Savor-worthy: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Some people read the book first and watch the movie second. I ALWAYS (when possible) read the book after I watch the movie. Some would say this spoils the book, but I disagree; the book is always better than the movie, so I find myself rarely disappointed. Instead, I use the movie-version of a story to whet my appetite and I then seek out the book to fill in the interesting details the movie couldn't include. I also get interesting character insights from the book that the movie was unable to tackle or was too confined to begin to tackle the topic. With this said, I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo after I'd seen the swedish version of the movie (with English subtitles). Apparently, there's supposed to be an English version in the making as well.

I kept hearing about TGDT (my new abbreviation for it) on NPR and from my artsy, indie friends. The story was written by Stieg Larsson, who passed shortly after having the trilogy published. I heard TGDT was fabulous, but then came the disclaimers: do not watch or read this if you're squeemish about sexual violence-- because this theme pushes the entire conflict. As well, when I heard about it on NPR, I was reassured that the sexual violence is necessary to the plot and that the main character gets vindication (which helped me stomach one scene in particular).

The gist is this: Lisbeth Salander is a punk-rock (minus the rock) investigator. She makes her own hours and her own rules. She's also a warden of the state... which the book never explains (but gets explained later in the TGDT aka Millenium Series). We catch up with her at the point when her state guardian dies and she's assigned a new, sexually sadistic state guardian.

Meantime, Mikael Blomkvist is a financial reporter who's recently lost a libel lawsuit and he's baited by the head of the Vanger family to write a chronicle of the family (publically) and attempt to solve a 30 year old disappearance mystery (secretly).

Lisbeth and Mikael become an unlikely pair after Mikael makes enough progress on the mystery to realize that he's in over his head. He enlists Lisbeth because he read the thorough, and unsettling report she wrote for Mr. Vanger in order to assure Vanger of Blomkvist's skill and ethical standard.

The story is both sexual and a bit gory, but it's far from unintelligent. The story has a strong plot that holds up to it's (at times) unnecessary wordiness. At 630+ pages, I couldn't help but want to chew out Larsson's editor for not requiring him to cut out 200 or so pages- particularly unnecessary info about what type of sandwiches the characters ate as well as an diatribe about a Swedish tycoon via an explanation of the Swedish banking industry. However, I slowly wandered through the story because it had intrique: Why was the Harriet Vanger missing? And then, what did these other brutal murders have to do with her- if her body was never found? I couldn't help but be sucked in, but I decided I was also ready for some cheap and easy YA lit. reading immediately after this commitment-of-a-book was concluded.

Talking Dirt: Annie Spiegelman

Apologies for my hiatus: I've just recently been finishing off my master's research project (about student's learning grammar). Nonetheless, I'd been reading when I could squeeze the time in between the various drafts of the paper. In honor of spring and my apartment's balcony garden (strategically designed to be Zombie-free), I dug into a bargain book called "Talking Dirt" by Annie Spiegelman. I wasn't familiar with this author at all, but I was drawn to the book because of the title and simply because I wanted something fun to read but super informative.

I hoped reading a bit of non-fiction would help my gardening skills along the way. I enjoyed Spiegelman's non-chalant and non-intimidating approach to gardening, but at times she was a little annoying and overly self-centered. While I appreciated her attempts at humor, her editor should have encouraged to cut her snarky commentary in half. First off, she dogs Carl Linneaus, and while I appreciate her point of view, she comes off a insulting her beloved hobby because latin names are such a big part of understanding the varieties of plants and how they're related. Even though I'm a newbie, I recognize that much from basic science schooling and language background. As well, it seemed that every other page Spiegelman was concerned about the reader(s) sending her hate mail or cursing her name if some bit of her advice didn't pan out as she'd suggested. Rather that being comical, it just started to seem self-absorbed and ego-centric.

On the positive side, Spiegelman did urge organics and explained some of the links between chemicals and the problems with constantly thinking that chemicals would be the answer. I also appreciated her repetition in pushing for mulch, compost and application of these in order to create a stronger base rather than chemically dependent plants. Her chapters were also broken down into very manageable chunks which made the reading very digest-able. This reading simply whetted my appetite for more gardening projects and eco-reading... which will be coming in the near future when I stock up on my summer reading. Also coming up soon: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series and Water for Elephants.

Intermittant Read: The Zombie Survival Guide (Max Brooks)

This spring has been chaotic (hosting a student teacher & working on a master's research paper), so I've found myself intermittently reading The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. He's also the author of WWZ (World War Zombie) which is slotted to be made into a movie starring Brad Pitt. The Zombie Survival Guide is meant as a companion to WWZ and is meant as a comical survival guide modeled after the many military guidebooks put out to help personnel prepare for various survival and war-time situations (think Field Manuals).

