A tale of two novels

I was sick over the weekend, so I had the rare opportunity to just read. Though both books I finished were the second book in a series, they couldn't have been more different.

Knit Two, the second in Kate Jacobs' Friday Night Knitting Club series, was heavy and slow moving. Jacobs spends a good part of the novel reminding us about the characters in the Club. This choice seemed puzzling to me as I'm not sure that Knit Two could stand on its own. The characters seemed stiffer than in Friday Night Knitting Club. It was as if Jacobs was conscious of her writing process in order to have another blockbuster. The novel found its stride midway through, but by then I was only reading out of obligation to the characters I loved so much from Jacobs' first novel.

Living Dead in Dallas, the second of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels, was light and whimsical while also being otherworldly. I liked, but didn't love, Harris' first Stackhouse novel, but I know a lot of people who dig them. LDiD was fast-moving and fun. Harris doesn't spend a lot of time reminding readers about what they already know. Instead, she relies on the reader to remember characters and realtionships. I think that makes it easy to either read the Stackhouse novels as a series or pick up any individual title. Sookie is likeable--spunky and funny in a way that she wasn't in Dead Until Dark, the first book. It feels like Harris made strides as a novelist between the two books and Sookie is well-served by her creator's newfound comfort. A quick read, I read LDiD in about 3 hours.

In short, skip Knit Two but pick up Living Dead in Dallas.

I'm picking up Perfect Fifths from the library tonight. I am equal parts excited and terrified. I really hope this is the last Marcus Flutie/Jessica Darling book. For reals.