covered in previous weeks.  I may also make comparisons between the chapters covered and all seasons of HBO's adaptation of the series, True Blood.

As far as the comment section, please join in!!  I want to know what you think of my commentary, of the story itself, the characters, everything!  But if you've read the series before, or read ahead in this book, please don't let anything slip about what's coming up next!  Thanks in advance!

In case you missed them, here are the previous Read & React posts::
Part 1 - Chapters 1 & 2.
Part 2 - Chapters 3 & 4.
Part 3 - Chapters 5 & 6.
Part 4 - Chapters 7 & 8.
Part 5 - Chapters 9 & 10.

Now that all that's out of the way, make sure you have your wooden stake handy, and let's go!!

CHAPTER 11

What Happens:

The next day Sookie's co-workers are all sympathetic about the loss of her pet.  Arlene asks again if Sookie will babysit and Sookie takes it as an apology and agrees to watch the kids.  Later that evening Rene brings Cody and Lisa over to Sookie's house and then leaves to go pick up Arlene for their date.  Bill comes over later in the evening, and they play with the kids until Rene and Arlene arrive around 11pm to pick them up.  As Arlene is bundling the kids into the truck, a vampire friend of Bill's arrives, and Bill explains that he's asked his friend, Bubba, to watch Sookie's house at night, because he has to go out of town for a few days.  He refuses to tell her why, saying only that he'll explain everything when he returns from New Orleans, and that he'll miss her while he's gone.  She hugs him goodbye.

The next day at work when Arlene asks about Bubba, Sookie explains that Bill basically got her a bodyguard, and Arlene mentions how proud she is of Rene for being so polite to both Bill and Bubba, and goes on to explain that Rene has issues with vampires, because his little sister Cindy dated one for awhile, but the Cindy is OK now and Rene goes to visit her every other week or so.

The day stretches on.  At home that night Sookie feels restless and tries to call Jason, even calling Merlotte's to see if he is there.  Terry Bellefleur is tending bar, filling in for Sam, and tells her that he hasn't seen Jason all evening; but then a short while later Terry calls her back and tells her that Jason just came in and wants Sookie to come down to the bar so he can buy her a drink.  At first she's not sure that she should leave the house now that it's dark, but decides it'll be all right, as Bubba is watching the house.

But when she arrives at the bar, Terry insists that he hasn't seen Jason all night and even denies calling her back.  Bewildered, she heads back to her car to drive home and finds a collie behind the bar by the dumpster, and on an impulse decides that since it seems like a nice dog, she'll take it home and feed it.  At home again, with the house locked up tight, Sookie and "Dean" the collie get ready for bed, and when Dean tries to sleep on the bed, she exiles him to the floor.

But the next morning she wakes to find the dog in bed with her and its' arm around her waist.

"His arm?  I was off the bed and shrieking in one move.  In my bed, Sam propped himself up on his elbows, sunny side up, and look at me with some amusement. "Oh, ohmyGod!  Sam, how'd you get here?  Where's Dean?"  I covered my face with my hands and turned my back, but I'd certainly seen all there was to see of Sam.

"Woof," said Sam, from a human throat, and the truth stomped over me in combat boots."

Sam explains that he is a shape-shifter, and can change into any animal he sees.  He says he wants to protect her, and didn't think she should be alone at night. He tells her he wants her to know the truth about him, and as she was dealing with Bill so well he thought it was time to let her in on his secret.

"But what you are," I said abruptly, "can't be explained by a virus!  I mean, you utterly change!" 

He didn't say anything.

"Being a shape-shifter is definitely supernatural.  If that is, then other things can be.  So...Bill hasn't got a virus at all.  Being a vampire can't be explained by an allergy to silver or garlic or sunlight...that's just so much bullshit the vampires are spreading around, propaganda, you might say...so they can be more easily accepted, as sufferers from a terrible disease. But really they're...they're really..." 

"Yeah," Sam said from the doorway, his voice sad.  "I'm sorry Sookie.  But Bill doesn't just have a virus.  He's really really dead."

They begin the process of getting dressed, and finding clothes for Sam to wear, and Sookie hears a car outside.  Sam changes back into a dog just as Andy Bellefleur arrives at the door with bad news - there's been another murder, a young woman named Amy, and her death was just like the others, only her bite marks are newer.  Andy wants to know where Bill is and if Sookie has heard from Jason.  He's dead on his feet from exhaustion, and Sookie convinces him to take a nap in her spare bedroom before he falls asleep in his car and kills someone.  She promises to wake him in a few hours, and hurries Sam out to her car and drives him back to Merlotte's, where they find Jason, unconscious in his truck behind the bar.  The inside of his truck reeks of blood, sex, and alcohol, and there's a video tape on the dashboard.  Sookie insists they call an ambulance against Sam's advice, and she follows him to the hospital.  But the doctor just sends her home, promising to call her as soon as Jason wakes up, so she goes home to wake Andy as she promised.

But when she arrives home Andy has already left, and she later finds out that he was at the hospital at the same time she was, just waiting for her to leave before he handcuffed Jason to the bed.


Commentary:

Sam, Sam, Sammy, Sam!  So you are a shifter!  This explains much, especially why he can keep Sookie out of his head, even when she's trying to get in.  And why there's always a collie hanging around the bar that I never felt was important enough to comment on in the past.  But does anyone else think his timing stinks?  I mean, I know he has Sookie's best interest at heart, and he's a good guy, and I admire him for wanting to be honest, I really do.  But his whole confession felt less like a confession and more like an easy way to force Sookie to face the truth about Bill.

