AMERICANWAY

{ BOOKS } Vampire Diaries CHARLAINE HARRIS’ bloodsucking book series birthed True Blood and helped her discover herself. { By J. Rentilly } Charlaine Harris says the only inter- esting things about her happen inside her head. Raised in the Mississippi Delta on a diet of Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson and Char- lotte Brontë, and responsible for penning the wildly successful and even more wildly sub- versive Sookie Stackhouse novels (the basis for HBO’s swampy supernatural soap True Blood), the 59-year-old author’s headspace is populated with werewolves, shape-shifters, bloodsuckers and other supernatural beings who struggle with real-world issues like bro- ken hearts and property taxes. “I don’t know that I follow that rule about ‘only writing what you know,’” says Harris, who is celebrating the recent release of Dead Reckoning, the 11th Stackhouse collision of horror and humor. “But I have certainly found myself in writing these stories. The humor? That’s who I am. And the other stuff? Sookie is far braver than I am, and she’s had to be. I’m sometimes envious of the people and creatures she’s met. Who wouldn’t be?” Though Harris found residence on the New York Times best-seller list well before HBO and Oscar winner Alan Ball adapted the Stackhouse stories in 2008, she says the ca- ble series’ phenomenal watercooler success has been something of a dream come true. “I have a lot more money, for one thing,” she laughs. “And I got to walk a red carpet, which is something I never expected.” Harris is a fan of the HBO series, which Want to win a copy of True Blood: Season Three on DVD? Enter at www.americanwaymag .com/promotions will launch its fourth season in June, but al- lows Ball to take the characters in his own direction, much as best-seller Jeff Lindsay has surrendered serial killer Dexter Morgan, his literary creation, to Showtime’s creative process. “I have to trust Alan to know his business. He’s never tried to tell me how to write a book,” she says. “Plus, he’s only on the fourth season, and I’m already writing the 12th book. He’ll never catch up!” In Short TOLSTOY AND THE PURPLE CHAIR: MY YEAR OF MAGICAL READING By Nina Sankovitch (Harper, $24) When her older sister died at the age of 46, author Nina Sankovitch developed a novel prescription for recovering from the loss: Read one book daily and blog about it by the next morning — for one year. Her deeply moving memoir artfully intertwines her immigrant family’s history with the universal themes of hope, resilience and memory that she repeatedly encountered in the 365 books she reviewed. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair celebrates not only the healing power of literature but its ability to connect us to the best of ourselves — and each other. —Kristin Baird Rattini VACLAV & LENA By Haley Tanner (The Dial Press, $25) Vaclav and Lena, Russian immi- grants transplanted to Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach, meet as kinder- gartners and instantly hit it off. Vaclav, an aspiring magician, and Lena, a neglected child who finds warmth in Vaclav and his zaftig mother, spend their days planning the magic shows they hope to perform one day at Coney Island. Then Lena disappears, leaving Va- clav pining for answers. First-time novelist Haley Tanner creates char- acters that live beyond the page in this heartbreaking but adorable debut, displaying an ear for dia- logue and a talent for capturing the subtle humor that abounds in this Russian émigré community. —Jaclyn Trop AA.COM/AMERICANWAY JUNE 15, 2011 21

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