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

Better Late Than Never -- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson

Sometimes I live in my head and in my own little world so much that I miss when really good books hit the shelves. That happened with the Millenium series:  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. The first, TGWTDT, was published in the U.S. in 2008, but I didn't hear about it till last year. I have been seeing the movies at the library but debated whether to read the books first, so never picked them up. I'm so glad I waited! All I'd heard was "they're really good but violent." Yes, on both accounts but I guess I read enough true crime and mysteries that the violence didn't bother me (that much). It is fiction after all.

I'm sure the movie will be good, but this first book in the series is excellent! I stayed up last night reading it till 1:30 then finished it this morning. The heat is back here; in fact, the temp got to 101 yesterday in Phoenix, but the mornings are cool. So, I took my coffee and book out by the pool and finished this book this morning. The Girl Who Played with Fire is waiting for me at the library. I will have to go get it so I can start reading it tonight.

In a tiny nutshell (a pistachio shell), Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander pull off the impossible in Sweden in a plot of corporate corruption and family scandal that keeps you turning the pages. The books were written by the late Stieg Larsson in Swedish and translated to English, which was smooth. No problems there other than the consonant-laden proper nouns that I pretty much glossed over. The only thing that tripped me up were the "weird" spellings, like gaol, skilfull, realised, stuff like that. No biggie, but I noticed.

Oh, and aquavit. I had to look that up since the characters drank it all through the book. According to that authoritative source Wikipedia, "It's a traditional flavoured spirit that is principally produced in Scandanavia, where it was already being produced in the 15th century. Akvavit gets its distinctive flavor from spices and herbs, most often caraway. It typically contains 40% alcohol by volume." Whoa jack! That's some powerful juice.

Have you read these books? Have you seen the movies? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Do tell.

Book Read:  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Author:  Stieg Larsson
ISBN:  978-0-307-45454-6

Living the Low Carb Life: From Atkins to The Zone by Jonny Bowden, a summary

Okey dokey, it's time to confess that I pick up nonfiction books and skim them. I don't read all of them cover to cover, but glean what I want from the highlights of chapters and move on. I don't usually include them in this book blog because I'm a stickler that way:  If I haven't READ it, it doesn't belong.

This time I'm making an exception because I wrote a Squidoo lens on Living the Low Carb Life and I did in fact read the guts of the book where Bowden reviewed each of the 14 low carb diets. Here's a link to my Living the Low Carb Life article, if anyone wants to take a gander. Pull up a chunk of bread (high carb) or a chunk of meat (low carb) and sit a spell.

By the way, I'm reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and it's long. It'll be a few more days till I finish it (and hope the library scrounges up a copy of The Girl Who Played with Fire for me so I can jump into that one), so this post breaks a lull in posting.

Laura Rider's Masterpiece by Jane Hamilton

Wow, what a good book this one turned out to be. Have you had the pleasure of reading any of Jane Hamilton's books? Even though I'd never heard of this one till I picked it up off the "Recommended Books" display at the library last week, I liked this book of hers best. I think I needed the break from "all things serious" and this fit the bill.

Jane Hamilton wrote A Map of the World, a serious novel about a child drowning on someone else's property and the aftermath of those lives, and The Book of Ruth, an equally serious book about abuse and anger and regular everyday lives some people live. Maybe you've seen the movies. Laura Rider's Masterpiece is in contrast hilarious and light but with some serious consequences for the characters of its own.

I'd sum up Laura Rider's Masterpiece as "a trashy novel within a literary work of art."

I loved it.

Book Read:  Laura Rider's Masterpiece
Author:  Jane Hamilton
ISBN:  978-0-446-53895-4

Bird Cloud by Annie Proulx

I love reading Annie Proulx's novels, but this memoir, not so much. Bird Cloud. It's the name of the book and the ranch she built. First she bought some land in Wyoming. The day she first saw the land, there was a cloud in the sky shaped like a bird. The book details her travails of building her "dream house" on the land, a section south of I-80 in Wyoming. This memoir was interesting, in some places interesting like reading an instruction manual is interesting--you know you're learning something as you go but how long will you retain it or care to remember it? Some of it not that long for me.

Maybe the reason I couldn't get into Bird Cloud was because while I read her book, I was also reading/copy editing a science book, and her memoir read a lot like a science book in places. She talked about the Wyoming wind, the soil, Falling Cow (a cliff, named as a nod to Frank Lloyd Wright, where a cow met his demise), snow, blowing snow, the wind, snow drifts from the wind, being snowed in, the short, dark days of a Wyoming winter, the general pain in the ass-ness of the place at times.

And the birds. I like birds just fine, as long as they're outside (long story). But she adores them. She watches them and studies them. She takes notes about the birds' habits, their nests, what they eat, when they come and go, and it all just got to be a little much. Like I said, if my days hadn't been spent reading this science book, I probably would have cottoned to snuggling up to this book each night a little more.

If you've read any of Annie Proulx's novels, you'll know she's a talented storyteller and writer. I love The Shipping News and That Old Ace in the Hole. She also wrote the short story, Brokeback Mountain, that the movie was based on. I wonder if she just needed the cash and wrote this book to recoup some of the money from "Annie's Folly," what I read online that her house is called. Turns out the house didn't meet her expectations. It's not livable in the winter since the drive gets snowed in from the constant blowing snow. She now winters in Santa Fe and returns to Bird Cloud when the weather improves, about March each year. I think the place is for sale, if anyone has a few million sitting around and needs a summer place.

Book Read:  Bird Cloud
Author:  Annie Proulx
ISBN:  978-0-7432-8880-4

I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

I usually really like Laura Lippman's books but this one didn't really grab me till about 100 pages from the end. I'd Know You Anywhere was much more sedate and less action packed than most of her other novels, which is fine, but I wasn't expecting it so I was a bit disappointed.

I first started reading Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan books when a friend recommended her. They are girl detective/crime books and lots of fun to read. Lately, she's writing more standalone novels--some really good, some so so.

Have you ever read any of Laura Lippman's books? Do you have a favorite detective/crime writer?

Book Read:  I'd Know You Anywhere
Author:  Laura Lippman
ISBN:  978-0-06-170665-4