Who apparently doesn't actually have a virus!  What?  No!  Say it ain't so!!  He's dead?  Really, really, truly dead?  I'm shocked y'all, just shocked!

Jason totally and obviously being set up, with the whole video in the truck covered in blood thing.  Which just as obviously means that Andy won't see the set up and will just pounce on Jason to be the murderer.  I'm beginning to see why Bill doesn't care for the Bellefleurs...


Chapter 12

What Happens:

Sam tells Sookie later in the day that the police intend to arrest Jason as soon as he wakes up.  Sookie refuses to believe that he could be guilty of killing his own grandmother, and she calls the vampire hotel in New Orleans where Bill is supposed to be staying and leaves a message for him to come home as soon as he can.

When Jason does regain consciousness later that afternoon, he is arrested after admitting that he'd had sex with Amy the night before, but he doesn't remember anything that happened after that.

That night, Sookie is awakened in the night by Bubba screaming at someone who is prowling around the house, but the prowler manages to get away without Bubba seeing his face.

Jason makes bail the next day, but is too embarrassed to talk to Sookie.  She goes to Merlotte's and sits at the bar all day, listening to the thoughts of everyone who comes in.  At one point Rene and Hoyt come in, but turn around and leave as soon as they see her, and she thinks that everyone is too embarrassed to talk to her, being unsure of what to say.  Finally, just before sunset, Sam tells her to go home, claiming that she's creeping everyone out.

She goes home, and is getting changed for bed when she hears a yowling sound from outside, then silence.  She opens the door and calls out for Bubba, but gets no response.  The woods are quiet, and she realizes that someone is prowling through the woods.  She tries to call the police, but her phone line is dead.

She stops and thinks for a moment and decides her chances are better outside in the dark, rather than waiting inside for whoever is out there to come in.  She grabs Bill's house key and a pocket knife, and then goes to the coat closet to get Gran's rifle, only to find that it isn't there.  Someone has been in the house and taken it.

Pondering on who might have had access to the house, she moves to the back door and sneaks out towards the woods.  She just makes the treeline when she hears someone crashing through the underbrush towards her, and she hides in a tree, silently watching a man glide through the trees below her with a length of cord dangling from his wrist.  Even though the moon is full, she never quite sees his face.

Once he has gone she climbs down and begins making her way towards the cemetery and Bill's house.  As she moves through the woods, she finds a dead cat, and a few feet further she finds Bubba, either dead or unconscious, she can't tell which, and decides the cat must have been drugged and brought here by the killer.  In the woods behind her she hears a twig snap, and she ducks behind a tree, into the shadows, and closes her eyes and reaches out with her mind to find his thoughts.

"Dark tangle, red, black.  Hate. 

Into my head poured images that made me sick, made me terrified.  Dawn, asking someone to punch her, then finding out that he'd got one of her hose in his hand, was stretching it between his fingers, preparing to tighten it around her neck.  A flash of Maudette, naked and begging.  A woman I'd never seen, her bare back to me, bruises and welts covering it.  Then my grandmother - my grandmother - in our familiar kitchen, angry and fighting for her life.  I was paralyzed by the shock of it, the horror of it.  whose thoughts were these?  I had an image of Arlene's kids, playing on my living room floor; I saw myself, and I didn't look like the person I saw in my own mirror.  I had huge holes in my neck, and I was lewd; I had a knowing leer on my face, and I patted the inside of my thigh suggestively. 

I was in the mind of Rene Lenier. 

This was how Rene saw me."

Suddenly she realizes that he is seeing the outline of her body against the tree, and she runs for the cemetery, dodging among the headstones and statues, trying to lose the Rene.  She hides among the tombs and reads him again, learning that his sister Cindy was the first one he killed and raped.  While she sorts through his mind, he catches her and hits her in the face, and breaks her collarbone.  They struggle and fight in the moonlight, and she is suddenly thankful for all the vampire blood she's had the last few days which has made her stronger.  As they grapple on the ground she feels the knife on his belt, pulls it and stabs him in the gut with it, backing away as he screams and swears at her, stumbling around in circles.  She waits until he falls to the ground and then runs to Bill's house, calls 9-1-1, and faints.

She wakes up in the hospital, and Andy comes in and tells her that they found Rene in the cemetery, and that Rene has confessed to everything.  Jason comes by to to thank her and apologize for not being there for her.  Her body is a mass of bruises and broken bones, and she sleeps and wakes, and sleeps again.  Then Bill is there.

He wants to give her his blood again to heal her, but she thinks about how much his blood has changed her and refuses.  Bill then tells her that he was in New Orleans campaigning for a political position in the vampire hierarchy, and won.  He is now the Official 5th Area Investigator, which he thinks should help keep them both safe from Eric.  She makes him promise not to kill Rene, and he agrees, even though he wants to very badly.

Just then a collie trots into the room and looks around with a soft woof and turns away.  Bill looks up in surprise, and Sookie glances out the window at the full moon, and notices Eric's very white face floating near the window peeking in at her.

"Soon we'll be back to normal," Bill said, laying me down gently so he could switch out the light in the bathroom. 

He glowed in the dark. 

"Right," I whispered.  "Yeah.  Back to normal."

Commentary:

So, OK, everybody who never read the book before or saw True Blood, raise your had if you suspected Rene.  I didn't really.  He's such a non-character character that I was a little bit surprised that it was him.  Especially with Arlene dating him!  Apparently she can really pick 'em!

