Jayson’s Reviews > The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories > Status Update
Jayson
is on page 73 of 368
Notes:
(1) I remember when I first read this series: I was so confused, thinking I'd accidentally skipped a book or otherwise missed something when, in fact, the critical events referenced were actually in this short story.
- Charlaine Harris addresses exactly this in her story introduction. Apparently, mine is the prevailing experience.
- Good on her for acknowledging how much she messed up.
(Continued in comments)
— Jul 16, 2026 07:45PM
(1) I remember when I first read this series: I was so confused, thinking I'd accidentally skipped a book or otherwise missed something when, in fact, the critical events referenced were actually in this short story.
- Charlaine Harris addresses exactly this in her story introduction. Apparently, mine is the prevailing experience.
- Good on her for acknowledging how much she messed up.
(Continued in comments)
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Jayson’s Previous Updates
Jayson
is on page 163 of 368
Notes:
(1) This came after A Touch of Dead, meaning I've not read it before.
- Which is a weird feeling, you know, considering (between prose and audiobooks) I'm on my second round with the novels and my third with the short stories hitherto—this book makes three.
(2) In the intro, Harris says this is her "favorite Sookie story, hands down."
- I wonder if that also includes the novels?
(Continued in comments)
— Jul 22, 2026 06:25PM
(1) This came after A Touch of Dead, meaning I've not read it before.
- Which is a weird feeling, you know, considering (between prose and audiobooks) I'm on my second round with the novels and my third with the short stories hitherto—this book makes three.
(2) In the intro, Harris says this is her "favorite Sookie story, hands down."
- I wonder if that also includes the novels?
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is on page 127 of 368
Notes:
(1) The one thing that stuck with me about this story, from the first time I read it, is that it's morally questionable. Lo and behold, Charlaine Harris uses the exact words "morally questionable" in her story introduction.
- At least she's self-aware about how it's not exactly kosher.
- She also uses the words "pretty creepy"... though to me it's more about people being pretty creeps.
(Continued in comments)
— Jul 20, 2026 12:55PM
(1) The one thing that stuck with me about this story, from the first time I read it, is that it's morally questionable. Lo and behold, Charlaine Harris uses the exact words "morally questionable" in her story introduction.
- At least she's self-aware about how it's not exactly kosher.
- She also uses the words "pretty creepy"... though to me it's more about people being pretty creeps.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is on page 103 of 368
Notes:
(1) "He was trying real hard to keep his eyes off my tank top. I would have put on a bra if I'd known we were going to have company."
- Couldn't she just excuse herself and put on a bra then?
- Is it a more awkward situation or less to reappear with a bra vs. having a whole visit where being braless is a distraction?
- If only Greg had accepted refreshments, she'd have reason to leave.
(Continued in comments)
— Jul 19, 2026 06:50PM
(1) "He was trying real hard to keep his eyes off my tank top. I would have put on a bra if I'd known we were going to have company."
- Couldn't she just excuse herself and put on a bra then?
- Is it a more awkward situation or less to reappear with a bra vs. having a whole visit where being braless is a distraction?
- If only Greg had accepted refreshments, she'd have reason to leave.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is on page 47 of 368
Notes:
(1) "I'm around five foot six, and Sam tops me by maybe three inches. He's not a big guy, but he's much stronger than a plain human his size, since Sam's a shapeshifter."
- Once again, Sam's introduced with Sookie talking about how short he is.
- Geez, even in short stories, poor guy can't catch a break!
- Well, if anything, Charlaine Harris is wildly consistent—her memory never fails!
(Continued in comments)
— Jul 13, 2026 10:30PM
(1) "I'm around five foot six, and Sam tops me by maybe three inches. He's not a big guy, but he's much stronger than a plain human his size, since Sam's a shapeshifter."
- Once again, Sam's introduced with Sookie talking about how short he is.
- Geez, even in short stories, poor guy can't catch a break!
- Well, if anything, Charlaine Harris is wildly consistent—her memory never fails!
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is on page 23 of 368
Addendum:
(1) Okay, elephant in the room: it's been over six months since I last picked this up—or revisited this series at all.
- Normally that wouldn't matter for a book of ostensibly-standalone short stories, except that my updates hitherto have been really informed and reference heavy.
- So, sorry to say, if you're expecting the same depth of commentary, the series is no longer as fresh to me and ripe for recall.
— Jul 04, 2026 12:00AM
(1) Okay, elephant in the room: it's been over six months since I last picked this up—or revisited this series at all.
- Normally that wouldn't matter for a book of ostensibly-standalone short stories, except that my updates hitherto have been really informed and reference heavy.
- So, sorry to say, if you're expecting the same depth of commentary, the series is no longer as fresh to me and ripe for recall.
