23 Aug 2010
by in Graphic Arts Tags: earth, hots, standout, undead
"this is my… BOOMSTICK!"
It’s been a very long time since I picked up a book that I couldn’t put down. I had enjoyed the Sookie Stackhouse books up until this point but after feeling quite let down by Living Dead in Dallas I wasn’t expecting the 3rd installment to be the page turner it is.
I recommend this book whole-heartedly but frustratingly you will need to read the first two to get the most out of it.
One of the standout points of the second book was that although we had a contrived story to deal with at least we saw key characters getting fleshed out further. Which in itself is a good thing as strangely for a story (no matter the medium it is told in) to have its two leads be the most annoying (Sookie) and most boring (Bill) characters could spell critical and commercial death.
Up until now a lot of the heavy character lifting has been handled by Jason and Eric with a dash of Sam thrown in. this time round its Eric’s show – with the aid of Bubba (our undead Elvis – please let him be in season 2 of the tv show) and most notably Alcide Herveaux, a down to earth werewolf with the hots for Sookie.
So what’s the story about this time? bill is working on a secret project for the Queen of Louisiana (vampire hierarchy gets expanded upon further with each installment) and tells Sookie that he has to go away for a while and should anything happen to him she needs to follow his instructions to the letter.
Now the story would be rather tedious if something doesn’t happen to bill. Thankfully it does! we discover from Eric that bill was abducted and may well be dead (actually there are too many similarities between this and the last book – thankfully Harris got it right this time).
So as not to incite a turf war with the Vampires of Mississippi, Eric convinces Sookie to go do her telepathic thing in Jackson and hopefully establish what went wrong. Bubba has been keeping a watchful eye on her but this time she will have a new companion. Enter Alcide.
Alcide is a strapping young werewolf with more morals that you would expect who is obliged to help Sookie in return for his father’s gambling debt being dealt with. Adding to last time’s brief encounter with the werewolves it seems that Alcide is cut from the same mold. Strong, independent and no nonsense. Although pleasantly he is also humourous, courteous and really rather sweet on everyone’s favourite blonde redneck.
So off to Jackson they go and when night falls they head to Josephine’s – known affectionately in certain circles as Club Dead. Run by mr Hob (a goblin – come on, surely a less obvious name wouldn’t have hurt too much? this isn’t Harry Sodding Potter! At least she keeps the amount of new supernaturals to a minimum this time) the club is a secret haven for the supernatural element in town. this isn’t Fangtasia. The public aren’t welcome here and although there are house rules you can never be sure how quickly a situation may escalate.
Sookie picks up clues that suggest bill is alive and being tortured. but worse than this is by whom. Russell Edgington – the King of Mississippi no less.
While in his company a white trash Were (part of the biker gang that tried to abduct Sookie earlier in the story) becomes too insistent that she spend some quality time with him. As Alcide is in the gents there is only so much Sookie can do and gets slightly injured, but not as badly as the Were who suffers at the burning touch of mr Hob (a handy talent – I bet he can make paninis in seconds!). Sookie decides its time to leave but not before Russell insists that she and Alcide return the following night as his guests. they now have the means to learn more and so agree to his offer.
Getting jiggy at the club is Alcide’s ex – a Were called Debbie who is celebrating at her engagement party. Alcide made sure Sookie was dressed to the nines and had her hair and nails done. After all she is in town under the guise of being his girlfriend so what better way to piss off the ex?
I won’t say too much about the rest of the story but suffice it to say there is plenty of action, a good dose of mystery, a lot of humour and finally some real-world common sense enter Sookie’s precious little mind.
I have a few niggles though. even though the characters are filling out nicely and are clearly exhibiting their own facets they still tend to all talk like each other. hopefully in the following books Charlaine Harris will have learned how to show the differences between the characters in ways less obvious. but that said its hard now not to like Eric. Cheeky, reliable and permanently turned on you can’t help but wonder if he would be better suited to Sookie. he certainly thinks so and even refers to her as his future lover.
