Swedish Fish Number Two (The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson)

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a fantastic book I had read before I started this blog, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I had the second book in the series, The Girl Who Played with Fire, in my basket waiting to be read. Well, after reading numerous other books, I finally picked it up. I guess I was afraid it wouldn't be as good as the first one, as many times sequels are terrible, particularly the second book (look at Harry Potter. I don't know anyone who would pick Chamber of Secrets as their favorite HP book. Although, the foreshadowing is brilliant...).

I was wrong.

The Girl Who Played with Fire was BETTER than Dragon Tattoo. One problem I often have with sequels is that the characters become boring; the reader has already learned everything about them that is pertinent to the book. Larsson's characters, however, remain multidimensional and are constantly full of surprises.

The one problem that I have with these books lies in the translation. Since they were originally published in Sweden, they had to be translated into English, and at times the writing style is inelegant and clumsy. Also, there is too much attention to detail at times--the reader really doesn't need to know what time the characters showered or ate a pizza (I guess that goes along with the clumsiness of the style too, though. And maybe that's typical in Swedish novels? I don't know...).

Overall, though, the book was fantastic. I would certainly recommend both of Larsson's books that I have read to anyone. They're interesting, fast-paced, complicated, detailed, and un-put-down-able. Yep, I think I made that last one up. Anyway, go pick one up. They're a great summer read.

Next up: Elizabeth Bennett, Mr. Darcy, and....Zombies? Until next time, Happy Reading!

Katie the Bookworm and the Reason I Stay Up Late At Night (Harry Potter and the... by J.K. Rowling)

I'm a nerd. If you haven't discerned that already, I'm just going to throw it out there for you. And, being a nerd, I like to do nerdy things, such as re-read series of books that I have read enough times to have them practically memorized. And anyone who knows me knows how much I adore the Harry Potter series. Which leads into this:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: I started with Book Five, for reasons that sounded ok at the time. I let boyfriend borrow my copy of Prisoner of Azkaban almost TWO YEARS AGO and he still hasn't returned it (or even finished it, despite my harping), and I really didn't want to trudge through 735 pages of Goblet of Fire yet again, so I started with Book Five. It's my favorite (maybe...) and, for me, it's where the series of children's books becomes a series of adult books.

I grew up with Harry- I read the first book when I was 11, and I was 19 when the last book came out. Book Five was released when I was 15, and Harry and I were the same age. I identified with him- to the extent that you can identify with a boy wizard who is being hunted by an evil Dark Lord, anyway. But I do love Book Five- it's frustrating, yet hopeful, and terribly sad at the end.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: yet another fantastic book. I went to the midnight release for this book and I started reading it while I was walking to the car, using a cell phone as a flashlight. I was done with it before midnight the following night. This book has much less action than OOTP or Deathly Hallows, and I view it as a necessary precursor to Book Seven. Of course, all the books are necessary, but HBP does a lot of exposition that sets up to Book Seven perfectly.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Ok, so maybe this one is my favorite. We've come full circle with the series, we've reached the end. It's bittersweet, in a way. The first time I read it, I cried for the last 150 pages or so, and today, when I finished it (for only the fourth time!) I was crying again. I realized as I was reading it that, in the two years since I've picked up a Harry Potter book, I had forgotten a lot of what happened in DH, so parts of it seemed new again.

In a side note, ABC Family was having a "Harry Potter Weekend." I skipped the first two movies, but I tivo'd Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, and Order of the Phoenix. And I may go rent Half-Blood Prince, just so I'm prepared when Part One of Deathly Hallows is released in November.

Another side note: Cedric Diggory plays Edward in Twilight, and I just want to make it known that, although I have seen all the Twilight movies and read the books, Harry Potter could take Edward and Jacob. And J.K. Rowling is so much awesomer than Stephanie Meyer.

Until next time, Happy Reading!

PS- Ryan, finish Prisoner of Azkaban or I'll sic Kira on you. She's fierce.

