Charlaine Harris, I’ve Given Up on You…And Your Little Books Too!
jenny | Jul 12, 2010 | Comments 10
Remember back in the month of June when I spent several blogs and an entire episode of Podcaturday complaining about Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mysteries novels? No? You don’t remember? Well in that case, you can refresh your memory here and here if you’d like. I’m not planning on delving too deeply into the same old complaints.
I will tell you that after taking an entire month to read Dead Until Dark, I tentatively started reading book two in the series: Living Dead in Dallas. I managed to read the first ninety pages of the book before I decided no more. If I’m going to waste my time reading fluffy stuff, I want to at least get some kind of enjoyment out of it. That’s not happening.
Maybe if I hadn’t fallen in love with True Blood, I might have been able to suspend my disbelief in Charlaine Harris’s world. I might have found some way to relate to Sookie and not even noticed I was missing out on the depth of the other characters. Not being a major fan of Bill Compton, he at least has some redeeming qualities in the True Blood series. In the books, whenever Vampire Bill comes around, I just get annoyed and start thinking of which angle I need to throw the book in order to keep from seriously hurting my dog sleeping in the chair across the room.
I won’t re-bore you with the truth about how lame the writing is, or any of that stuff. I’m just noting that I’ve officially given up on reading those terrible books and will commence to live happily ever in an untainted True Blood world where Eric Northman has emotional depth and history and Tara and Jessica actually exist. I’m sorry, but I can’t exist in a world where Tara and Jessica don’t exist and vampire Elvis does. I just can’t do it.
And there are a lot of people who think I’m a jerk because I hate these books and would probably set them on fire in the backyard if Squeenager wasn’t enjoying them on a moderate scale. (I know, I’m a bad mom who lets my child read smutty trash.) I even had one lovely commenter on my big June Southern Vampire Mysteries rant say, “You’re just jealous…” For the record, I’d like to clarify that I am NOT jealous. I would rather write fiction well and get paid in Doritos than get paid a boatload of cash to write garbage. For the record: I do not even like Doritos.
Maybe Charlaine Harris’s other books, the ones that don’t even have Sookie Stackhouse in them, are better, but I’ll never know. I can’t bring myself to read them.
And in the end, I wind up griping the same old gripe about cruddy garbage fiction flooding the popular market, while great writers live in shacks and spearfish for their dinner.
I’ll stop now, but not until I shake my fist and say, “Charlaine Harris, I’ve given up on you… and your little books too!”
Better to spearfish for food, I can live with that.
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I do not want to live in a world where there is no Jessica.
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you are of course welcome to your opinions of any books you read. however i completely disagree with you. the only reason to watch true blood is the few times that alexander skarsgard is on screen. i personally am offended that they’ve turned sookie into a foul-mouthed, motor mouth. i’m pissed that they’ve turned everyone into junkies, and eric into a dealer. the sad this is, having been tainted by the tv show you won’t be reading the rest of the books to see the evolution of all the characters. is CH the greatest writer ever born? of course not. but what i love is that she’s taken the span of the stories and allowed her characters to develop gradually.
The last Vampire book I read was by Christopher Moore and there wasn’t all that brooding going on, lots of pee in your pants laughing but no brooding, or depth for that matter. I don’t have as much time as I would like to read anymore so I have decided if I am going to take the time I want to be laughing so hard I have to change my underpants. So thanks, now I can skip this one and not feel any guilt.
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I’ve not read the books and I’ve never seen the show so I’ll refrain from commenting on what I’ve heard of both but rather point out what I look for in a story. I look for characters that have some level of background, reason for existing within the story and emotional grounding (whether to have you like/love or hate them). I also like a plot, something to drive the story of the characters forward toward some end. It doesn’t have to be complex, just something that I can enjoy if I’m going to invest my time in it. What I’m hearing from you Jenny, is that you’re not getting that from this series. No harm, no foul. You can move on to something else that you enjoy while others hang on CH’s every word, whether they actually form a coherent sentence of not. But I digress. With the sheer volume of written works to choose from, skipping this series isn’t going to keep you up at night or be the angst you feel on your deathbed.
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Jenny, listen to Jen! Don’t waste your time on this teeny bopper crap when there are geniuses like Christopher Moore out there!
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Hm, I haven’t read Christopher Moore either, but I’ll have to check it out.
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Since I didn’t grow up on a diet of Entertainment Weekly or celebrity biographies, but read actual books, I agree with you. I know what I want in a good novel, and this isn’t it. I think a lot of folks are like you Jenny. They see the show, pick up the books thinking that they’ll be similar, only to find some poor excuse for a story in their hands. I hate how Hollywood can take a virtually unknown author and make them a bestseller like this, when there are so many better writers out there more deserving of that title.
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Jenni,
I have just begun creating a book review site and saw Jaqueline’s comment on facebook. I’d love to add your site to blogs I follow but didn’t see that above. See the share buttons, but the RSS feed had errors. Thanks for your help.
T.M.
Hi Tracy,
I am looking into the feed issue now and will hopefully have it fixed ASAP! Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Jenny