Sunday Salon: It's Been a Month...

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The summer is winding down and it has been a hectic one ever since it started. This is my first Sunday Salon in a month!

I started the Steig Larsson trilogy, reviewed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, re-read The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)  and finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. (The second book in the trilogy and an ARC of the third were sent to me by the publisher some time ago. I went out and bought the first book to have all three).

All the books are top notch thrillers. The main character in the books, Lisbeth Salander, is someone we root for - she refuses to be a recurring victim of anyone or any system. Once she becomes an adult and can stand up for herself, once is enough, and then she fights back - spectacularly. I only wish Larsson were alive to enjoy the success of his books.

Also reviewed Extinction - the Ultimate Holocaust, a sci-fi novel by Dan Ailey, and wrote a  couple of short verses for Magpie Tales, hosted by Willow.

On Monday, I'll post two sentences for a 140-character response to a photo prompt, a meme called Microfiction Monday, hosted by Stony River. It's been fun writing poetry or something short using photo prompts provided by the hosts.


Finished an enjoyable, light mystery set in Charlotte, North Carolina, A Corpse for Yew (A Peggy Lee Garden Mystery) written by Joyce and Jim Lavene. I plan to get others in the series when I return the book to the library. The book will be a fun read as long as you are not too fussy about incidentals such as setting and a crime scene not described very well. The interesting characters and the garden/plant information more than make up for that however.
That's all I did the past week or two. What books have you finished?

© Harvee Lau, Book Bird Dog

 

Book Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was published June 23, 2009. entertaining and suspenseful,  set in Sweden, the novel is about  a petite 90 lb. woman, Lisbeth Salander, who is hired as a researcher by a private investigator to help solve the disappearance of a teenager 40 years earlier.

Lisbeth, age 25, is a computer hacker who happens to be a ward of the state, declared 'legally incompetent" and psychotic because of her hostile and defiant behavior. Few people know just how smart she is and readers will love how well she can protect herself from being a recurrent victim of the system.

A definite 5 rating for the first in the trilogy. I'm reading the Larsson trilogy in order so am now re-reading the second book with Lisbeth Salander, The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage).

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

Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB, asks you to choose two sentences at random from your current read.

Bjorck looked at the noose, failing to understand. Then he heard movements behind him and felt his knees buckle.

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

This quote is from an uncorrected proof. It may be different from the final version of the book, which is to be released in hardcover May 27, 2010 by Alfred A. Knopf Publishers.

The Scandinavian thriller is the third in the Millennium Trilogy by Larsson, completed just before he died in 2004.  It features the "troubled but genius" main character, Lisbeth Salander. The first novel was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Vintage) and the second,
The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)

What the critics say:

"Stieg Larsson's vivid characters, the depth of the detail across the three books, the powerfully imaginative plot, and the sheer verve of the writing make the trilogy a masterpiece of its genre." - The Economist.

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson, review

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Published July 28, 2009; Knopf
Genre: thriller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you liked Lisbeth Salander, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, you have a chance to see her again in the sequel by Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Played With Fire.

From the publisher's description:

"Mikael Blomkvist, crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government.

But he has no idea just how explosive the story will be until, on the eve of publication, the two investigating reporters are murdered. And even more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander - the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker who came to his aid in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and who now becomes the focus and fierce heart of The Girl Who Played with Fire."

Blomkvist is reluctant to believe Lisbeth guilty of these murders. After all, he and Lisbeth went back a long way, taking part in a manhunt for a serial killer, a story told in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

"During the manhunt he had met Salander. Blomkvist unconsciously stoked the faint scar that the noose had left beneath his left ear. Salander had not only helped him to track down the killer - she had saved his life."

Read the books in order if you can. Characters in the first book show up again in the second novel, and understanding who they are and how they relate to Lisbeth makes it easier to follow The Girl Who Played With Fire.

In the sequel Blomkvist and Lisbeth are together once again on the trail of murderers. The past comes back to haunt Lisbeth and seriously threaten her life. The ending chapters are stunning - a great thriller.

Book provided by the publisher for my objective review.