Jayson’s Reviews > The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories > Status Update
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)
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Jayson’s Previous Updates
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 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)
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!
(3) Sookie: "So why are we going to Tunica? ... And what are we supposed to do when we get there?"
Pam: "We're going to see the sights and gamble."
- I think this is a situation where having watched the TV show has really tainted my conception of who Pam is, because vanilla sightseeing and gambling doesn't really fit the Pam in my head.
- Though, to be fair, we don't really get a sense of Book Pam outside of her doing things for Eric. Sookie does point out here that Pam's Victorian, and I suppose, vanilla as it is, all this would seem rather exciting for a young Victorian girl.
- I think I mentioned in a previous update (probably for one of the novels), how much younger everyone in the books is compared to the show. Not that it pertains to this point specifically, except to say that it's an effort for me to constantly remind myself that Book Pam is both a teenager and British.
(4) It does make sense to bring a human along for a non-vampire-specific vacation.
- Naturally, the question arises whether Pam genuinely considers Sookie a friend, or if she just needs to have a human around to do daytime/human things.
(5) "Pam was a city girl. She'd grown up in London. England. See? We couldn't be more different. City girl, country girl. Experienced and well traveled, inexperienced and stay-at-home. Bisexual, heterosexual. She's dead, I'm alive."
- I don't know... maybe because they're both blonde and TV Pam keeps making me forget that Book Pam is British, I've never really thought of them as all that different.
(6) "Then [Pam] turned on the CD player in her Nissan Murano, and the Dixie Chicks began singing.
We did have something in common, after all."
- Doesn't surprise me one bit. In my experience, British people have an unusual (to me) affinity toward Southern/rural music—more so bluegrass than jazz, for example—for whatever reason.
(7) "We both entered the hotel with our weekend bags slung over our shoulders. Eric had given me my bag as a Christmas gift, and I really, really liked it. My initials were embroidered on it, and it was red with blue and gold flowers."
- Her initials? SS? I hope she has a middle name. Hopefully, the bag wasn't antique, if you get what I mean.
- Was this the same Christmas as "Gift Wrap"? I have a hard time telling how much time has passed in this series. It's not exactly Harry Potter (one book, one year).
- Though, I suppose a travel bag is an appropriate gift, relationship status notwithstanding: as a boyfriend gift and also a rich friend gift.
(8) "In fact, [the bag] coordinated with the coat he'd given me the year before, the coat I didn't need this unseasonably warm night."
- Wait?! How long have they been a couple? Because a coat is definitely more of a boyfriend gift than luggage.
- Has it even been two Christmases since vampires have "come out of the coffin"?
(9) Eric: "Victor insisted you go with Pam. The vampire you're meeting has a human companion. You will know if Michael is dealing with us in good faith or not."
- Okay, so it's not that Pam wanted to take Sookie. Being genuinely friends or not didn't factor in the equation: Sookie was tagging along regardless.
- So, it turns out this isn't really a girls' trip at all, it's a business trip.
- Sookie doesn't seem surprised. It's essentially the same sort of thing as their Dallas or Rhodes excursions, but in a distinctly touristy destination.
- Possibly Sookie was kept in the dark to keep her behavior and reactions authentic.
(10) "I'm good at schooling my face. Telepaths learn that lesson early in life, or they don't survive, is my guess."
- I think she can say it more definitively than just "it's my guess." I mean, chances are, the only human telepaths in existence are her, Barry and Hunter. Arguably, she's the world's foremost expert on telepaths—this side of the human/fairy divide.
- Granted, I don't know that there are examples of fairies that didn't in fact survive, so it may not matter at all... unless she strictly means survive socially—that I can see.
(11) Rudy: "[Pam] won't be feeling herself again for a couple of hours. In the meantime, we'll have fun with you first, Michael and me. Then we'll have her."
- Do they mean rape or torture? Or both? In any case, it seems like the cozy and PG tone of the A Touch of Dead short stories is over.
- This scene, and the very graphic fight that follows, are more the tone we'd expect of the novels proper.
(12) Okay, after the big fight scene, we're back to camp silliness.
- We get a contrived but not-too-contrived situation where Sookie and Pam must perform a stripper routine.
- It sort of reminds me of that dance Sookie and Tara did at Club Dead in Club Dead
(13) In sum, I was genuinely looking forward to some actual bonding—sightseeing and gambling—and am pretty let down by how it all unfolded.
- Without that, I don't really see much point to this, except to eventually see Sookie and Pam dress and act like strippers.
- So, not exactly required reading. There's plenty of other examples in the books to show Victor being a two-faced scumbag.