For some reason Sookie seems to be the apple of everyone’s eye and her and Alcide just about get to 2nd base (Eric however gets to 3rd!). He’s a nice solid guy who clearly would offer her the world and has the huge advantage of being able to move around in the daylight. Both of them discuss what it could be like but that which is unspoken says so much more.
Ok so Sookie doesn’t seem to have an issue with crossing boundaries with other men. And neither it seems does bill (women that is – not men). bill apparently has had an affair with a former lover (another vampire) and set the wheels in motion to leave Sookie for her. this bugged the Hell out of me. this is so far out of character for bill that it was too big a pill to swallow. And to compound my annoyance the nuts and bolts of it are barely even tackled and by the end of the book you aren’t sure how bothered Sookie really is. If you are going to bring such a major development into a series of books based around the relationship between the two leads then you must treat it properly. not as a rather throw away plot device.
My other main gripe concerns Bubba. not Bubba as such but what he is able to do. Vampires have to be invited in to someone’s home. If the invitation is rescinded they are compelled to leave immediately. And yet Bubba manages to enter Alcide’s apartment and Russell’s home without so much as leaving a housewarming present! If you are going to tell a vampire story and have established your set of rules you simply must stick to them! Surely someone must have picked up on this in the many read-throughs that occur before publication? Each incident could have been explained away with a page or two extra so why was this left as is? It is frustrating because at any point where you find yourself examining the narrative you have left that world and are once again looking in. Bad Charlaine Harris. Bad! (and I won’t even mention the fact that character’s near the end of the book know things they couldn’t possibly have found out).
All that aside this is a very good read. The jump in the level of writing between this and book 2 is huge and I commend her for pulling what could easily be clichéd or shoehorned elements into a compelling story that manages to balance relationships and plot development almost perfectly.
I enjoyed the book very much and if I wasn’t so far behind on other reviews I would jump straight in to book 4. Also it was good to note that this book didn’t feel as female targeted as its predecessors. there is still lots for the ladies but this time I didn’t feel like I wasn’t on the guest list.
However I have a huge problem with Sookie. At the end of the book the status quo has been well and truly shaken up and she is taking back control of her life but, and this is a big but, rape is never acceptable. not even in a relationship with a vampire. For one character to violently force his sexual desires on another is one thing. And is fine if it is dealt with by an equal amount of payback (still providing that it furthers the story rather than just for some sort of sick gratification). but when Sookie struggles, resists, says no and then after the fact seems to be relatively ok with it and still maintains some semblance of a relationship with her attacker I have to question the naiveté of the author. this kind of thing isn’t acceptable unless the victim takes something from the experience and that the consequences of the attack are dealt with harshly and justly.
If she was a cleverer author Charlaine Harris might be able to spin a deft arc comparing Sookie’s unhealthy relationship with that of many kidnap victims (who are often subjected to terrible abuse). Poor women and men who fall in love with their captors and suffer terrible abuse at their hands and yet still won’t betray them or try and escape (Stockholm Syndrome). or even on a much more everyday but no less acceptable level compare her situation to spousal abuse and domestic violence.
Yes, Sookie does make a stand at the end but I am left unconvinced by her reasons for doing so. If she hadn’t been endangered, almost killed, and betrayed would she still have tolerated the violation she endured at Bill’s hands? quite possibly, and that worries me. After reading the last couple of chapters I found myself liking bill a lot less. Strangely I found myself also disliking Sookie less but I am hoping a corner has been turned and I am now champing at the bit to find out whether their relationship lies in tatters in book 4.
Looking at the length of my last few paragraphs it’s easy to see when I get wound up! Its not often a book fiercely incites my sense of right and wrong so in perhaps an accidental way Club Dead has succeeded on some level.
These grumbling aside this is a must read if you are a fan of the previous books or the show and will find yourself tearing your way to the back of the novel before you realise you haven’t eaten in days! 9 out of 10.
An afterthought:If you are bored check out the cover artwork and series titles used elsewhere in the world. Naff is an understatement, Southern Vampire Mysteries would have turned me off immediately but seeing the covers, which apparently are painted by a 4 year old, would have instantly reduced me to laughter and would have made me assume they are kid’s books. maybe she paints them herself? I can’t think of any other reason she would give permission for them to go to print! 
