The Southern Vampire Mysteries - Charlaine Harris

I finished all of Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mysteries books in December. Well, all of the books that she has published to date. After enjoying the HBO series TrueBlood, I realized I needed to read the books upon which the television show was based. I have posted a bit about my fascination with TrueBlood. I find the television show strangely addicting, with quirky characters and an interesting spin on vampire lore. I was not sure what I would find in the books about Sookie Stackhouse.

Well, the books were even more addictive than the television series! Luckily, I bought the first seven books in a bundle for my Ereader on my phone: Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Dead to the World, Dead as a Doornail, Definitely Dead, and Altogether Dead. So I obsessively read one book after another in any free time I had. I read through lunches, in waiting rooms, during my daughter’s karate classes, and after they went to bed. I probably read all seven in a few days! Then after I finished book seven I went through withdrawal, until I located a copy of Book 8: From Dead to Worse, as an audio book for free download from my local library. (And that was interesting, I am not sure I would have liked it as much if I hadn’t already read the first seven. I just did not care for the voice of the person reading the book and she made Sookie seem trashier and less intelligent somehow.) However, now I am depressed, with no more books to obsessively read until the ninth book comes out in May, Dead and Gone. Although I did read the first chapter at Charlaine Harris’s website: http://www.charlaineharris.com/deadandgone.html

The series is a first-person account of Sookie Stackhouse's life as a barmaid and telepath in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. The series is full of quirky characters, the most interesting is always Sookie, herself. Sookie is a telepath and her ability to read minds leads her on some fascinating and scary adventures and we learn throughout the books about all the various kinds of supernatural (or “supes”) beings that inhabit the human world. In addition to the vampires, there are shapeshifters of various types, faeries, and more. The twists and turns of navigating the supernatural world when you are human is pretty fascinating and Charlaine Harris must have a fantastic imagination and creative mind. In spite of the interesting supernatural characters, Sookie is by far the most fascinating character. You would think an uneducated Southern White barmaid to be pretty boring, but Sookie is intelligent, loyal, strong, passionate, and very human. She makes mistakes but ultimately does amazing things. I love characters with real feelings and flaws who triumph in the end. I would recommend this series to anyone unreservedly.

Snow Day

My wonderful husband had the great idea to take a spontaneous trip to the snow today. We got up early, drove to Big Bear, and spent the day at Snow Valley. We did not go to ski this trip, but spent the day at their sled park. The sled park is a big hill with multiple toboggan-style sled runs. They provide big sleds roomy enough for two and…a snow lift! It is the best part of sledding with half the work! No dragging sleds or kids up steep hills! And the ski lift is fun in itself, with great views and peace between speedy sled runs. The girls had a fabulous time and so did I. The only down side was the traffic to get to Big Bear the last few miles up into the mountain. I hope we can afford a ski trip this year, but sledding is pretty fun to and takes very little skill!

Sofia’s Fieldtrip to See Bolt at the El Capitan

Sofia went on her first major fieldtrip today at the preschool. She did go to the pumpkin patch in October but today her school took a trip down to Hollywood to the El Capitan Theatre to see Bolt in 3D. She seemed to enjoy it but I keep finding myself questioning the school’s choice for a fieldtrip. For those of you who have never been to the El Capitan, it is a bit of an experience: a movie theatre in the “old style” run by Disney. The theatre is grand with a fantastic multiple opening curtain and in addition, they usually have some sort of floorshow prior to the performance. When we saw HSM3, the show was lame with some kids chosen to do a game for prizes. For Bolt, there was a big Christmas-themed live action show with Disney characters, dancers, and even some Princesses.

It can be a fun but expensive experience. Open seating starts around $15. They have reserved VIP seating that runs around $25, I think. I can see this as a good venue for a fieldtrip, but not really for a bunch of 3- and 4-year-olds! Why take a large group of little kids, put them on a school bus for an hour drive to a movie theatre in the heart of Hollywood only to put them back on the bus for another hour drive home. I just do not get it. My daughter would have been excited about a trip to the local Regal to see Bolt as long as she could ride on a bus. Perhaps I am just a Scrooge, but I do not get it!

To Quote a Friend, "I've lost that blogging feeling."

Where has the month gone? I was so motivated to blog every day in November and now it has been half a month since I blogged at all! I can only plead the holidays but really I know from November that if I were committed to daily blogging I would have found the time. I will work on finding some peaceful place in between blogging daily and blogging infrequently.

I have been busy getting ready for Christmas. I put up the tree and Carlos put up the outside lights. The girls helped me decorate the tree. That means many ornaments in big bunches. It still looks beautiful. I'll try to post some pictures. I have most of the shopping done and just have a lot of wrapping to do. I need to get prepared for Christmas Eve dinner. All-in-all, I am feeling more prepared than overwhelmed at present.