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Let me know if you like the book. I’ve read all three, and I HAVE OPINIONS.
Yes, please Sheila, share your thoughts about the Larsson trilogy! Would love to know what you think of them (I have read the two first books, haven’t started the third).
On a related note, I love, love LOVE those pics where you photograph what you’re reading, makes me wanna sit down with a book right then and there, no matter what I am doing or where I am at the moment :)
Lisa – I bet you do! I’m not done with it yet although I saw the movie so it’s not quite as tense as I imagine it must be if you read it without knowing the end.
In general, I am liking it.
But here’s one bitchy comment: I get the feeling that Stieg Larsson thought very very highly of himself. I can see it in his portrayal of Blomkvist, whom is obviously his stand-in. It’s a bit over the top to have every woman he sleeps with comment on how “good” he is in bed. You know. I think he’s showing his cards a bit much there.
But I love Lizbeth Salander – I love her flat affect, I love her brains and her sneakiness, and I love the bits about the Swedish social welfare system which just sounds totally fascist to me. A giant Orwellian state.
It’s dragging a bit now though – I’m near the end. But then I already know “who dun it” so I’m not feeling compelled to finish it.
I don’t know why I bought the first one (in Kroger, of all places). I guess I’d heard about them on the internet, but we were going on a trip, so I bought it to read.
Now, we all know I have an inferiority complex about books. If I don’t “get” it, I don’t blame the book, I blame myself. I must be too dumb. Everyone ELSE is raving, why aren’t I? (::cough::ColdMountain::cough::) So for the first 3rd of Dragon Tattoo, I was all, “I do NOT UNDERSTAND THIS SHIT but I am GOING TO READ it because this book is FAMOUS and I am not a DUMMY.” Then after aallll the backstory about Blomkvist and his lawsuit, I found myself unable to put it down. I *had* to find out about the missing girl. I loved it. (Haven’t seen the movie yet.)
I ADORED the 2nd book. Couldn’t put it down for even a minute, so I went out and bought the hardback of the 3rd book so I could find out what happened next. I was. . .eh. It was fine. I think he tried to cram too much into it, so I kept getting lost and having to go back and re-read parts, which I HATE in a book. I was kind of disappointed.
I’ll tell you one thing, Lisa: I was so grateful for the family tree in the front of Dragon Tattoo. I freakin’ needed it. Sometimes I wish novels had indexes. (Indices?) You know: with characters and where they come up in books, or at least a cheat sheet.
It seems to me that these books are meant to be read at breakneck speed – that way you can keep up. I feel like if I put it down, I will totally lose the thread of who’s who.
My kids make fun of me because I have printed out all the maps from the Game of Thrones books (NERD FUCKING ALERT) and I reference them as I’m reading. I mean, I can’t KEEP UP without them.
Lisa – I totally get it. Otherwise you’d waste too much time flipping back through the book!
Ceci – Yes, tell me what you thought! I am definitely going to go on and read the other two books in the trilogy. He certainly has me hooked!
I hope you had a very nice holiday!
Lisa – we can talk more about this IN MEMPHIS.
Uhm, is that your adorable nephew as Flat Santa? It’s killing me.
Also ….. the plastic grannies with walkers?? I’m laughing out loud and I have no flippin’ idea what they are.
Sheila, I just wanted to offer you my crazy wild gratitude, for all of this writing that you do…I cannot imagine how much time you spend, but I, for one, cannot get enough. I found your blog about 6 months ago, and I am unceasingly inspired and intrigued and taught, and reminded of things I had forgotten.
Bravo!
Happy New Year to you
Tracey – totally Flat Santa! If you were a baby, wouldn’t you want to be in that position?? That actually is my second cousin – I think that’s the right term. (It is my first cousin’s child. This was our first time meeting him. He was in a furry Santa suit and he was so so cute!!!)
and yeah: I have no idea what those granny walkers were either! They were at my aunt and uncle’s house. You wound them up and they hobbled across the counter. It was so random!
Your first cousin’s child is your first cousin once removed. If you had a child, your child and your first cousin’s child would be second cousins.
We’ve talked about this a lot in my family, and my sister has a doctorate in anthropology, so she knows her kinship titles.
Now– back to your regularly scheduled comment thread.
I have never understood this til now. Thanks, roo!
Megan – that is so nice of you to say. Thank you so much!
And happy new year to you too!
Tracey – also, my nephew is named after my father, and Flat Santa is named after my cousin’s father (my uncle) who died when I was a kid. Her father and my father were very good pals, and in a way my dad never got over missing him as a friend. So having the two namesakes of these special men meet one another … both little babies … it was really emotional for us.
That is so sweet, Sheila.
I can never remember the cousins thing. I think that the cousin of my cousin is my second cousin, and the children of my cousin would be my first cousins once removed (as in, removed by one generation from my own). I used to know it cold but lately it lumps into one huge category of “relatives I usually only get to see for major events and holidays”. The reduced contact bothers me more than getting the geneology correct…
In any event, Merry late Christmas and Happy early New Year! Thanks for all the writing.
So Flat Santa is my first cousin once removed? Thank you for the generational explanation – that will help me to remember it.
They all fall under the blanket of “cousins” to me. And so who are the two babies to each other? Do we know? Besides beloved friends already?
and Merry Christmas and happy 2012 to you too Nightfly!
And the balcony shot represents three generations. Love it. It was an impromptu Christmas dance, as aunt Katy played on the grand piano down below.
Hello Sheila,
further to Larsson … you may well have read this a while back …
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2010/07/05/100705sh_shouts_ephron
Happy 2012
Like Megan, I came and stayed for the wonderful writing.
But your personal photos are great, too.
Christmas here, Block Island in the winter, the lake, Ithaca, NYC, Halloween, Glendalough, the URI play way back when, etc.
And the photos you find and insert into movie/theatre/author/Elvis posts always add to readers’ understanding of what you’re writing about.
Happy New Year.