Arriving casually late I find Ann seated in the outdoor patio area waiting and reading the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, "Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris. For those who have been sucked into HBO's hit show "True Blood" you are well aware that the Sookie Stackhouse books are the reason why we have a new show to obsess over! Ann and I (along with many of our friends and colleagues) can't get enough of the show. I don't have TV so I had given the first season's DVD's a shot (and now I'm doomed).
Once I had heard that the show was based off books I was intrigued to check them out myself. Everyone kept telling me that the books are pretty faithful. However when I went to the local bookstore on Larchmont and found the series of books on the shelf I reacted like a vamp approaching cloves of garlic. I am so used to the dark HBO series that I've grown to love that the cheesy, almost children's book cover turned me off. I couldn't get over how cartoony Sookie and Vampire Bill look on the cover. Vampire Bill looks like the Count von Count from Sesame Street for crying out loud! Talk about judging a book by its cover.
I asked Ann what she thought so far and she says that the narrative seems to be right on the money. Or rather the TV show is pratically mirroring the book's narrative. "Even the dialects in the book are so similar. When I read the words I can hear Sookie's voice talking in my head. It's great!"
Alright, so I may have to give the books a try. I will just have to tear the covers off...and avoid reading the backs of the books because I ended up reading the back of Book 9 and all I kept thinking was "Wait, WHAT?! He does WHAT?!" Just seemed too silly. But hey, I can't knock it 'til I try it, right? I'll have to borrow Ann's copy when she is done and give you all a full report on biting the silver bullet.
Are there any television shows or movies that you enjoyed first then decided to check out the books they were based off of?
1 comments:
oh god! are the covers hideous. she tricked me with the first book whose cover was redone all sexy for the show. as the (proud?) owner of the boxset, i was appalled when i opened it up. at least they're super quick reads - before repulsion has time to register, you're done!
and um...i dropped twenty bucks (yikes!) on the latest hardback... cover came off before i even stepped out of the store. the book is yours when you need it. you won't want to need it, but you will :)
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