Jayson
is on page 23 of 368
Notes:
(1) "I hate it when fairies come into the bar. They don't tip you worth a toot—not because they're stingy, but because they just forget."
- I'll give them a break, they likely don't observe the custom in whatever dimension they're from.
- Frankly, the vast majority of cultures in our own dimension neither tip nor expect tips. Could be Claudine lived a while in Scandinavia or East Asia?
(Continued in comments)
— Jan 20, 2026 09:45AM
(1) "I hate it when fairies come into the bar. They don't tip you worth a toot—not because they're stingy, but because they just forget."
- I'll give them a break, they likely don't observe the custom in whatever dimension they're from.
- Frankly, the vast majority of cultures in our own dimension neither tip nor expect tips. Could be Claudine lived a while in Scandinavia or East Asia?
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is starting
Introduction:
(1) Goodreads really needs to take into account front matter (Roman-numeral) pagination for progress updates.
- Just going by the official page numbers, it looks like I haven't read anything at all!
(2) Correction: "A Touch of Dead" makes up a third of this, not half as I stated before.
- My mistake was comparing the page count for each book, not accounting for font differences.
(Continued in comments)
— Jan 18, 2026 01:00AM
(1) Goodreads really needs to take into account front matter (Roman-numeral) pagination for progress updates.
- Just going by the official page numbers, it looks like I haven't read anything at all!
(2) Correction: "A Touch of Dead" makes up a third of this, not half as I stated before.
- My mistake was comparing the page count for each book, not accounting for font differences.
(Continued in comments)
Jayson
is starting
Notes:
(1) My first time through the series, I read "A Touch of Dead," subtitled "Sookie Stackhouse, The Complete Stories."
- Premature, it turns out, since that amounts to little-more-than half of what's in this "Complete Stories."
- I don't know why they didn't just come out with a "Part 2." Instead, now I have to re-read the "A Touch of Dead" stories for the third time—my current audiobook re-read included!
— Jan 10, 2026 11:00AM
(1) My first time through the series, I read "A Touch of Dead," subtitled "Sookie Stackhouse, The Complete Stories."
- Premature, it turns out, since that amounts to little-more-than half of what's in this "Complete Stories."
- I don't know why they didn't just come out with a "Part 2." Instead, now I have to re-read the "A Touch of Dead" stories for the third time—my current audiobook re-read included!
- Wait, how old is a high school junior? 16? That seems awful young for "drugs and prostitution"... to the extent that there's an acceptable or appropriate age for that sort of thing.
- Hopefully she was held back a few grades.
- The silver lining is that this seems to be Hadley's prerogative; no traffickers or pimps from the sound of it.
(3) "'Mr. Cataliades,' he said. I repeated that to myself several times since it was a name I'd never encountered. Emphasis on the tal, I told myself. And a long e."
- You know, I did the same thing when I first read this... and on this subsequent re-read for that matter... actually for every book and story involving Mr. Cataliades.
- I do appreciate the pronunciation tips! It's very "Her-my-oh-nee" in Harry Potter.
- Though, having listened to the audiobooks, I've learned that I'd been mispronouncing it all along!
(4) "She'd been my physical opposite in most ways. I was robust and blond, she was thin and dark. I was strong, she was frail. She'd had big, thickly lashed brown eyes, mine were blue; and now, this strange man was telling me, she had closed those eyes for good."
- In other words, the opposite of how she was on the show—TV Hadley was much more book Sookie than TV Sookie ever was.
- Given that Sookie isn't overweight, I take "robust" to mean curvy or busty.
- Was she thin and frail before or after she became a drug addict? She may not naturally be Sookie's opposite.
- Later: High school druggie confirmed!
(5) I wonder if Gen-Zers appreciate Bubba being Elvis?
- I figure, if this were written today, he'd probably have been Michael Jackson... though, then he wouldn't have all his Southern charm.
(6) "She might have been afraid, being a young vampire, that her bloodlust would rise at an embarrassing time and she'd find herself yearning to suck on someone inappropriate."
- "Suck on someone inappropriate"? The former prostitute? Never.
- I understand "bloodlust" here to be an erection/puberty metaphor: "rise at an embarrassing time."
(7) Sookie uncovers the deceit via funny feeling... which is my least favorite type of mystery eureka.
(8) Neither Cataliades nor Waldo are interesting characters beyond their physical traits.
- We don't really learn much about either of them.
- Sophie-Anne is sort of interesting, but she's barely in this.
(9) In sum: this is a story about people standing in a yard and talking.
- There's some action at the tail end, but it's way too long to have nothing actually happen.
- I mean, it is a worthwhile read since Hadley's death is important to the series, though there are far more creative, interesting, and exciting ways to get the story across than just a straight Q&A info dump.