Supe of the Day

It's a new year in Bon Temps and Sookie makes a resolution: "I just hope to not be beaten up...I don't want to go to the hospital. I don't want to see a doctor...so my resolution is to stay out of trouble." Good thing New Year’s resolutions are made to be broken because trouble is to be had along with a tall drink of our favorite Viking vampire, Eric Northman.

A storm of supernatural activity crackles and spins out of control in Dead to the World. Witches’, weres’, shifters’ and vampires’ chest-bumping pride and bank accounts get everyone sucked into the tornado. Who knew vampires could have a curse laid on them? Did it surprise you that a feline culture became inbred? We are presented with so much activity in this book we probably need some vampire blood to stay on course.

We’ll take a stab in the dark and start our questions with our favorite heroine of the day, Sookie. In dream interpretation, home/houses are often symbolic of how we view the self. In Dead to the World Sookie's home takes on an eerie, lonely aspect. Ms. Harris gives us glimpses of Sookie’s house standing in the night alone in the woods next to a cemetery. Sookie briefly mentions the upstairs and how she closed off the upstairs to save energy, we think this symbolizes Sookie learning to shield herself from telepathic thoughts in order to preserve herself. Because of her telepathy, she did not continue any form of academic study and was forced to close her mind to intellectual guidance. She has shuttered the upstairs to conserve the few resources she has within her grasp.

We think about the house and how it compares to Sookie when she allows Eric to use Bill’s “hidey-hole” in the closet; she doesn’t refer to the space in general terms such as a “hole in the closet” or “a vampire guest room”. If the house is Sookie, is this representative of Bill always having a place in Sookie’s heart? Do you feel or do you hope that she’s not completely over Bill?

What do you think of Sam's suggestion that Sookie should sell her house and move to town? Do you wish she would have Jason move in with her? Or are you okay with Sookie living alone out in the country in her big house?

Moving on from the house: in Dead to the World Sookie and Eric get down to business. Were you satisfied, mystified or pissed off that we haven’t had a sex scene with Eric’s true nature? Does Ms. Harris still need Sookie to be seen as innocent at this point? What do you think of her decision to bring Eric into a “Love Zone” before they could go all the way? Or is the “Love Zone” Eric’s true nature before he became a jaded, sexy, powerful vampire?

What was the significance of Sookie’s coat in Dead to the World? She talks about needing to wear her old blue coat because of the cold, she notes Eric’s obvious displeasure of the old blue coat, she tries to wash blood out of her coat and then she receives a new red coat from Eric. In the end of the book, did it seem strange that Eric went to search for Sookie’s coat while she was distracted by Amanda? Do you think Eric had more recollection of his time with Sookie than he was letting on?

Here are several questions we sipped on after reading Dead to the World:

• Did Ms. Harris ever explain the Blood Offense?
• If you had the choice between Eric and Damaged Eric who would you choose?
• Do you believe the attraction between Alcide and Sookie is waning? Or do you feel that it's about to move to a whole new level?
• What do you think of Claudine?
• Sookie killed an ex-GF and hid the body again! Do you feel that this is a convenient plot line for her?
• What do you think of all the supes? Are you ready to meet more?

We’ll thrust the upstairs wide open to contemplate these questions and more at our meeting tonight, Friday, November 12 at the Cast Iron Grill in Suisun.

This post was juiced and cast-out by Kim and Angela