The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo By: Stieg Larsson

I figure all blogs (especially book blogs) need variety, so I asked my wonderful friend Rebecca to review a book that is totally different than the books I read. You would have to be living under a rock, to not have heard the buzz The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series  is receiving. So without further ado here is my first guest reviewer's take on a very distinctive book.

                5 stars out of 5!

          What do you get when you mix a cold case murder, violence, love and an anti-social genius? Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I bought this book after receiving my Kindle DX in the mail, and desperately wanting to try it out, I bought Larsson’s best-seller without really knowing anything about the hype surrounding the Millennium Trilogy. The book is a staggering 600 pages, and I have to admit, the first 50 pages mainly consisted of conversation and background information. However, the semi- boring beginning was well worth the rest of the book. In fact, I finished it in two days.
          By reading Larsson’s words, I was thrown into the streets of Stockholm, drinking coffee in a street side café. The protagonist, Mikael Blomkvist, is a shamed journalist who watches his reputation fall to pieces after being convicted of libel against a wealthy Swedish businessman, Hans-Erik Wennerström. Redemption arises when an elderly ex-industry leader, Henrik Vanger, offers Blomkvist a deal: solve the 40-year-old murder of his niece, Harriet, and receive damning proof of Wennerström’s misdeeds. Unable to refuse, Blomkvist uses the help of Lisbeth Salander, an anti-social girl with a dragon tattoo, to solve the case. Though rail thin, petite, and Goth’s fashion icon, Salander is nonetheless a treasure chest of uncanny wisdom and resourcefulness. Blomkvist and Salander unveil startling information about the Vanger family: information that may cost them their lives.
         If I had to describe Larsson’s novel in one word: thrilling. Every page of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an adventure. However, I have to warn you: this book isn’t a light, “day at the beach” read. You’ll undoubtedly be on the edge of your seat and biting your nails, as Larsson does not hold back on describing the abuse and sexual violence the characters encounter on their journeys. In fact, the original Swedish title of the novel is Men Who Hate Women. So beware: mature readers only!
       After you get to page 600, I guarantee that you’ll run to your nearest book supplier to pick up The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest. Unfortunately, Larsson passed away after submitting the trilogy to his publisher. Nevertheless, his amazing talent lives on in the pages of these incredible novels.

Novel Safe Haven to be reviewed....soon!

I just picked up my copy of Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks! What does this mean? Well, a review of this book is coming soon. How soon, I have no clue. I am pretty swamped right now with a lot of different responsibilities but, I will try to find time to read. This book looks promising, let's hope it is.

Twenty Boy Summer By: Sarah Ockler

           Daresay I give it five stars?


4 and 1/2 stars out of 5!

I stumbled upon this book. One of my all time favorite authors is Sarah Dessen. Earlier this summer I was watching a video on Barnes and Noble.com in which Sarah was recommending her favorite summer books for young adults. Being such a fan of hers, I immediately jotted down the books she mentioned. Twenty Boy Summer was one of those.

Now, I am not sure if I would have found it without her suggestion. As I said in my last post, I do not buy the books I read; I check 90% of them out at the library. So, after searching for Twenty Boy Summer at my library (including all branches), with no luck, I gave up.

Turns out, I was meant to read this book. During Labor Day weekend my parents and I were at our beach house. On the first day, we went to the library. Guess which book was being displayed in the young adult section? Yep, this one!

Whoa...I didn't mean to write all that even BEFORE I start reviewing the book!

So, as you can see I gave this book an extremely positive review. This is because I honestly loved it. It was really similar to a Sarah Dessen novel, but almost better. Sshhh..I didn't say that! Just looking at the cover, one would think this book was about something positive or just about a summer conquest. Not at all. This book was primarily about loss, grief, coping and moving on. Debut novelist Sarah Ockler handled each of these aspects extremely well. One of the main themes was also friendship, and whether our best friendships can handle betrayal. Warning, however this book is far from innocent, one of the topics is virginity....or rather the losing of said virginity.

I believe the best books are those that when you finish you feel as though the characters really spoke to you, like you have lost a friend. This is how I felt while reading this book, I really felt as though I would want to be friends with the main characters, Anna and her best friend Frankie.

I devoured this book; it was one of those I could not put down. Sometimes, I read a book and it is so good I read it as quickly as I can. This was one of those.

I highly endorse this novel. And, the good news for me is, while I cannot ever read this book fresh again, Sarah Ockler has a new book coming out in December. Fixing Delilah- read about it here, http://sarahockler.com/books/

And, I will leave you with another review that I found on a book blog. The review is really good as is the web site! This blog will give you more of the plot of the book.


http://bookingmama.blogspot.com/2009/06/review-20-boy-summer.html
                   
  

Loaning library books, the Kindle and the real thing

 Any Kindle lovers out there? Well, I am sure there are plenty. Personally, someone could give me a Kindle and I still wouldn't use it. Why? Let me count the reasons. Probably, the largest reason is I am a book lover. Now, I say this carefully. BOOK LOVER. To me, not just the printed text makes a book but the actual cover, weight, design, smell. All of this is really the essence of a book. I also love that if I personally own the book, all I have to do to locate it is to look on my book shelf.


I have read chapters of books on the computer. When various authors release a sneak peek at their books, I have read them online. This is really the only time I ever hope to do this. Reading one or two chapters is enough. Give me the actual hard copy book any day. Then I can take the book and go anywhere, read outside on the swing, on an airplane, in a lawn chair in front of the ocean. I know many have valid arguments about the high points about the Kindle but as far as I am concerned they are not for me.

The second topic I want to discuss is loaning books at the library. Many people steer clear of the library and instead buy each book they read. Ever since I have been a small girl, my parents have taken me to the library. And now, I can't imagine buying every book I want to read. I can't imagine how much money I would spend on books!!! Lucky for me, my library has a librarian who is whole-heartily open to suggestions. I have in the past given her suggestions of books to consider. Also, loaning books through my library system, one can borrow books from not only my branch but all of the public libraries in my county. This is probably the same for most counties.

I am back! Sorry for the year long absence!

So, not surprising, to me at least....it has been over a year since I have even signed on to this blog. I was just reading my first ever post (one of two) and was humored by my admitting to not following through on journals. So, sorry!!!! I will try to do better on this attempt! Fingers crossed!!!!! I actually had the worst time finding this blog. I had no idea how to locate it. I did remember the name, but I could not find my blog when I searched for it. Long story short, I found it (obviously). And, I am ready to give blogging another go. Since, last summer I have probably read close to one hundred books. I will not run out of items to blog about. I am really looking forward to giving my opinion on one particular book. I will reveal it: Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. I won't give anything away, since I won't be posting about it immediately. I also plan to discuss the Twilight Series. I will give my honest opinion about the books and why or why I don't like them. Hmmm...which do you think it is? I also hope to acquire a few followers...currently I have zero.I definitely need to work on that!  Anyone want to follow me? Ha! No, not stalking!