Oh and avoid looking at the author’s website. once you see her and hear her talk you may not enjoy the books as much! perhaps a little cruel of me but its now hard for me to not picture her as a horror writing equivalent of Barbara Cartland!
Author: Charlaine HarrisPublished: 2003
Please rate this movie / book / tv show / comic…
(2 votes, average: 9.50 out of 10)
Loading … comment from: James written on March 8th, 2010 12:24 am
Oh and before I forget… Vampire Facebook?! C’mon. seriously?
comment from: Janice written on March 8th, 2010 1:29 am
Hi cuz!Curiously and coincidentally enough, I just started this book this afternoon. I’d gotten about 30 pages in before I had to run some errands. I’m looking forward to diving in fully, and, like you, hope Sookie gets over some of her “annoying” traits.Take care,Jan
comment from: Jigsaw written on March 8th, 2010 2:16 am
sorry to be the bearer of bad news but Bubba fails to make an appearence in season 2 I have a feeling they’re going to cut him out of the show altogether. Strangely though we have already had the characters of the queen and Lorena who’s tales play out quite differently. Just a reminder to anyone who hasn’t seen season two yet FX are airing it on friday nights with multiple repeats during the week, there on episode 2 now
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rippedfromthecrypt.com review » Club Dead: True Blood Book 3
21 Aug 2010
by in Jonathan Franzen Tags: earth, good books, john marsden, tomorrow series, twilight
I am looking for books to read! I have read twilight and am not into harry potter, That doesn't mean that I don't like wizard books, Im just looking for some newer good books. Please help if you can! thanks!
Try the 'Earth's Children' series by J.M.Auel. There are 5 books in the series so far:
The Clan of the Cave Bear
The Valley of Horses
The Mammoth Hunters
The Plains of Passage
The Shelters of Stone
The Tomorrow Series by John Marsden is good.
What are some really good books/authors?
12 Aug 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: constellation perseus, earth, perse, san lorenzo, terrestrial orbit
It is an Italian tradition to celebrate the night between the 9th and the 10th of August with some special event. what is so special about this night of the year? For a period of time going from the end of July until August 20, the Earth is in a particular phase during its revolution around the Sun. During those nights it is in fact possible to see a great number of shooting stars, meteor, that enter the Terrestrial orbit. these pieces of rock, that enter our atmosphere are called the Perseids, and are fragments left off by the major comet Swift-Tuttle that passes by the Earth every 134 years. The peak moment has historically been August 10, the night of San Lorenzo in Italy. Although due to astral adjustments the actual peak has moved to the 12th of August, the night between the 9th and the 10th is still celebrated the same. – source
The Perseids is the name of a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are so-called because the point they appear to come from, called the radiant, lies in the constellation Perseus. The name derives in part from the word Perseides, a term found in Greek mythology referring to the descendants of Perseus. The stream of debris is called the Perseid cloud and stretches along the orbit of the comet Swift-Tuttle. The cloud consists of particles ejected by the comet as it travels on its 130-year orbit. Most of the dust in the cloud today is around a thousand years old. however, there is also a relatively young filament of dust in the stream that was pulled off the comet in 1862
The Perseid meteor shower has been observed for about 2000 years, with the earliest information on this meteor shower coming from the Far East. some Catholics refer to the Perseids as the “tears of St. Lawrence”, since August 10 is the date of that saint’s martyrdom.
The shower is visible from mid-July each year, with the peak in activity being between August 9 and 14, depending on the particular location of the stream. During the peak, the rate of meteors reaches 60 or more per hour. They can be seen all across the sky, but because of the path of Swift-Tuttle’s orbit, Perseids are primarily visible in the northern hemisphere. as with all meteor showers, the rate is greatest in the pre-dawn hours, since the side of the Earth nearest to turning into the sun scoops up more meteors as the Earth moves through space. – source – wikipedia
From the barganews archives: on this day..