I like that Sookie was all strong and self-reliant and saved herself, instead of waiting for some big, strong, supernatural man to rush in and save her!  She doesn't always come across as very strong in this book, but towards the end I think she really grew into her strength!  I like that...

Differences Between the Book and True Blood:

• I still miss Tara and Lafayette.  Mostly Lafayette...
• The murderer was the same in both the show and the book, but in the show Rene attacks her in broad daylight, which causes Bill severe harm in trying to reach her to save her, and Sam arrives and helps her bury a naked and badly sunburned Bill.
• The whole last scene in the hospital didn't happen in the show, but I liked it, so I'm glad it was in the book.  Her remark at the end was priceless!

-------------------------------------------------------

And thus we arrive at the end.  I hope that you've enjoyed this experiment as much as I have.
I always look forward to reading other perspectives, so please leave YOUR commentary below!  Thanks for joining, and I hope that you enjoyed my Read & React of...

DEAD UNTIL DARK!

Read and React: Dead Until Dark, Part 5

Welcome, everyone to Part 5 of our Read & React!

Get ready for some serious blood gushing, stolen money, and frightening moments, as we continue with Chapters 9 and 10 of Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris, which is the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series.  Please join me as I read (& react!) for the very first time to this highly praised novel.

Before we begin, a quick note on spoilers: There will be some (OK lots) - but only for the chapters actually covered in the post, and as we go on, the chapters that have been covered in previous weeks.  I may also make comparisons between the chapters covered and all seasons of HBO's adaptation of the series, True Blood.

As far as the comment section, please join in!!  I want to know what you think of my commentary, of the story itself, the characters, everything!  But if you've read the series before, or read ahead in this book, please don't let anything slip about what's coming up next!  Thanks in advance!

In case you missed them, here are the previous Read & React posts::
Part 1 - Chapters 1 & 2.
Part 2 - Chapters 3 & 4.
Part 3 - Chapters 5 & 6.
Part 4 - Chapters 7 & 8.

Now that all that's out of the way, make sure you have your wooden stake handy, and let's go!!

CHAPTER 9

What Happens:

The next night Sookie spends an agonizing amount of time getting ready to go see Eric.  She wisely chooses a silver necklace to complete her look, and also grabs a scarf to tie around her neck in case they run into police who want to check her for fang marks.  Bill comes to pick her up after going somewhere else to feed.  Sookie doesn't like him feeding on anyone else (even though she also doesn't like him feeding on her too much), but she does understand the necessity.  After a tense and mostly silent drive they arrive in Shreveport and pull up behind Fangtasia, and enter through a service entrance in the alley.  Pam shows them to Eric's office, where Eric is waiting with a rather scared looking man named Bruce.  Pam moves to the back wall of the office where Long Shadow is waiting, and Bill joins them.  Eric explains to Sookie that someone has stolen $60,000 from the bar, and he wants Sookie to read Bruce's mind to see if he is the guilty party.

Sookie, afraid that Eric will just kill whoever is guilty, tries to bargain with Eric, promising that if Eric will actually turn over the thief to the police, then she will read minds for him whenever he wants.  Eric knows that he can force her to do it anyway, but she senses that he really wants to "mainstream" and doesn't want to kill anyone that he doesn't have to.  Suddenly Sookie is in his mind, a dark, murky, terrifying place, and quickly disengages.  Eric never really quite agrees to her deal, but she listens to Bruce's thoughts and determines that he doesn't know anything about the missing money, so Pam leads him out and brings another woman, Ginger, into the room.  When Sookie asks Ginger if she took the money, Ginger begins screaming and crying in pain, and Sookie realizes that she's had a compulsion laid on her so heavily that she can't even picture the face of the thief.  Pam takes Ginger away, and Sookie asks if Ginger had any friends, so Pam brings in another barmaid named Belinda.

This time Sookie doesn't ask about the money, merely asking Belinda which vampire Ginger has been seeing regularly.  She pulls the name from Belinda's mind, but before she can even utter his name, Long Shadow leaps across the office and pins Sookie to Eric's desk, trying to rips her throat out.

 "Suddenly (his eyes) dulled and seemed to almost flatten.  Blood gushed out of Long Shadow's mouth, bathing my arm.  It flowed into my open mouth, and I gagged.  His teeth relaxed, and his face fell in on itself.  It began to wrinkle.  His eyes turned into gelatinous pools.  Handfuls of his thick black hair fell on my face."

His body begins to smoke and decay as Bill grabs her by the shoulders and pull her away from the corpse, and she sees Eric standing over Long Shadow remains with a mallet, even as his body fades into wisps of smoke, leaving nothing behind but a scorch mark on the floor.

The room is deadly silent for a moment, and then Eric notices that she has blood on her face and asks if she swallowed any.  She suddenly realizes that the three remaining vampires are all in the throes of full-on blood lust, Eric smelling her scent, Bill ready to kill Eric, and Pam eying Belinda as if she were a snack.  Sookie manages to get Pam's attention, and once Pam realizes the seriousness of the situation she calls Ginger back in to distract Eric, while Sookie and Bill slip out of the office.  They get out to the car, and Bill is still all blood-lusty, but she finally gets him to snap out of it and drive her home.


Commentary:

Wow - so Bill seemed kinda slow on the uptake there, not really saving Sookie from death, or from a dry-cleaning bill either.  But, Way To Go, Eric! Staking your own employee / friend just to save the pretty telepath?  Priceless.  I'm liking him more and more.

Bill, you are now on notice that I don't really feel all that safe with you.  And neither should Sookie.

