I’ve heard a couple of people condemn this series as badly-written, “trashy” in the bad way. I don’t really get that; I’m INCREDIBLY picky about writing, how can anyone be pickier than me? They must have a different meaning for “trashy.” And for bad writing.

I really enjoy Charlaine Harris’ writing style. Her other mysteries tend to be a little on the depressing (or in some cases just depressed) side for me, but what we now call the “True Blood” series is saved from that by heroine Sookie Stackhouse’s determined optimism.

It took me a while to figure out what Harris was doing that I liked so much, stylistically. I finally realized that she is in touch with the sensory world here in a way I haven’t seen in her other novels or in many books in general. The pacing alternates between action and regular, everyday experiences like sunbathing or taking a bubble bath. Sookie, as the narrator of the series, shares her feelings about everything, often subtly – both physical feelings and emotional ones. Harris doesn’t hit us over the head with “THIS IS HOW SOOKIE FEELS ABOUT THIS GUY,” either; she weaves all these psychological and sensory impressions into the narrative so deftly that it’s easy not to notice they’re there, even as they flavor the entire experience of reading her books.

I enjoy the fact, too, that these are survivor novels. It’s made perfectly clear from the beginning that Sookie was abused by her “funny uncle”. It’s a more active plot line in this first book, but Harris doesn’t just drop it after that; the fact comes up from time to time in later books as appropriate, just as it would in real life. Sookie occasionally gives some thought to how it’s affected her, and we can see more ways that she may not even realize: her self-image, for example, starts out fairly low and slowly blossoms over the course of the books, and she is a 26-year-old (if I remember right) virgin when the books start, which supposedly is because she is also telepathic but can’t be totally unconnected to the abuse.

Fun, adventurous reads, although I will say it gets pretty violent from time to time. There’s always the sense that the good guys will win, as opposed to in real life, plus the excitement of seeing HOW they will win – since werewolves, magic, fairies, and all kinds of other really well-thought-out supernatural nuttiness keeps getting thrown into the equation.

Really, my ultimate recommendation for these books comes from a gut level: no matter how many times I read them, I still just want to read them over and over and over again. There aren’t a whole lot of books that work that way for me, so the Sookie Stackhouse books hold a special place in my heart.

Sidebar: I enjoy the HBO series a great deal too; although they often take extreme liberties with the plot and characters, so far (halfway through the first season – yes, I’m behind) the plotlines still seem very true to the original characters. Cut for spoilers:

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Tara, rather than being the owner of an upscale clothing boutique, is the troubled adult child of a RAGING alcoholic. She snags a job at the bar where Sookie works, sleeps with the boss, and yearns for Sookie’s brother Jason. While I’m sad that they demoted her to a serially unemployed bartender with rage problems, I do love the note-perfect portrayal of a desperate young woman who knows exactly how her addict mother’s abuse has scarred her and yet has no idea that there is any way out. I swear to you, some of the scenes with Tara and her mother give me full-body goosebumps. Brilliant acting, brilliant writing, brilliant directing.

Jason, for his part, becomes a RAGING drug addict, and is, as in the books, a raging sex addict. In fact, I think his character is more realistic in the HBO series. In the books he clearly behaves like a sex addict, compulsively sleeping with every woman in town, but then tries to settle down with a woman who I think ends up cheating on him herself.

It’s not uncommon for a sex addict to be faithful to one dysfunctional relationship for a while, especially with another sex addict who is acting out on them; like any addict, we tend to subconsciously figure that as long as somebody’s screwing somebody over, the status quo is being maintained. Doesn’t matter so much if we are the screwer or the screwee. But HBO’s portrayal of the situation rings truer to me; where the books tell us about Jason’s behavior through others, the television show portrays it in full color, all the way down to him fucking someone he just met, in a drug-addled haze, in plain sight on the ground near the parking lot. The books, perhaps because they are told from Sookie’s perspective, try to give it more of a “Sure, he’s dated every girl in town, but he’s just trying to find the right one!” spin, which just doesn’t quite work.