San Lorenzo – night of the shooting stars
11 Aug 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: dishes, earth, executive vice, famous restaurant, santa barbara, vice president
Extraordinary companies surround themselves with more ideas than they can handle. Ordinary companies spend a lot of time pushing ideas away, mainly because ideas require investment. ideas can come from anywhere… any time of the day or night. back in the late 1970’s I was watching the Johnny Carson show. Johnny was interviewing Bob Hope. He asked, “Bob… if this was your last day on earth, what would you like to eat for your last meal?” Bob answered by naming his most favorite dishes from one famous restaurant after another.
That interview gave me an idea. I put it in my memory bank. A few years later I was at the Los Angeles Airport waiting for my plan to Santa Barbara, where I lived. The flight was canceled. So, I decided to rent a car and drive the 90 miles and asked if anyone waiting wanted to drive with me. one of my fellow passengers was the Executive Vice President of Triad America, owner of many restaurants across the country. I told him my idea. Build a restaurant based upon Johnny’s question to Bob. If this was your last day on earth, what would like to have for your last meal?
First of all, I went on to say, this is the closest ordinary America will get to a celebrity like Bob Hope. Second, you could have 10 or 12 celebrities’ favorite meals on the menu and not have to maintain a lot of different foods in the freezer like most restaurants. The idea became a very successful restaurant by the name of their last Supper.
What does my story have to do with direct marketing? Nothing. But it has everything to do with where good, viable ideas can come from. they can come from anywhere… at any time… and hit you like the ad where some dumbfounded fellow hits his forehead and says, I could have had a V-8. Good ideas are not about making sales. ideas that build extraordinary companies are about helping people get fulfilled… helping them solve a problem… answering a painful difficulty or solving a problem. If your ideas do this well, money becomes the by-product.
Good Ideas Can Come From Anywhere
17 Jul 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: cousin, earth, lion camp, seventeen years
The third book of the best-selling Earth’s Children series by Jean M. Auel picks up immediately after the end of the second novel The Valley of the Horses. The heroine of the series, Ayla, and her new lover Jondalar have just encountered a band of people whose identity is based on mammoth hunting. The meeting is shocking for Ayla because until this point in her seventeen years of life, she has never seen another living human except for Jondalar. From the age of five, Ayla had been raised by a cousin species of humans, known in the novel as Clan that are presumably Neanderthal people.
Ayla’s upbringing leaves her without any cultural knowledge of how to live among her own kind. her first experiences among the humans are bewildering and frightening. The group of mammoth hunters who take in Ayla and Jondalar designate their home as the Lion Camp, and Ayla takes this as a good sign because her totem animal is the cave lion that acts as her spiritual guide in life.
The people of the Lion Camp are also captivated by Ayla because she is beautiful, skilled as a healer, and rides a horse. The author does an excellent job in the novel of imagining the beginnings of animal domestication and how people might react to seeing for the first time a horse that obeys a human. Auel’s approach to the process of animal domestication is plausible, and the way her narrative demonstrates the benefits that the animals brought to humans is compelling. Ayla’s horse allows her to scout prey for the hunters more quickly and the horse helps to carry more meat back to the camp.
In this third novel, Auel gets to delve into an illuminating exploration of how early people might have lived upon the ice age steppes of Europe and Central Asia. through Ayla’s eyes that know only the culture of the Clan with its strict gender roles and unquestioning obedience to a group leader, the culture of her own people presents an astounding contrast. All that she was prohibited from doing among the Clan, Ayla is free to do among the mammoth hunters. She can hunt; speak her mind, laugh, and cry. She is also introduced to art, music and communicating with written symbols. these abstract concepts were unknown to the Clan. throughout the narrative, the ability of humans to experiment with new ideas and innovate were presented in contrast to the Clan ways that are based on memory. among the Clan, things are done as they were always done. They are not questioned and as a result they are not improved. this is not to say that the Clan lacked extraordinary skills. The healing arts Ayla learned among the Clan are highly effective, which brings her respect among the mammoth hunters. However, her association with the Clan is also controversial because most humans consider the Clan to be animals and call them by the derogatory term flatheads. The prejudice against the Clan is a source of conflict between Ayla and many characters in the novel.