However - Sookie wins the "who has the biggest cojones?" competition by being the only one to keep her head on straight and keep everyone alive!  Well, everyone but Long Shadow, and really we didn't know him very well anyway, and apparently he's a thief, so, whatever.


Chapter 10

What Happens:

The next day, Sookie decides that she really needs to remind herself that she is human.  Maybe a slightly altered human, but still, a human.  When she first drank Bill's blood, it healed her, and the second time it made her stronger, but now with Long Shadow's blood in her, suddenly her teeth are whiter and sharper, her hair is blonder, and when she accidentally bench presses the couch while looking for spare change, she realizes that she's stronger, too.  Later that morning at work, while slicing fruit for the bar, Lafayette asks her if she colored her hair, and during the course of the 30 second conversation she slices and chopps an entire days' worth of lemons and limes.

"Lafayete was staring from my face to my hands.  "Tell me I didn't just see that, girlfriend," he suggested.  "You didn't," I said.  My voice was cool and level, I was surprised to note."

The lunch rush begins, and Sookie listens to thoughts as she does her work, as she had promised Jason she would.  She listens all day, and learns nothing about the murders.

Later in the evening, after her shift is done, she wanders around the house and decides to go back to the bar and listen some more to the evening crowd.  When she arrives at Merlotte's she sees Jason, and they chat about what she hasn't learned while they have a few drinks.  After a little while Bill arrives with a human woman, and Sookie gets jealous.  Bill explains that Eric had sent the woman to his house as a reward for bringing Sookie the previous evening, and also possibly as a test of his devotion to Sookie.  Bill insists on sending her back to Eric, and Jason offers to give her a ride home. 

After they leave, Bill asks Sookie to come back to his house and talk, but she refuses, instead taking him to the pond on the property that used to belong to her parents.  They discuss the events of the previous evening, and what it means for Sookie that she's now had vampire blood three times in such a short amount of time.

At last they drive to their respective homes, and Sookie carefully scans the yard and gets her house key ready before getting out of her car.  She runs to the house and inside, slamming the door and locking it behind her just as something hits the outside of the door with a loud thud.  She screams and runs to the phone and calls Bill, shouting that someone is outside her house.  Watching from behind a closed blind, she sees him arrive moments later and search the yard, and then come to the porch.  Sookie opens the door and sees Bill holding her cat, Tina, which has been apparently strangled to death.  Sookie feels the death of her pet almost as strongly as Gran's death, and together they bury Tina in the hole that she had dug to plant the tree in, and Bill stays with her until dawn.

Commentary:

Ok, you murderous bastard, killing Gran was bad enough, but killing Tina the Cat?  Now you've crossed the line, buddy!!  Your time will come, just you wait and see!!

Apparently Sookie needs to work on her "scanning the yard before she gets out of the car" superpower, as the killer was obviously fairly close by, and she saw nothing.  How creepy is that?!

Differences Between the Book and True Blood:

Pretty much we are still on track, although Chapter 9 is where we find our first major divergence:

• In True Blood, Bill is the one who kills Long Shadow to save Sookie's life, beginning a major story arc resulting in Bill's punishment by the Magister for taking a vampire life, and being forced to create a new vampire, thus introducing young Jessica to the show.  Obviously that isn't happening here...
• And also, the killer didn't just strangle the cat and throw it on the porch - he slit its' throat and tied it to the ceiling fan so that when she turned on the light it started spinning and flung blood all over the room.

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So, join me Monday for our final segment, Chapters 11 and 12!!  Until then, please leave YOUR commentary below!  But remember, if you've read ahead, don't spoil anything for those of us who haven't!  Thanks for joining, and we hope to see you for the next edition of...

DEAD UNTIL DARK!

Teaser Tuesday - Heartless, & Dead Until Dark

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

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This week we have two Teasers.  The 1st is, of course, from Dead Until Dark.  I'm still enjoying this novel, and I encourage you to join me each Monday and Friday for my Read & React feature!  This coming Friday will be Part 5 (Chapters 9 & 10), but it's not too late to join in!  For more information, read the original announcement, or go directly to the Read & React posts!
Part 1 - Chapters 1 & 2.
Part 2 - Chapters 3 & 4.
Part 3 - Chapters 5 & 6.
Part 4 - Chapters 7 & 8.
Everyone is welcome - Hope to see you there!!

The Tease:

"I drank and saw visions, visions all with a background of darkness, of white things coming up from the ground and going hunting, the thrill of the run through the woods, the prey panting ahead and the excitement of its fear; pursuit, legs pumping, hearing the thrumming of blood through the veins of the pursued...I raised my head from his neck, and a wave of dark delight carried me out to sea."
- Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse #1), by Charlaine Harris

 The Second Tease:

 "With a roar so loud it was guaranteed to shake the porcupines in their boots, had they been wearing any, her husband shook off the creatures and reared back, as though luring them to follow him.  Perhaps he was not so disabled as he pretended.  Perhaps he was trying to draw them away from Alexia."

 - Heartless: The Parasol Protectorate, Book the Fourth, by Gail Carriger

What's your Tease?

Read and React: Dead Until Dark, Part 4

Welcome everyone to our fourth Read & React!!  Settle down now, everyone find a seat!  We've got a lot of ground to cover today!

Get out your cleaning supplies and make sure there's a fire extinguisher close at hand, just in case we need them, as we continue with Chapters 7 and 8 of Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris, which is the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series.  Please join me as I read (& react!) for the very first time to this highly praised novel.

