Posts
Book Read:
by Stieg Larsson
Ladies in Attendance:
6 plus 2 very social cats.
Treats Shared:
Chocolate Cake, Peanut Butter cookies with Chocolate Kisses, Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Pretzels, juice and WINE! We all kinda forgot to bring appetizers. Oops!
To Read or Not to Read:
3 Ladies read the book.
2 Ladies did not.
1 Lady saw the movie.
My Reaction:
I enjoyed this book. I found it to be the perfect read for the dead of winter since most of the book is set in the middle of nowhere, on a snowy island in Sweden. However, the beginning just plain sucked. It took me about 200 pages to get into it but luckily I had some trusted readers in my life that told me this. I did not get discouraged though I did put it down and pick it up several times before finally committing.
If you click on the title, it will link you to Amazon for a description. For my book club posts, I will not go into much detail of the book, I will mostly post my Ladies' reactions and whether or not it would be a good pick for book clubs in general.
We had a great discussion about it. We talked about the mystery throughout, the choppy translation from Swedish to English, the power of Lisbeth (the female punk hacker and the "Girl" that they refer to in all of the book titles) and the overall lure and crazy of the Vanger family (the family in which the book is based around and their dirty little secrets).
The Ladies Reactions:
I was one of the 3 that read it. The other two ladies enjoyed it as well but admitted that is was trying to get through the beginning and when the mystery is solved towards the end, we all felt a bit confused as to why there were still 100 some pages left. They enjoyed the characters, loved Lisbeth and felt she wasn't present enough in this first book. The title makes it seem like it would be all about her but it wasn't. One of the ladies has read the entire trilogy and she ensured us that we would indeed find out more about Lisbeth in the next two books. It also brought up some frank discussion on the abuse of women in Sweden and the political affiliations of the author. Did his early death in 2003 create the buzz about these books?
Good Book Club Pick?
Yes, we all agreed it was a good pick for us. Though half of our group did not read it, (2 started and one saw the movie), they were intrigued with the story and the power of its success and allure.
Next Book Up:
February- Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!
red headed book child
14 comments:
Great post!
So fun!
Wench sounds really good. I can't wait for that review :)
I like this book club feature! That's cool everyone liked it. I plan on reading this soon but I'm a little afraid of the first 100-200 pages, LOL.
I'll be interested to see what you think of Wench... I have a blog tour review coming up for that and thought it was good and there is definitely stuff to talk about in it.
Glad that you liked it and Yes lisbeth kicks ass , and totally agree with the swedish to english translation , but its great story none the less.
Hey I think your blog is pretty and I'm nominating you for an award!! Check my blog out to see it!!
http://ottilieweber.blogspot.com
oh em gee! This is such a cute idea! You've GOT to see the movie. The actress who plays Lisbeth-- Noomi Rapace -- is freaking amazing!
Larsson's books were so unusual - I also liked the background setting so much.
LOVED the movie...I agree with Tipsy...Noomi was amazing! The second movie was good too. I haven't read any of the books yet, but I have this one and I am definitely reading it this year.
Great book club post and I love the button! *wink wink*
I do love this new feature. The layout is great...can almost feel like I was there.
I would have been one of the ladies who did not read this one :)
carol
Interesting! I enjoyed this book but I don't have any plans to read the sequels. I saw the movies as well and I know the first one had some subtle differences from the book; I wonder about hte other two!
Oh, I just realized while I was reading your review that I can use this book as my foreign book to read this month. Yea! I find it so frustrating that when people belong to book clubs and then can't get around to reading the one book a month that they need to read. One of my best friends is in my book club and she NEVER finishes the book--doesn't even come close. And this is a lady that reads a lot and would have great insights. So frustrating!
I have only read the first part but I enjoyed it a lot. I hope to read the sequels soon.
I just knew these posts were going to be good. Enjoyed the glimpse inside the club....seems like this title worked out despite the difficulty getting into it. I'm still not sold on the series just yet...but hey, ya never know. Perhaps one day....
Thanks for sharing....happy reading. ^_^
My book club read this one a few months back and it was a great discussion - I had some that hated it... others that LOVED it....
I enjoyed this post, although I don't have any plans to read this series; it's just not for me.
I found your comment about the first 100 pages interesting. At the bookshop where I work, that seems to be the universal sentiment of customers; that it takes a while to get into it, most almost give up, and most are glad that they finished it.
Post a Comment