I Spent My 4th of July Learning How to Fight Terrorism (Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin)

Three Cups of Tea is the true story of an American who, after a failed summit attempt on K2, decides to build a school in the remote Karakoram region of Pakistan for the small village that helped him recuperate from his expedition. Mortensen, the American, soon learns that a) it's a lot harder than it looks to build a school in Pakistan and b) that education for all children is really the only way to effectively combat fundamentalist Muslim teachings and, therefore, fight terrorism.

Everyone out there who has ever taken a world history or global politics class (or even if you just read a lot of newspapers) knows that in places like Central Asia and the Middle East, an army can't just swoop in, take over, and expect to be loved by the people in that country. You have to not just learn the customs, but understand the reasons for those customs. The title of the book says it all: Three Cups of Tea. It is explained later in the book: you sit down for the first cup of tea as a stranger, by the second cup, you are an honored guest, and by the third cup, you are a member of the family. In order to help others, you have to take the time to know, understand, and be accepted by them.

The lesson put forth in Three Cups of Tea (besides the trite "one person can change the world") is that education is the root of all problems; or, perhaps more to the point, a lack of education is the root of all problems. In areas like Pakistan and Afghanistan, the educational system is extremely flawed, and it does not even exist in some places. But with education, lives are changed. Young men are less likely to fall prey to the fundamentalist teachings of conservative mullahs and Muslim schools and are more likely to help pull their families and villages out of poverty. Young women are able to learn and become equals with their husbands, and are able to adequately nourish and care for their families. Poverty rates and infant mortality rates drop, and this can all be accomplished for about $12,000 American dollars. That seems like a bargain to ensure the security of our great nation, right?

Mortensen began a nonprofit organization, the Central Asia Institute. You can check them out at www.ikat.org to find out more (or donate a few dollars to help build another school). And please, read Three Cups of Tea. It's fantastic, especially for my fellow humanitarian tree huggers (as my Dad would say). And as always, Happy Reading!

One can't have it both ways (Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy)

Love. Loss. Innocence. Guilt. Desire. Maile Meloy's short stories in this collection (Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It) encompass all of these themes. Bound together by snow and ice, by love and infidelity, the eleven stories are all richly drawn and some of the best I've ever read. They're haunting and lovely, and short enough to leave a reader wanting more.

Meloy's style is lyrical and poetic, reminiscent of Capote. The stories themselves are all snapshots of life; they depict moments in life that one can imagine happen everyday all over the country. One of my favorites is "O Tannenbaum," the final story in the collection. It leaves the reader with a sweet taste and certainly wanting more.

I'm definitely adding Meloy's other works to my list!

And here's a new list- my favorite short stories:

1. Truman Capote (anything.)

2. "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

3. "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor

4. The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst

5. Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha stories (his short stories are so much more readable than his novels)

So I finished two books today...I really should get a life. I'll have another post soon, hopefully. And until we meet again, Happy Reading!

This one took a while... (Empire Falls by Richard Russo)

So it's been a few days! I spent a few days at the beach, and I didn't get much reading done, so this one took a little longer to read. Empire Falls is the story of a town told through the eyes of a local diner owner, Miles Roby. The town is like many in the northeast; its livelihood was the textile mills, and once they were closed, the town began to slowly die.

What is so compelling about this story, which is like so many others, both true and fictional, is that the characters are so richly drawn. By the time you close the book on the last page, you feel like you've known these characters your entire life. They're funny and heartbreaking at the same time, and you want to hope that everything turns out all right in the end.

The most interesting parts of the book for me were the flashbacks to Miles' mother, Grace, who had an affair with the owner of the mills, C.B. Whiting. The affair, which did not last terribly long, has had lasting effects on Miles' life, even though he did not know about it until many years later.

It's an interesting read, although it took me several days to finish. I added it to my "Books to Read" list a few years ago after watching the superb miniseries that was shown on HBO (I think). Ed Harris is in it! If you're looking for a good way to waste an afternoon, definitely head over to Blockbuster and check it out.

I have no lists for today, and I think I'll head outside and lay in the hammock for a while and begin my next read. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know! And, as always, happy reading!