lower east side librarian

I was a little creeped out by Harris's dedication, "For all those readers who want every last sip of Sookie." I wonder if she really thinks of her fans as vampires? Let me be clear that I like Sookie, but I'm not a fanatic about it. What I am a fanatic about is reading. I like to be thorough, so when I learned of this collection of short stories that complements or fills in the Sookie Stackhouse series, I requested it from the library right away.

The fourth in the Gossip Girl meets the Vampire Diaries series Blue Bloods is more romance than vampire. It's as absorbing as its predecessors but is somewhat thin--like its three vampire/model narrators.

I am returning to my earlier haiku format reviews:

Things aren't going
well for Sookie, but at least
she is getting some.

(Should "aren't" get counted as one or two syllables?)

First off, I need to come out as a payolateer. The author sent me her book--the second YA writer to do so, the first being Jessica Dreistadt--for free to review right here on my blog. I didn't promise a good review or accept money or anything, but if I understood Lisa Von Drasek correctly at the blogging meetup, I should pay taxes on the cover price of review copies I receive.

With every man in her life attracted to her, why is it that Sookie can't find a decent boyfriend she can stick with? Which one would you choose?--the current contenders being, alphabetically, Bill, Eric, Quinn, and Sam. You can also consider Alcide, Calvin, or anyone else who has expressed having the hots for the telepath. I think there is one woman in there somewhere, too.

It was nice to be back in the vampire book saddle again, especially after putting down the last two books I started because I couldn't get into them.

Thinking about my zine, I realize that I need to start writing shorter reviews, like I did when they debuted on paper. So, this will be quick. Night World no. 1, consists of three novels: Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, and Spellbinder. They all take place in the same universe but have few characters in common. I'm hoping that after we've met everyone (There are nine novels in the series.), they'll interact. However, I suspect that they'll stay as they are, primarily about the forbidden soul mate pairings of humans and supes.

If you're paying attention--and I don't blame you if you're not--in my last Sookie Stackhouse novel review, I complained about "every unrelated heterosexual man in Sookie's life being totally hot for her." Well, that question is answered in book six of the series.

Regarding the last vampire book I read, my cousin asked me, "Isn't that trash?" I don't think that particular book, a graphic novel, is trash, even though I didn't like it very much. I did like Dead as a Doornail pretty well, but I do more or less regard it as trash. But I also don't say trash in an entirely pejorative way. I guess what I mean is that it isn't literature. It goes down quickly and leaves you feeling sated, even if hungry for more. I don't think that's a bad thing, although I do prefer to balance paranormal series like these with materials that are edifying. If I had a better diet, I'd probably make analogies to protein and carbohydrates. If I had a worse diet, I might compare genre fiction to fast food, but since I haven't been inside a McDonald's since the turn of the century, I can't bring myself to liken tasty paranormal tales to something that in addition to having bad politics makes you feel sick when you're done consuming it.

Yup, it's back to vampires for me. I let a dozen books go by since the last one I read, unless you count the zombie book. Life Sucks is a graphic novel about a reluctant vampire, a vegetarian convenience store clerk named Dave, who is competing with a trust-fund surfer vamp for the affections of a hot mortal goth girl. I wasn't especially taken with the story or the art, I'm sorry to say, which is especially grating considering the anticipation with which I waited for it to be released from NYPL's nearly three week long "in transit" status. I think the problem is that the book really should have been about the girl, Rosa, with her traditional Mexican mother who wants her to get married and procreate, and her own identity struggle, including her desire to be a vampire.