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What I'm Reading Now
Dec. 24th, 2011 11:18 pmWow. Just finished Larsson's Millenium trilogy -- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Here are my thoughts, which won't give anything away to those who haven't read them.
First, all three were complex and plausible within the world of the political intrigue/mystery genre. Larsson is a far better writer than Dan Brown, as his characters are better rounded and they react more like real people thatn Brown's, especially peripheral characters. Larsson also deals with abnormal people more effectively too.
It's clear that Larsson is an adherent of the old writing advice, "Write what you know." He's a periodical and book person, and that figures strongly in the trilogy, but it's not invasive.
It's also been said that it's extremely hard to write courtroom scenes without them becoming boring to anyone save lawyers. This is the exception that tests the rule.
Of the three, I feel, after finishing them, that Dragon Tattoo is the weakest of the three, but it is vital to read it because it sets up so much for the next two. The last book is a roller coaster ride, and it's interesting how the writing deftly handles having multiple forces in motion without the reader losing track of who is doing what to whom for how long and with what implements. It also keeps telegraphing down to a minimum, and the way things unfold are logical. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is an intense book that pulls the reader along much in the same way Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash or Cryptonomicon does.
They're on my recommended list. In fact, they're on my recommended list without reservation.
One more thing -- if you're watching closely you can pick up on several things that show the difference between Swedish culture and American culture. I'm not sure about all of them, but some have risen to the surface to my mind in the process of reading these three books.
And I fondly hope Larsson's s/o finishes the fourth book soon. And I hope she's up to the task of turning his outlines for the fifth and sixth books into reality that is comparable with these first three.
This has also made me want to find digital copies of some or all of the eleven Modesty Blaise books.
First, all three were complex and plausible within the world of the political intrigue/mystery genre. Larsson is a far better writer than Dan Brown, as his characters are better rounded and they react more like real people thatn Brown's, especially peripheral characters. Larsson also deals with abnormal people more effectively too.
It's clear that Larsson is an adherent of the old writing advice, "Write what you know." He's a periodical and book person, and that figures strongly in the trilogy, but it's not invasive.
It's also been said that it's extremely hard to write courtroom scenes without them becoming boring to anyone save lawyers. This is the exception that tests the rule.
Of the three, I feel, after finishing them, that Dragon Tattoo is the weakest of the three, but it is vital to read it because it sets up so much for the next two. The last book is a roller coaster ride, and it's interesting how the writing deftly handles having multiple forces in motion without the reader losing track of who is doing what to whom for how long and with what implements. It also keeps telegraphing down to a minimum, and the way things unfold are logical. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is an intense book that pulls the reader along much in the same way Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash or Cryptonomicon does.
They're on my recommended list. In fact, they're on my recommended list without reservation.
One more thing -- if you're watching closely you can pick up on several things that show the difference between Swedish culture and American culture. I'm not sure about all of them, but some have risen to the surface to my mind in the process of reading these three books.
And I fondly hope Larsson's s/o finishes the fourth book soon. And I hope she's up to the task of turning his outlines for the fifth and sixth books into reality that is comparable with these first three.
This has also made me want to find digital copies of some or all of the eleven Modesty Blaise books.
