June09_1

This is what has occupied me for the past 2 weeks, to the detriment of all interruptions (work, mothering, vacuuming): Charlaine Harris' "Sookie Stackhouse Vampire Mysteries". It's a humiliating admission, but began innocently enough with K bringing the first 2 books home from the US. P and I have been watching the HBO series "True Blood" on Foxtel, and loving the dirty white trash deep South vibe and nutty vampire plot. Book 1 of this series (9 books strong and still coming) is the plot of the entire first season of True Blood, and it's doubly engaging working out what the TV people decided to change (introducing a sassy black girlfriend and a fabulously camp black chef/drug dealer - recognise a theme, here?).

Sookie is a telepathic waitress in a deep South bar, who falls for a vampire for the blessed relief of not being able to hear his thoughts, and his dead-cool sexual magnetism. It's 2 years since vampires came out of the closet (coffin?) and entered mainstream society as citizens, but the South is just getting used to the notion. Sookie is super-cute and sassy, and her mind-reading skills make her handy to the vamps, so after book 1 it's a straightforward mystery genre series: Sookie gets caught up in some supernatural snarl and saves the day, with lots of sex and blood. Lots of sex.

I'm banning myself from reading more until I input some quality into my reading diet, and engage my kids in conversation.