Before we begin, a quick note on spoilers: There will be some (OK lots) - but only for the chapters actually covered in the post, and as we go on, the chapters that have been covered in previous weeks.  I may also make comparisons between the chapters covered and all seasons of HBO's adaptation of the series, True Blood.

As far as the comment section, please join in!!  I want to know what you think of my commentary, of the story itself, the characters, everything!  But if you've read the series before, or read ahead in this book, please don't let anything slip about what's coming up next!  Thanks in advance!

In case you missed them, here are the previous Read & React posts::
Part 1 - Chapters 1 & 2.
Part 2 - Chapters 3 & 4.
Part 3 - Chapters 5 & 6. 

Now that all that's out of the way, straighten your tie, smooth your skirt, adjust your substantial hat, and let's get to the chapters!

CHAPTER 7

What Happens:

The next night Sookie and Bill go to a movie, and then back to Bill's house.  They lie in bed and Bill somehow gets Sookie to talk more about her childhood, and Uncle Bartlett, and the awful things Uncle Bartlett used to do to her when she was young.  She had tried to tell her mother about the molestation, but her mother didn't believe that it was real, and she was too embarrassed to talk to her father about it.

"And the worst thing, Bill, the worst thing," I went on, just unable to stop, "is that every time he came to visit, I always knew what he was going to do because I could read his mind!  And there wasn't anything I could do to stop it!"

 She explains that after her parents died, she told Gran, who remembered a similar complaint from another child in the family years before, and immediately promised Sookie that she would never have to see Uncle Bartlett again, ever.  Gran cut her brother Bartlett completely out of her life just to protect Sookie, and even refused to let Bartlett ever see Jason, as she couldn't be sure that it was only little girls he was after. 

Sookie falls asleep in Bill's arms,  and wakes alone in the morning, and for the first time begins to see some of the flaws in their relationship.

"I would never see Bill in the sunlight.  I would never fix his breakfast, never meet him for lunch...I could never have a child by Bill, which was nice at least when you thought of not having to practice birth control, but...I'd never call Bill at the office to ask him to stop on the way home for some milk.  He'd never join the Rotary, or give a career speech at the high school, or coach Little League Baseball.  He'd never go to church with me."

She dresses and leaves Bill's house deep in thought, and is surprised to find Jason outside in his truck, waiting for her.  He doesn't quite apologize, but does admit that he has no right to judge her after the things he's done, and then he tells her that Uncle Bartlett was killed during the previous night.  The police believe a burglar broke into his house and pushed him down the stairs, breaking his neck and killing him.

"It wasn't till I got to work that it clicked.  I was drying a glass and really not thinking about Uncle Bartlett, and suddenly my fingers lost all strength.  "Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea," I said, looking down at the broken slivers of glass at my feet.  "Bill had him killed."

She finishes her shift in a daze, and then goes home and sits on the porch until Bill shows up after dark.  She tells Bill that she can't have him meddling in her life without her permission, and that she needs some time apart from him.  Bill understands, musing that the crisis arrived sooner than he expected.

Over the next week, Sookie begins trying to build a life without Bill in it.  Uncle Bartlett left her some money in his will, which she donated to a mental health center for child victims of rape and molestation.  She works on settling Gran's affairs.  She takes vitamins and learns that the Malcolm, Diane, and Liam - the Psycho 3 - have been terrorizing the communities around Bon Temps, generally making a nuisance of themselves and thereby ensuring that anti-vampire feelings in the area rise from a simmer to a slow boil.

One night a work, the atmosphere in Merlotte's seems unusually tense, and Sookie lets down her guard and begins skimming thoughts.  She hears that Mike the undertaker, and Rene Lenier are talking about burning the Psycho 3's nest over in Monroe, and as she wanders the room serving drinks and food, she realizes that they aren't the only ones thinking this.  Everyone in the bar seems to have the same idea, but she can't seem to trace it back to the source.

A little while later Bill comes in with a young vampire named Harlen, who is traveling to New Orleans, and Bill introduces Harlen to Sookie, casually mentioning that Harlen is anxious to meet Malcolm, who is something of a legend.  Sookie tells Bill to be careful, but doesn't want to say more in front of Harlen, and anyway she isn't even sure that the situation is severe enough to really worry.  But after Bill and Harlen leave, the mob mentality in the bar dials up to High, but Sookie still can't figure out who's controlling the dial.  Eventually everyone leaves and the bar closes.  Sookie drives home, hoping that Bill will be waiting in her driveway, but he's not, so she calls him and leaves a message to call her no matter the time, and then goes to bed.  He doesn't call her back.

The next morning the phone does ring, but it isn't Bill, it's Jason, telling her that the Monroe nest was burned just after sunrise, and that Jason hopes that "her" vampire wasn't there.  She remembers that Bill was taking Harlen there, but doesn't know if he would've stayed, so she drives over and arrives at the smoldering house to find firemen crawling through the debris, and on the lawn are 4 coffins and 1 body bag.  She looks in the coffins, but the bodies are unrecognizable.  Suddenly Sam is beside her and tells her that the one in the body bag is human, and the fireman asks her to try to identify it, but is a young woman that she's never seen before.  One of the other firemen cracks a joke about Southern Fried Vampires, and Sookie goes crazy on him, kicking and punching as Sam drags her away, sobbing with anger and fright, and crying that she won't even know if Bill was in one of the coffins until sundown.