Auel presents the mammoth hunter society as having looser gender roles, which she illustrates to be a strength. Because women and men can cross over gender lines to cook, hunt, gather, butcher, and so forth, they are more productive because everyone can pitch in on certain tasks when needed. The cooperative mindset of the prehistoric people is also an important theme of the novel. Although people certainly have their own interests and talents, they exist within a society that tacitly expects everyone to work together for survival.
Because readers of The Mammoth Hunters will be coming from the perspective of an individualistic and patriarchal culture, they will find this novel especially enthralling as it presents a society that respects and values women, bases hereditary on matrilineal descent, and depends on cooperative efforts. However, the prehistoric people in the novel are not selfless communists. They seek to improve their status and collect more valuable goods. They trade in possessions and skills and frequently gamble.
Amid the finely detailed portrayal of prehistoric human society, the gripping emotional drama of Ayla commands the narrative as always. a wrenching love triangle emerges among Ayla and Jondalar and her new suitor Ranec. as this romantic storm brews, most readers will likely wish for Ayla to stick by Jondalar, but because Ayla is such a endearing and powerful character, you, like me, will probably decide that you will follow Ayla wherever she travels. being mad at her is impossible. She is a strikingly vivid character, both larger than life and totally familiar. Ayla represents a literary triumph for Auel, who I believe has delivered yet another brilliant novel. I praise Auel’s writing so highly because her characters became real for me. I think about them when I am not reading the books. I worry about them. I wish I could talk to them. In The Mammoth Hunters, Auel has created that most blissful of reading experiences: one that is emotionally tangible.
For readers who like adventure, drama, romance, powerful spirituality, and contemplating the mysterious origins of humanity, The Mammoth Hunters is highly recommended. I rate it five tusks of mammoth ivory.
Book Review – The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M Auel
29 Jun 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: chapman, earth, economics, nbc
Meet Anna Chapman- a Russian spy. Seriously. A ring of 11 Russian spies was apprehended in New York yesterday for passing on information about the United States via electronic means. among them, Anna Chapman, a 28-year-old Russian divorcee with a masters in economics and as the New York Post reports: “a Victoria’s Secret body.”
Below: Russian spy Anna Chapman pulling off her best Jennifer Aniston impression. no kidding. Check out this Jennifer Aniston pic and tell me that Anna Chapman doesn’t totally look like her. That’s the real story here. Anna Chapman’s been impersonating one of American television’s most beloved stars. not cool.
All I can say about Russian spy Anna Chapman, is that this libertarian has never found Communism more appealing.
(And how on earth did the New York Post get all these photos of Anna Chapman?)
You can read more information about Russian spy Anna Chapman at NBC and the Washington Post.
In all seriousness:
Lew Rockwell has the right idea when he argues that these Russian “spies” weren’t really doing anything criminal (what’s wrong with learning information about the gold market from a top financier?) and that the FBI, which has been spying on the “spies” for a decade now “chose to expose them right after the Russian president’s visit, to stoke hostilities. The Russians have said they may roll-up a US illegal spy ring or two in response. Let’s hope not. US hardliners want at least another Cold War, just like Truman. Spy hysteria helps.”
W. E. Messamore, Editor in Chief
Articles | Author’s Page
The Humble Libertarian: Red Hot Russian Spy Anna Chapman
26 Jun 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: earth, saturday evening, sunset, total eclipse
A partial lunar eclipse will happen June 26, 2010. This will be the first of two lunar eclipses in 2010. the second will be a total eclipse on December 21, 2010.
At maximum eclipse 53.7% of the moon will be covered by the earth’s shadow. After which, a total solar eclipse will happen on July 11, 2010 over the South Pacific.
The entire umbral phase is visible after sunset Saturday evening throughout the Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. the point where the moon is directly overhead at maximum eclipse lies over the South Pacific Ocean, far to the southwest of Hawaii.
It will be seen before sunrise on Saturday morning setting over western North and South America.
»»» Best Places To Watch Lunar Eclipse 2010 This June
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