i’ve just started february’s first book: genome (matt ridley). so far i’m hooked, but i’ve been wanting to read this book (and delve into this subject) for a while now. we’ll see how i like it.
i hadn’t realized i read so many books this past month (but really, why should i be surprised?) until i really stopped to think about it. and maybe this is not atypical of what every month will be like, but i did manage to plow through quite a lot despite how crazy busy/awful work was/has been/is/continues to be…
it started off with the sookie stackhouse book set the boy got me for christmas. i tried really hard to postpone and put off tearing through those as long as possible. i lasted till shortly after new year. the set had 8 books total, i had already read the first one months ago. seven books in about 3 weeks, in between books i re-read the first one. though, while they are interesting and engaging, do they really count as 8 books total? maybe it’s like one really big books. they’re such a brief, quick read…i just don’t know.
- southern vampire series: charlaine harris
- dead until dark: i read this first, re-reading it over the course of the month was fun. i liked this book enough that i think i’ve read it 3 or 4 times already. since we’ve been watching true blood, everything that happened in this book was familiar but just a little bit different. small changes, variations on what was already known. it was interesting to see it all unfold, and how the characters changed from print to television.
- living dead in dallas: season 2 of true blood focuses on this book, and while it provides a general guideline for the television that’s where the similarities stop. perhaps character development is more rich and vivid on tv, but i think the books are far more action packed and engaging. sookie is a lot more likeable in the books, and she doesn’t spend so much time with bill starting now. plus, there is a lot more to eric than you’d imagine, and he really becomes the focus of the series (vampire-wise) starting with book 2. oh, and i was disappointed that lafayette’s death was more of a footnote than an actual event. i love lafayette.
- club dead: this is probably one of my favorites? i’m not sure how true that is right now, but it sounds about right. the whole sookie stackhouse universe is turned on it’s head. not only are there vampires and shapeshifters to deal with, there are werewolves and other were-animals as well. plus, bill is missing. but is also kind of a douche. also: sookie gets staked. ouch!
- dead to the world: this book was super fun, also interesting how every piece of the previous books weaves together to fit into the next book. eric is decidedly NOT eric-like, and sookie seems to be a perpetual magnet for trouble, doom and gloom. also, there are fairies…wtf? fairies that are apparently delicious treats to vampires. who knew?
- dead as a doornail: this book has the most jason stackhouse action in it by far. this is a good and bad thing. in true blood, jason is unavoidably adorable in that he is literally too dumb to die, and pretty much a caricature of himself without even knowing it. throughout the book series, jason is selfish, obtuse and one-dimensional. then he gets sucked into the supernatural world but instead of bringing him and sookie closer, it actually drives a pretty considerable wedge between them. sookie gets more and more involved in the vampire/werewolf dramas, and even has her own fairy godmother.
- definitely dead: this is one i want to see played out on tv. sookie’s cousin dies in pre-katrina new orleans and there are weretigers and witches and the queen of louisiana’s home hosting a vampire monarch wedding. very little bill, a lot more eric, and as the series progresses, pam becomes more and more endearing.
- all together dead: sookie and bill are done for (possibly for good and forever) thanks to the queen and eric. there’s a lot more weretiger action going down and a vampire summit that almost seems to ridiculous to actually take place. fellowship of the sun crazies keep turning up and post-katrina the louisiana vampires are hurting badly (physically and financially). it is interesting to see sookie get involved with someone who is not bill or eric or sam for a change.
- from dead to worse: this one was pretty good. sookie ends it with the weretiger, finds out just exactly how much of her is part fairy and all sorts of crap goes down. shit steadily gets more and more out of control. sookie still narrowly escapes death, again, but manages to be pretty interesting. honestly, i can’t wait to read the next book.
last, i read battle royale (koushun takami). it was, in a word: fantastic. seriously and truly fantastic. well-paced, action packed, striking and engaging. i could barely tear myself away from it, and though it was quite a hefty volume, the story is so fluid that i tore through the whole thing in less than a week. even reading just in transport or evenings. it was too good to put down. i’m seriously considering pursuing any other english-language books the author may have available. plus, i desperately want to see the movie now. it should be plenty gory, if the book is any indicator.
and now i’ve started genome. so far so good. of course, i’m always on the lookout for more books to read.
always.
