Sookie Stackhouse

[NenetRN]

OMG you guys, seriously!......

I don't know what I'm more shocked at.  The fact that you guys were so intrigued by this to the point of requesting page numbers..... or the fact that i haden't really noticed before how Cheeeezzzzzzy the scenes were! lol......

Whatever..... I still LOVE Charlaine

[TiggerBear]

NenetRN wrote:

OMG you guys, seriously!......

I don't know what I'm more shocked at.  The fact that you guys were so intrigued by this to the point of requesting page numbers..... or the fact that i haden't really noticed before how Cheeeezzzzzzy the scenes were! lol......

Whatever..... I still LOVE Charlaine

Oh go ahead and laugh. I've been skimming around due to the fact that the quotes are from all the books. Found the bottom 3 so far. When I finish I'm going to skim over the sex scenes in her other book series, see if it's consistent.

[TiggerBear]

Right results so far. And no I have no idea why I never clued in before.

Dead until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Series #1) (True Blood)

  

Series total 40% of sex is your 1950tys fade out. A good 30% cheesey dialog. The remainder is Sookie's mental justifications.

Real Murders (Aurora Teagarden Series #1)

  

Clumsy fumbles and 50tys fade outs. Not unpleasant but humorous out of context.

Shakespeare's Landlord (Lily Bard Series #1)

  

Kind of well.. hot. Not steamy, but intense.

Grave Sight (Harper Connelly Series #1)

  

Halmark channel anyone?

Which brings this up. I don't think CH is incapable of writing a really good sex scene. It's just she tailors them to her perspective of the protagonist.

But really are any of us reading her series as erotica anyway?

[soylentgeek]

TiggerBear wrote:

Which brings this up. I don't think CH is incapable of writing a really good sex scene. It's just she tailors them to her perspective of the protagonist.

But really are any of us reading her series as erotica anyway?

Not at all. It's just that I tend to skim over the parts that are like that because they actually make me dislike Sookie even more. Maybe it is in character for Sookie to talk that way, but it's also why I don't like Sookie and if she were a real person I wouldn't want to even attempt a conversation with her.

If I didn't make myself ignore Sookie's personality, I never would've finished the first book.

[paulgoatallen]

I just asked my sister – a Sookie Stackhouse fanatic – and she said that, yes, soylentgeek is 100% correct. These "unsuccessful" sex scenes do bring up lots of discussion topics – I have Dead in the Family on my to-read list in a few weeks so I'll be revisiting this in a BIG way shortly....

What do you guys think about featuring Dead in the Family (pub date May 4th) in May? Any thoughts either way?

Paul

[TiggerBear]

paulgoatallen wrote:

I just asked my sister – a Sookie Stackhouse fanatic – and she said that, yes, soylentgeek is 100% correct. These "unsuccessful" sex scenes do bring up lots of discussion topics – I have Dead in the Family on my to-read list in a few weeks so I'll be revisiting this in a BIG way shortly....

What do you guys think about featuring Dead in the Family (pub date May 4th) in May? Any thoughts either way?

Paul

Had you asked me prediscussion YES, post still YES.

But it's got me thinking a reluctant clairvoyant. True she doesn't like looking into other people's heads but to say she seen far too many mental sex scenes is a bit of an understatement. I mean at this point in her life I'd liken it to a far too much bad porn effect. Just a thought...

[paulgoatallen]

I'm still stuck on:

"While I stood stock-still, paralyzed by conflicting waves of emotion, Eric took the soap out of my hands and lathered up his own, set the soap back in its little niche, and began to wash my arms, raising each in turn to stroke my armpit, down my side, never touching my breasts, which were practically quivering like puppies who wanted to be petted..."

Really WEIRD visuals...

Paul

[TiggerBear]

paulgoatallen wrote:

I'm still stuck on:

"While I stood stock-still, paralyzed by conflicting waves of emotion, Eric took the soap out of my hands and lathered up his own, set the soap back in its little niche, and began to wash my arms, raising each in turn to stroke my armpit, down my side, never touching my breasts, which were practically quivering like puppies who wanted to be petted..."

Really WEIRD visuals...

Paul

Exactly, bad porn. Use of animal names for body parts; Monkey, Snake, ....

[3monstersmom]

At least it says something for the story that none of us realized how CHEESY the sex scenes were.  I will be paying attention from now on!  Definite yes for being a May feature, but there are a lot of great books coming out in May...

[soylentgeek]

TiggerBear wrote:

Had you asked me prediscussion YES, post still YES.

But it's got me thinking a reluctant clairvoyant. True she doesn't like looking into other people's heads but to say she seen far too many mental sex scenes is a bit of an understatement. I mean at this point in her life I'd liken it to a far too much bad porn effect. Just a thought...

There's a lot of unintentional contradiction with Sookie. I'd be down with a thread on that one, since I think I can knock out #8 and #9 before May.