Sam takes her home and keeps her mind off the tragedy by involving her in various cleaning projects all day long, until by evening she has the cleanest house in all of Renard Parrish.  Just before sundown Sam notes that she probably wants to be alone now and leaves, and as soon as it's full dark Sookie sets out in the pouring rain, through the cemetery towards Bill's house, calling for him aloud as she doesn't know where he sleeps during the day.  Bill hears her and emerges from the ground in the middle of the cemetery, and when she tells him what happened and how worried she been, he goes a little crazy with anger and grief.  He's so close to losing control that she's afraid he might kill her without realizing, and she redirects his anger into sex, and they do it right there in the rain and mud.  After, Bill carries her back to his house and bathes her while she tells him about her day, and he asks her if she can read Sam's mind.  When she tells him no, he expresses his concern for her safety and tells her that if anything should ever happen to him, she should go to Sam.  Then they have sex again.

Commentary:

So first things first, I take back everything bad I've ever said about Sam Merlotte, as he just completely redeemed himself in this chapter by caring for Sookie and keeping her sane and busy all day long.  I love you Sam!!

Second, I'm surprised it took so long for the towns' folk to grab their torches and pitchforks and storm the castle!  The Psycho 3 were not making life easy, for themselves or any other vampires (including Bill), and I would have thought that Shadow Man would have incited the burning a lot sooner than he (she?) did.  Of course, that is also a huge assumption, as the person or persons who incited the burning might not be the same he/she/they that murdered Gran and the Fang-Bangers.  But it would seem on the surface that they must be connected somehow.

I'm rather proud of our little Sookie for having the strength and courage to talk about her molestation to Bill, and also totally in favor of Bill taking out a hit on Uncle Bartlett.  Good on ya', Bill!!  However, I can see how that would totally put a damper on any future conversations.  I mean, really, if I complain about my co-worker who marinates in perfume, am I going to show up at work one day to find that she took a header off the balcony?  It would be difficult to know what was safe to say - thus resulting in Sookie's decision to put on the relationship brakes for a bit.

Harlen seemed like a cutie, so I think it's too bad that he had to die.  I am glad however that the Psycho 3 are now Crispy Critters, as I was already annoyed with them and we've only seen them a few times.

And of course the chapter wouldn't have been complete without another bath, but after SexyTimes in the mud, at least it was warranted!


Chapter 8

What Happens:

Bill and Sookie settle into an uneasy routine of spending time together. Bill is angry and frightened about the burning of the Monroe nest, and with good reason, as no matter how powerful and strong he is at night, during the day he's completely helpless, unable to protect either himself or Sookie.

The autopsy reports on all three murder victims are finally released and prove that all three women had all their blood at the time of death, and that in the cases of Dawn and Maudette, the fang marks were old, which points at a human murderer rather than a vampire one, and does nothing to set anyone's mind at ease.  The women of Merlotte's become more cautious overall, locking doors that would not normally be locked, walking to their cars in groups, being more aware of their surroundings in general.  But Sookie is the only one who lives alone, and such constant vigilance is hard to sustain over time.

Jason comes into the bar nearly every night, and always makes a point to chat with Sookie for a few moments, and she sees that he's trying to bridge the void between them.  But she also sees that he's drinking more, and sleeping around more, and one night after too many beers he confides to her that the police have had him in for questioning several more times.  He's worried enough that he's actually spoken to a lawyer, and when Sookie wonders why the police keep coming back to Jason, he tells her about the sex tapes that he made with the two victims.  He asks her if she would read the minds of everyone who comes into Merlotte's to help clear his name, and when she explains how her "disability" actually works, he's amazed that she's never gone crazy.

Arlene asks her to babysit her kids so she and Rene can go out on a date, but then freaks out when she thinks Bill might be around her children, and Sookie goes home angry.  Bill comes over, worried that she hadn't called to let him know she got home ok, and she apologizes, but is still fuming, and decides to dig a hole to plant a tree in the yard while Bill watches.  Bill quips that usually when he's this angry he rips UP a tree, or else kills someone.  You know, whichever is more convenient.

She calms down and after they have sex (What?  No bath?!?)  Bill tells her that Eric wants Bill to bring Sookie to Fangtasia.  She doesn't want to go, afraid of what Eric might want, but Bill explains that if they don't go, Eric will just send other vampire to force her.  She agrees to go the next night, and Bill convinces her to drink some more of his blood so that she will be stronger when they see Eric.  She's grossed out by the idea, but finally agrees, and bites his neck, swallowing the blood and the dark visions that come with it, which leads to more SexyTimes.

"Bill made a noise deep in his chest and convulsed inside me.  I raised my head from his neck, and a wave of dark delight carried me out to sea.  This was pretty exotic stuff for a telepathic barmaid from northern Louisiana."

Commentary:

I love that last little bit of this chapter, not necessarily because of the blood drinking, but I have to say that these last few paragraphs show the authors' writing ability in an amazing light.  "A wave of dark delight," is so poetically gorgeous that one almost wishes one was there to experience it...

Almost.  Because actually - ew, ick, gah!  But a gorgeous turn of phrase, nonetheless.

Anyway, technical issues aside, it's nice to see that Jason is continuing to make an attempt to mend things with his sister, although now I'm less convinced than I was before of his sincerity, as his request makes it feel like he was only being nice so she'd do him a favor.  On the other hand, I'm sure he's scared, and it does seem like a reasonable request.  I'm just amazed that they've reached adulthood without ever discussing her "disability" in this kind of detail before, as it seems he really has no idea how it works or how hard she has to work to keep people OUT.

I can also sympathize with Bill's feelings of helplessness, but I guess that just means he'll need to work a little harder to show the people of Bon Temps that he is nothing like the Psycho 3 were.

