The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

My wife never ceases to amaze me. She read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in under 48 hours. Well, that could be incorrect, if you include the time she slept as non-reading time, she really finished it in under 24 hours. Why do I mention this? It should prove to any reader what a compelling novel it is.




I remember when I first read Jurassic Park I was so drawn in that I finished it at 2AM in my bed cause I couldn't put it down. Despite my wifey's intensity, it took me longer to finish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but I still liked it quite a bit.

I think it was a bit slow in starting. If I hadn't heard so many great reviews I might even have given up a quarter of the way through. During much of the first half of the book one thing that is a bit off-putting and also intriguing is trying to figure out how Stieg Larsson is going to get the two main characters together. Eventually they do come together and completing the book is worthwhile overall.

What I liked about having my wife read it, things that took a long while to complete for me took only moments for her. Where the time it took me to get from point A to point B might be three or four days, my wife will ask me about point A and then thirty minutes later will talk about B. If I had to do it over, I'd have done it her way and knocked it out all at once.

Book Review – Way Behind here

I think I’ve read two or three books since I finished The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson. This book was recommended to me by a fellow National Noveler and I’m glad she did so. It is a thriller in every since of the word. Sadly, like my own first novel, this thriller screams, “This is my first novel!”



I don’t think there was a single vocabulary word underlined throughout the course of the novel, but I did like a few passages, again, not enough to underline them.
The plot was riveting. Who wouldn’t want to read about CIA agent thrown into Al Queda before September 11th, trying to make amends to his handlers and his family for having missed the clues that would have helped him alert the US about the attack. Secondly, having planned a couple of terrorist attacks of my own for thriller writing purposes, Berenson’s idea is really quite interesting and keeps the reader on edge.

I look forward to reading his second effort and I hope it does scream, “I’m better, I’m a second novel.”

Book Review - Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (here) was not bad at all. The characters were fun to read about, the situation, although not terribly original (see here), was as fresh as a stale idea can be. My one concern is that how good can the writing be if I didn't highlight a single word or sentence?




Word? I can see that. This is a Young Adult book and although I don't have the most high brow vocab, I throw out the nickel words every now and then. So, I can't ding Collins for her limiting the four syllable words. But not a sentence? That doesn't say much. Usually I identify an amazing analogy, a moving metaphor, or a stupendous simile in everything I read. Here? Not.

That being said, I read it, and like the first time I read the DaVinci Code or Jurrasic Park it drew me in so much that I didn't want to put it down. I stayed up late nights to read it. That alone says alot about the authors ability to reel in the reader. Not only that, but I'm looking forward to the follow-on novels, particularly because the ending is so aburpt and non-redeeming. But, as much as I liked it, I wish I had liked it even more.