True Blood does seem to be causing a stir amongst a number of friends and family. Several people have checked in with me to see if I've been watching and if I like it, given what they (think they) know about my taste in reading materials.

So what do I think?

Well ...

As you know, I'm a huge fan of the books. I have also been enjoying the series up to a point (this past week's episode being an exception -- I believe it was episode 6). But I'm having a bit of a mental jarring sensation while watching it. For those of you who are newly-acquainted with Ms. Harrison, I'll give you a bit of a crash course in how the show relates to the books. So far, at least.

Plot Point	True Blood (HBO Series)	Dead Until Dark (Book)
“V”	Drug of choice	Doesn’t exist in the books
People possessed by “demons”	Big thing with Tarra’s mother and, it appears, now with Tarra	Doesn’t exist in the books
Graphic sexual depictions	True	Not so much
Gothic, Anne Rice feel	True	False
Grandmother murdered	True	True

Character	True Blood (HBO Series)	Dead Until Dark (Book)
Sookie as telepath	True	True
Sookie’s rationale for staying in the house after grandmother’s murder	Unclear	Clear
Sookie losing virginity to Bill	True – happens after grandmother dies; very stylized and gothic and melodramatic	True – low-key; happens after grandmother dies but he is there to support her
Sookie having friends	True – in the series, her circle of friends include Sam, Arlene, Tarra and Lafayette	So-So – in the books, she is friends with Sam and Arlene … Tarra is a distant acquaintance/old friend, and Lafayette is just someone she gets along with at work
Jason as a horn dog	True	True
Jason involved in rough sex	True	So so
Jason as suspect in murders	True	True
Jason’s new girlfriend	Character created for tv series	Character doesn’t exist in the books
Jason as “v” (or other kind of drug) fixated	Exists only in the tv series	Jason, although a horn dog in the books, does not have a drug issue of any kind
Tarra as main character	True	False- she is a secondary, recurring background character in the books
Tarra as Sookie’s best friend	True	False – friend from childhood, but not a focal-point friend in the books
Tarra as strong-minded character who comes from a troubled background but who can take care of herself	True	False – Plays a character who comes from a problematic background who has daddy issues and tends to land herself into uncomfortable situations based on bad decisions she has made
Tarra with crush on Jason	True	False – no connection between Tarra and Jason in the books
Tarra, anti-vampire	True for tv series	False – she actually gets involved with a vampire in one of the later books who is a kind of “sugar daddy” for her for a while
Sam watching out for Sookie	True – but in a protective, guy, sort of from a distance way	True – more of a key figure in Sookie’s life; helps her to clean the house when her grandmother is murdered
Sam and Tarra involved	True for tv series	Sam and Tarra have no relationship of any kind in the books
Eric as a character	Dramatic, one-dimensional character (so far)	Key recurring character; has a very ironic sense of humour in the books
Arlene, anti-vampire	True	True

I’m going to keep watching – of course. But it’s an effort to suspend my disbelief and experience the series as something separate and different from the original book(s).

For those of you who want spoilers, it seems that each episode is following the path of the chapters of the book – more or less. If you can look around the obvious plot differences, you can read the book Dead Until Dark to find out what happens, who (else) gets murdered, and who the murderer is.