And last but not least - Chapter 9 looks to be an interesting one, with Bill and Sookie heading to Shreveport to visit Eric...can we guess what he wants with Sookie??

Differences Between the Book and True Blood:

Pretty much we are still on track, with very few differences between the show and the book.  The main differences I've noticed are:

• In the TV show, Uncle Bartlett was found several days later, floating face down in the swamp that is fed by the creek behind his house, and Bill did the deed himself instead of phoning it in.
• Ummmmm...that's all I remember.

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So, join me Friday for Chapters 9 and 10!!  Until then, please leave YOUR commentary below!  But remember, if you've read ahead, don't spoil anything for those of us who haven't!  Thanks for joining, and we hope to see you for the next edition of...

DEAD UNTIL DARK!

Read & React: Dead Until Dark, Part 3

Welcome Dearly Beloved, and thank you for coming.  We are gathered here today for our third Read & React!

Put on your best Sunday-Go-To-Meetin' clothes, as we attend several very solemn gatherings, in Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris, which is the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series.  Please join me as I read (& react!) for the very first time to this highly praised novel.

Before we begin, a quick note on spoilers: There will be some (OK lots) - but only for the chapters actually covered in the post, and as we go on, the chapters that have been covered in previous weeks.  I may also make comparisons between the chapters covered and all seasons of HBO's adaptation of the series, True Blood.

As far as the comment section, please join in!!  I want to know what you think of my commentary, of the story itself, the characters, everything!  But if you've read the series before, or read ahead in this book, please don't let anything slip about what's coming up next!  Thanks in advance!

In case you missed them, here are the previous Read & React posts::
Part 1 - Chapters 1 & 2.
Part 2 - Chapters 3 & 4.

Now that all that's out of the way, straighten your tie, smooth your skirt, adjust your substantial hat, and let's get to the chapters!

CHAPTER 5

What Happens:

Sookie soon realizes that Andy Bellefleur has begun to hang out at Merlotte's, always sits in her section, and every time she approaches his table he begin to "think" at her, trying to get her to read his mind again, so he can "catch" her when she reacts.  It's like a game to him, but Sookie can't for the life of her figure out why he even cares.  Then one day as she nears his table with a glass of soda, he mentally imagines her and her brother Jason having sexy times, which is the last straw.

"Andy had looked up with an expectant face, and when he saw tears an amazing range of things ran across his face in quick succession: triumph, chagrin, then scalding shame.

I poured the damn Coke down his shirt.

I walked right past the bar and out the back door."

Sam follows her out, wanting to know what's wrong, and when she tells him, Sam drags Andy out and makes him apologize.  Sookie tells him that maybe he should spend his time trying to find out who the murderer is, rather than playing dirty mind games with her.

She calms down and goes back inside to finish her shift, and at the end of the day Sam asks if he can take her to the Descendants of the Glorious Dead meeting that evening, where Bill Compton was going to speak about the Civil War, and then out for coffee after.  Sookie agrees, even though she is unsure of the wisdom of going on a date with her boss.  He picks her up in his truck and they arrive at the meeting hall just as everyone is settling into place.  Bill arrives, and Maxine Fortenberry (Hoyt's mother) introduces Bill to the eager audience, and Bill begins to describe what life was like during the Civil War.  Before long the entire gathering is spellbound by his words as he talks of how Bon Temps' ancestors lived and fought and sometimes died, some bravely, and some less so.  After the crowd surges around him to thank him and welcome him into the community, and Sam and Sookie slip away unnoticed.

They go to a diner for coffee and pie, and Sam suddenly asks Sookie if she has feelings for Bill.  She answers truthfully, and they argue.

"I've always liked you."

"So much that you had to wait till someone else showed an interest, before you mentioned it to me?"

Sam takes her home and kisses her good night, and Sookie waits for him to drive away before she opens the door to go inside the house.  She assumes that Gran would be home from the meeting by now, but when she calls out, no one answers.  Feeling as if something is wrong, she wanders through the house flipping on lights and calling out for Adele, before finally arriving in the kitchen, where she turns on the light and finds Gran on the floor, dead, and covered in blood.  Sookie begins screaming uncontrollably, and within moments Bill arrives and pulls her out of the kitchen.

They call the police and Andy Bellefleur arrives, with Jason shortly after, followed by Sam.  Sookie has already figured out that she was the intended victim, as she was supposed to be home alone while Adele was at the meeting.  Jason accuses Bill of the murder, then gets angry at Sookie because Gran left Sookie the house and land, provided she gives her half of their parents house to Jason.  Sam takes Jason away to cool down, and Bill tells Sookie that he agrees with her theory, that whoever killed Dawn and Maudette and come here to kill Sookie also, but instead found Gran just after she had arrived home from the meeting.  Bill also realizes that this whole time Sookie has been trying to clear his name by proving that he couldn't have been involved with Dawn or Maudette.  He assures Sookie that Andy will see that, "even if he is a Bellefleur."

Just then Jason comes back, still angry and blaming her for Gran's death, and slaps her, knocking her to the ground.  Bill jumps between them and helps Sookie, while Sam tackles Jason and drags him off.  Andy watches this all with distaste and wishes he could lock up every last one of them.

The day of the funeral, Sookie stands at the side of the coffin with Jason, her face sore and bruised, and feels more alone than ever.  She realizes that all Gran's friends - nearly the whole town - have come to the cemetery.  The day passes in a blur, with Sookie and Jason not saying a word to each other until someone asks about Adele's brother, Bartlett.  Jason tells Sookie that they will need to call Bartlett and tell him, and Sookie tells Jason that he will have to do that himself.  He agrees, and they don't speak to each other again for the rest of the day.

