I saw it at my favorite bookstore - Changing Hands - a while back and was intrigued by the cover. It's Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Yes, pretty pictures very much work on me! I read the back of it and thought it might be interesting but decided to look up reviews first. I ended up picking up a different book that night and then of course forgot to come back to Larsson's very colorfully decorated book.
Cut to several weeks later I was on my way to work and as always catching up on news via good old NPR. To my surprise there was a short clip on this book and by golly the reviews were fabulous! I learned that there were three books in the series and the last had already been released in Europe but not in the States. These books were so popular that American readers were scrambling to get the new release online through European book sellers! I mean really, how great of a review could there be? Here is a link to that very same radio clip.
After hearing that review, I was definitely intrigued and picked it up right away. I have to be honest that the first half of the book was somewhat disappointing. I really like fiction books but I yearn for stories with a rather fast pace. Too much detail about surroundings, the environment, people's thoughts, (blah, blah, blah) and you'll lose me. Well I found myself drowning in boredom the first half and I usually would have put this book down but I promise you that the NPR review was so good that I felt compelled to continue. And boy was I was glad!
I highly recommend this book! It becomes quite captivating about half way through - maybe a bit before. What is it about? Well, here is what I can tell you without giving it away. This is a book about a male journalist, Michael, who after losing a huge court case hides himself away in a secluded area reluctantly researching the mystery death of a business tycoon's grand daughter. He is hired by said tycoon to solve the mystery. Whilst doing so he meets a slew of characters one being a girl by the name of Lisabeth (love that name) who is incredibly smart but has the socialization skills of a shark. Always ready to attack and never gets too close to anybody. The story weaves in and out of not only the mystery passing away of the grand daughter but of Lisabeth who you begin to become more and more curious about.
I could not put this book down! I loved it! I'm already on to the second book in the series called The Girl Who Played With Fire. It's already a page turner and I'm barely on page 15. If you have already read any of these books, I would love to hear your thoughts!
~Kavita
9 comments:
I've heard about this, thanks for the review. However, i can't remember the last time i sat and read a book. Oh, i know, before we got owen (our puppy)!!
i love your little bird wallpaper Kavita.
I was thinking about your blogging connundrum and it seems like it happens to everyone. taking a break is always a good way to get reinspired i think.
have a great weekend you two!
xo lori
That's crazy you wrote a review about this because my mom and I were literally just talking about this book. Now I have to read it. Did you hear about the scandal dealing with the author's lifetime partner and family? (Also discussed on NPR) - drama.
Thanks Lori. :) Hope you have a great weekend too! Maybe you can pick up a good book and have Owen read with you.
Lizzie, it's SO good! We'll have to compare notes. And no I didn't hear about the scandal but I'll google Larsson name's on the NPR website and find the clip.
Thanks... I am in need for lots of books to read right now!
let me know what you think of it maria!
I had this waiting for me on the bookshelf after a previous attempt at reading it. However after several recommendations I picked it up again (I stopped reading your post halfway through just in case I got too much information!) and I finished it in a weekend.
It's so good, I don't usually like anything too dark with the kind of content that has me thinking 'there's enough evil in the world without having to make it up as well' but I could not put it down and I'll be getting the next two as well.
A couple of interesting points - over here, the cover is totally different, it features a girl with her back to you and a dragon tattoo on her shoulder (I prefer your yellowy/green abstract cover). Also, in our version, she is called Lisbeth, not Lisabeth. I know book covers do often vary but I wonder why these changes are made for the US/European audiences and the name thing is also quite odd, don't you think? I wonder if there are any other differences in the editions or if it was just translated differently?
Hi Emy! Thanks for the note! I think I may have mis-quoted. I think her name is Lisbeth (not Lisabeth). I don't have the book by me right now and I'm too lazy to get off the sofa but I'm pretty sure that I made a mistake and mis-typed. But yes the covers sounds very different. I have no idea the reasoning behind producing two covers. I quite like the one I read. Are you reading the rest of the books? I'm fairly well in to the second one and I'm liking it!
I'm looking for a copy of the second and third to borrow! It's the kind of book I need to read during the holidays because I won't put it down and then I won't get any work done! Lol to typos, I have previously misjudged entire characters in a book before because of misreading a word, much to my embarrassment in 6th Form English Lit lessons! xx
:) oh emy! you make me smile! i can definitely vouch for the second book. I'm about half way through and it's very good. have you heard of www.goodreads.com? my best friend kelly just recommended it to me and i'm starting to get a hang of it.
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