I have read all the books that are in paperback (I think there's at least one only in hardcover) and just recently listened to the first novel from an Audible.com audio book. The reader was quite good and a bit more Southern than Anna is.
My impression of the differences are that overall, the HBO series seems a bit seamier, there was no Tara, the gay thing wasn't so front and center, and Jason wasn't the huge total jerk he is on TV. In the books he was just a jerk.
Some of these differences could be attributed to the reader, me, being selectively affected by the books. A TV show gives the viewer less choice on what is absorbed.
Some of the sex in the books was quite...er...ah...quite vivid.
I bet you're correct, that would explain the alternate feeding location. Just was highly amused at the idea of her saying, "Not tonight." after everything else that had happened in the preceeding moments.
what was going on with sam and the new guy loading the beer? what's the relationship between that two and the secret they want to hide from one another? fellow werewolfs? seems like the redhead might be the next to die. the new guy could be the werewolf/dog ? =P.
i luv the scene when jason discovered he didn't have sex. lol. unfortunately that new chic is going to drag him down further into the addiction of "V".
The guy helping Sam was the Iraq War veteran who is the nephew(?) of Andy, the sheriff's deputy.
I believe he was first introduced when Bill met with the Civil War group at the church... IIRC, he said something or made some connection with Bill as a fellow soilder.
The secret was referring to when he and Andy were fishing and saw Sam running naked through the woods.
Well we now have official confirmation that Sam is the dog.
We're down to the last 3 episodes of Season One and things keep getting better and better each week. I'm really glad I stuck with the series - I was ready to give up after the 2nd episode. I feel really bad for poor Eddie.
I'm still watching it and still ambivalent. The idea of vampires going mainstream is cool and should be explored more. My biggest problem is that there is not one character on the show that I can root for.
I'm finding it pretty easy to root for more scenes with Amy (Lizzy Caplan).
Seriously, though, if you can't root for Sookie, the show probably is never going to grab you as she's the moral compass for the whole show. Bill's a strange one as he doesn't seem to be particularly pro human. He has character, but I wouldn't put acting like a Vampire beyond him. He just has a thing for Sookie.
"Sookie must be protected." Why? Because he has the hots for her, or is there more to it? Obviously we're in a strange world when Vamps walk the streets and interact with humans, but I find it notable that for those like me who don't know where this story is going, we almost accept Sookie as normal regardless of the fact that she can read minds. Who and what exactly is this Sookie person? She certainly doesn't know, but perhaps others do.