Commentary:

Damn it, Gran!!  Why you gotta go and get yourself killed?  (headdesk, headdesk, headdesk, facepalm)

I'm curious how Jason even knew what was in Gran's Will, when she's not even cold yet.  And why he should care that Sookie gets Gran's house, when he already has their parents house?  I don't get it.  Maybe it's grief.

And once again we get a glimpse that Bill has some prejudice against the Bellefleur name.  Something from the past - an old family feud perhaps?

The funeral sounded nice though, along with all the nosy gossips, er, I mean well-wishers.

Sam needs to either "you-know-what" or get off the pot, to misuse an old phrase, but at least he comes through for Sookie when it really counts.  Like when her brother is smackin' her around and blaming her for things she had nothing to do with.  Never mind the inappropriateness of dating your employee. Gah!

Ah well!  You know.  Good times!!

Also I would like to point out that Sookie showers, and changes clothes, like, A LOT.  I mean good for her, and all, I'm glad she does, and I'm sure her friends and co-workers appreciate it as well, 'cause, you know, it sucks to work with someone who's kinda smelly.  So good on you, Sookie!  But do we have to read about it every single time??  I mean, really, if you show up at work or a date, I'll just assume that you showered, shaved your legs, and changed your clothes already, and then we can skip all the details.  K? K!



Chapter 6

What Happens:

Sookie stays home for the next three days.  Arlene helps her pack up all of Gran's belongings, and Sookie decides to move into Gran's room.  After cleaning all day, she showers, (again?  Oh hell...) and Bill comes over just after she gets out of the shower and she invites him in.  They sit on the couch and he combs the tangles out of the wet hair while she relaxes and enjoys his mental silence, and he opens up and tells her all about his human family - his wife and children - from before he became a vampire.  Then they kiss, and he picks her up and carries her into her new bedroom, where they have obnoxious and frightening chats about her virginity and yada yada nakedness blah blah ew gross yada yada.  Then he uses some of his blood to heal her vajayjay so that they can rinse and repeat.


The next day at work, Jason comes in for lunch, and when she asks him how he's doing, he confides to her that the police have questioned him again about the deaths of Dawn and Maudette.  Sookie tells him that he needs to get a lawyer, and Jason agrees, telling her that Rene suggested the same thing.

Meanwhile, even with Bill's healing blood application she's still a little sore, but oh so happy and relaxed, and Arlene figures out she's been having some "fun" and wants to know who the lucky guy is.  When Sookie informs her co-workers that it was Bill, everyone freaks out for about thirty seconds, and then does their best to be supportive and happy for her.  Except for Sam who pulls down her collar to reveal the fang marks on her neck.

"Oh, shit," Lafayette said, very softly. 

I looked right into Sam's eyes, thinking I'd never forgive him for doing this to me.  "Don't you touch my clothes," I told him, stepping away from him and pulling the collar back straight.  "Don't tend to my personal life."

"I'm scared for you, I'm worried about you," he said, as Arlene and Charlsie hastily found other things to do.

"No you're not, or not entirely.  You're mad as hell.  Well listen, buddy. You NEVER GOT IN LINE."

Later in the evening, Bill stops into Merlotte's to say hi to Sookie, and while he's still there, Malcolm & Diane come in, hissing and showing fang and making a scene, laughing about Gran's death, and wondering when Sookie will die, too.  Sookie thinks that they are trying to turn the town folk against Bill, but the fact that he protects her from the two psychotic vampires actually seems to work in his favor.  Malcolm & Diane leave, and Sookie decides that they should leave the bar as well, so they drive back to Bill's house so that he can show her the remodelling work that's been done so far, and the big, new, fancy bathroom with the big, new, shiny spa tub, and they take a bath together.

Commentary:

Seriously?  Another bath? (sigh)

So, if Bill the vampire can use his blood to heal her wounds, including her hymen, why doesn't he use his blood to heal the fang marks on her neck?

And what is the deal with Malcolm and Diane?  Are they just trying to stir the pot and make things difficult for Bill to "mainstream," or is there something else going on?  Or maybe they are just bored and bitchy?  And where's Liam?  And why doesn't Bill just like, snap them like a twig or something?

And now that Jason's in trouble again, suddenly he's being nice-ish to his sister?  What's up with that?

Oh yeah, and Sam?  WHAT'S YOUR DAMAGE?!?

Differences Between the Book and True Blood:

Pretty much we are still on track, with very few differences between the show and the book.  The main differences I've noticed are:

• The only thing I remember at this point is that, Uncle Bartlett actually came to Gran's funeral, because Jason called him without telling Sookie.
• Jason hit Sookie at the funeral, not the night Gran died.
• I think that's it?

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So the bottom line is that, at the halfway point in the novel, we now have lots of questions, and very few answers.  Who's going around killing people?  Is Jason really a jerk, or just overcome with grief?  Will Sam always be a douche canoe, or will he grow up and start acting like a normal not-quite-human being?

Quick procedural note: Part 4 will be delayed until Tuesday, due to the July 4th holiday.  I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend, and I'll see y'all back here next week!!

Until then, please leave YOUR commentary below!  But remember, if you've read ahead, don't spoil anything for those of us who haven't!  Thanks for joining, and we hope to see you for the next edition of...

DEAD UNTIL DARK!