The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

I finished reading the last book of Stieg Larsson's, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, yesterday. I feel like I've been in another world reading these three books back to back. And although they were good, really intense and involved, I'm glad I'm done with them. Maybe I should have read something else in between, but the stories continued and it was a nice way to keep it all straight in my head.

I was able to do one of my favorite things yesterday. After I read the last 50 pages or so of the book, I then watched the movie. If you've seen the movies made of this book trilogy, you probably know there were two options, on the DVD any way:  watch it in Swedish with English subtitles or watch the English dubbed version. Here's what I did:

• I watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in Swedish and read the subtitles.
• I watched The Girl Who Played with Fire with English dubbed in.
• I watched The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest in Swedish and read the subtitles.

For me, reading subtitles is usually very annoying, but in this case, I found that listening to the fake dubbed voices took away from the movie. They didn't match up the voices well, to me, so I opted for the subtitles for the third.

Have you read these books? Seen the movies? Swedish with subtitles or dubbed English? Share your tales of this amazing girl.

Book Read:  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Author:  Stieg Larsson
ISBN:  978-0-307-26999-7

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

As usual, when I get to the end of a book that grabs my attention, I read it more so I can find out what happens. I usually just read in bed at night for an hour or two, but lately have been reading the 500-page The Girl Who Played With Fire during the day too for a half hour here, a half hour there. I finished this book last night. It was sort of a letdown. The premise of this book was not as compelling to me as the first book and less believable. But it was entertaining, nonetheless.

After I finished reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I watched the movie. Here are my random thoughts:

-  The Swedish language/English subtitles was annoying. I'm a reverse snob; I prefer to hear it in English. Subtitles hold no glamor to me.
-  Some of the more interesting plot points from the book were omitted in the movie. But the movie was more than 2 hours long so I guess it was necessary.
-  Lisbeth was portrayed very well by Noomi Rapace. I enjoyed the interview with her describing what it was like "being Lisbeth" for a year and a half.

I have the DVD of The Girl Who Played With Fire and plan to watch it tonight. Love that!

I'm curious what others do. I seldom enjoy the book as much if I see the movie first. Do you like to read the book then watch the movie? Do you ever watch the movie then read the book?

Book Read:  The Girl Who Played with Fire
Author:  Stieg Larsson
ISBN:  978-0-307-26998-0