Sookie claims to be very innocent, but she reads minds and throughout most of the books every human man she encounters is thinking about all maner of sexual things regarding her. The demure blushing act doesn't really go with that. She's always talking about how strong she is, but as soon as someone starts to give her a hard time or hit on her, she wants a protector around. She's telepathic and can't shut off the constant flow of other people's thoughts, so she gets a job in a bar where she's guaranteed to be surrounded by a crowd of people all the time rather than a nice quiet office job that'd limit the number of people she's around. She hates hearing the thoughts of men who want to have sex with her, so she chooses an occupation where all the customers are fueled by liquid courage.

Other than that, I've noticed she uses the word 'barmaid' so often it could almost be a Sookie Stackhouse drinking game. Every time she says 'barmaid', drink.

[pen21]

I have #7 here to start reading. I think I can be ready by May.

After reading this thread, I will be watching for her descriptions of the sex scenes. The books are a fun read, so some cheesy parts don't detract from my reading. In a way it fits into Sookie and how naive she was in that first book, in my opinion.

pen21

[paulgoatallen]

Just to clarify things, the below quote is on p. 120 of Dead to the World (Southern Vampire #4), according to two people who are Sookie Stackhouse freaks. I don't have this book so if anyone does, please let me know if this info is correct because I'm going to use it in a future blog....

Paul

"While I stood stock-still, paralyzed by conflicting waves of emotion, Eric took the soap out of my hands and lathered up his own, set the soap back in its little niche, and began to wash my arms, raising each in turn to stroke my armpit, down my side, never touching my breasts, which were practically quivering like puppies who wanted to be petted..."

[Nelsmom]

paulgoatallen wrote:

Just to clarify things, the below quote is on p. 120 of Dead to the World (Southern Vampire #4), according to two people who are Sookie Stackhouse freaks. I don't have this book so if anyone does, please let me know if this info is correct because I'm going to use it in a future blog....

Paul

"While I stood stock-still, paralyzed by conflicting waves of emotion, Eric took the soap out of my hands and lathered up his own, set the soap back in its little niche, and began to wash my arms, raising each in turn to stroke my armpit, down my side, never touching my breasts, which were practically quivering like puppies who wanted to be petted..."

Paul,

I just checked my copy of the book and you are right on about that quote from Dead To The World.  I have got my name on the list for the book coming out in May and will be here for the discussion.

Toni

[paulgoatallen]

Thanks, Toni – now I can use the quote and not be freaking out about it!

Paul

[FaeryQueen]

Well hmm  I may have to reread the series now.  I never really noticed the cheesy sex scenes.  Of course they read so fast it could be that I didn't even notice.  Heck, lately I read one and finish going 'What? Is that all?'  The last few books have all this stuff happening but no real meat around the events.  Especially the last one.  I don't mind cliffhangers but I need to feel a little more involvement in the events.

To me the series is like Mary Janice Davidson's books.....quick fillers without the emotional draw of a book like some of the other popular series we discuss.  

Does Sookie mention things like her quivery puppies in the HBO series??  I've only seen bits and pieces of an episode, but I wonder if the cheese carried over to TV.

[TiggerBear]

FaeryQueen wrote:

Does Sookie mention things like her quivery puppies in the HBO series??  I've only seen bits and pieces of an episode, but I wonder if the cheese carried over to TV.

Not in season 1 no, haven't seen sea 2 yet so.....

[soylentgeek]

TiggerBear wrote:

Not in season 1 no, haven't seen sea 2 yet so.....

I think it is the most unintentionally funny show I have seen in a very long time. Some of the dialogue cracks me up just as much as Sookie does in the book, particularly the way Vampire Bill talks with the accent, and how Sookie gets offended at practically everything that's not Disney rated. The grandmother was also funny to me, mostly because of her old-fashioned ideas about courting and all that. Sam seems a little less like a love-sick, pathetic hanger-on than he does in the books, but not by much so far. I don't get how every man in the show is all paternalistic with Sookie, or why she puts up with it, either.

[Mwaits]

I loved the Sookie books and I know everyone is different, I dont know, I just enjoyed them.  Harris also has other series that have nothing to with vamps....they are quick reads just like Sookie. O and by the way......Another Sookie book is coming out in June of this year....excited for that.  I love the show and the books. I  think the show is different but just as good....and the Stephanie Meyers books....lets just say...>TEAM EDWARD all the way!  HA!

[pen21]

I am reading the 7th Sookie book. I have watched season 1 and most of season 2. They are similar but different. Not as funny. But each good in their own way. I watch the series on HBO with my son and his wife. I have to be careful what I say(they haven't read all the books), because they introduce characters at different places, characters aren't quite the same in their actions or how much screen time they have. But I am looking forward to reading more books. And I want to watch that last part of season 2 that I missed.

pen21

[Sovereign_Queen]

I do have to say that as far as Urban Fantasy love scenes go, these are quite tame (which isn't a bad thing in my book, per say, lol).  But she really advanced the genre--before some of these pioneer divas there were really *only* closed door love scenes in UF.  So, books like these were going out there just having love scenes.  Now, thanks to writers like her, there's all levels of heat in UF.  But since she started out with a "tame" heat level, she probably is trying to keep it about the same as to not offend anyone...KIWM?  Just my four cents...

Also, i have to say, writing love scenes is hard for some people (like me, lol).

~Suzi