The Survival Guide covers how to prepare for various terrain (and which terrain to avoid at all costs), the best weapons and the best strategies for survival (not heroics!). The pictures are amusing and very reminiscent of the Army Field Manuals' cheesy depictions. However, instead of covering operations of dealing with terrorism or chemical warfare, the operations discuss the best methods for evading zombies (AKA ghouls) and the author even brings in some "first-hand" accounts to help explain why the guide suggest various tactics or weapons.

While some might find the idea of a zombie apocalypse terrifying or comical, the book is great for a mental evaluation of what anyone could/should do in any sort of chaotic every-woman-for-herself type situation. It's a fun little mental test to decide how prepared you would be if things "got real." And the truth be told, when I'm usually busy thinking about grammar research and lesson plans, sometimes I just like to envision myself as "Alice" from Resident Evil to take that brief trip from reality.

Back to the beginning: The Choice (book 1)- (Spoiler Alert!)

I started my Amish adventures with book 2 of Suzanne Woods Fisher's Lancaster County Secrets Series. I just recently finished my third book from the series, but this book, The Choice, is actually the first book in the series. I can't say that I felt thoroughly confused about the order at all because the three books follow different families- so it isn't necessary to have read them in order (thank God!).

This book follows Carrie Weaver, who shortly after the book starts becomes Carrie Miller. The reader follows Carrie as she prepares to run away with her baseball-stricken boyfriend. Just as Carrie prepares to follow Solomon Riehl to the city, Carrie's father dies and she feels lost. Carrie's stepmother is cold and less than welcoming to Carrie and her younger brother Andy. Carrie desperately marries a young man who'd been trying to court her. She sees this as a way to protect Andy and give herself some security, even though she's in love with Solomon. Carrie also knows that Solomon won't be joining the Plain lifestyle until he gets baseball out of his system and until he hasn't realized the benefits of the Plain lifestyle.

Fisher blew me away with her choice to kill off three main characters by page 86. My jaw literally dropped by the time Carrie's new husband was killed in an accident- just as the two of them started to show some promise. Again, Fisher has chosen to use grief and blossoming love (in conjunction with trust) as themes. As well, I'm starting to think that buggies are death traps because it seems to be a choice method to kill-off a character because of the prevalence of such accidents (I think out of the three books there has been at least one fatal car-buggy accident per novel). The book is definitely a reminder of mortality and it seems that the Amish have to face death sooner than many English. It's hard to deny a family member's death when the body is laid out in the living room by the day following the death. It's a very harsh, but honest reality.

Aside from the mortality, there are more prominent English characters in this novel compared to the other two. It's very evident how prominent the English are in interfering with Amish life despite the Amish's hopes. And it's not that the Plain aren't willing to work with the English, but it's that Plain-English marriages result in either shunning of the Plain believer if he/she chooses to pursue the worldly way or the English person is expected to convert- which is very rare because it's so burdensome. Also, the English beliefs about land development and the Plain beliefs clash at times- which is evident in The Choice.

Along with the other two in the series, The Waiting (book 2) and The Search (book 3), I definitely recommend The Choice particularly as a therapeutic method for dealing with grief. that is, only if the person needing the relief is the type of person who's willing to face his/her fears head on and in a way that is able to see the big picture. For others unwilling to face fears or have difficulty dealing with change head-on, The Choice may be a hard pill to swallow because it deals with the tough truths of death head on. For me, it made me appreciate the uncertainty I've recently encountered with facing the possibility of a career change. It's reassuring to see characters face large changes and want to resist, but know that God has a plan for them... it's inspiring to little fish like me.

My Amish Addiction: The Search (Spoiler Alert!) by Suzanne Woods Fisher

I only finished reading The Search (book 3- I accidentally ready them out of order) three days ago and I'm already busting through another one (The Choice- which is book 1) of Suzanne Woods Fisher's books about Amish families in Lancaster County Pennsylvania. The books also make reference to some characters coming from Amish settlements in Ohio as well- and those Ohio-Amish are the progressive 'radicals' who do things like build barns with bolts rather than just nails... Ohio bred radicals like that. ;)

I'm already getting a little foggy on The Search only because I can't get this latest book, The Choice, off of my mind. I'm antsy to sit down and finish it too, but I know I need to spill my guts in order about The Search to my thoughts make the most sense.

Obviously I've become addicted to reading Fisher's work. The Search was fun read because it was about entirely new characters, but Caleb Zook, who was one of the main characters in the first book I read (The Waiting-book 2), popped up on the periphery. This book focused on Lainey O'Toole and Bess Reihl who are half sisters from what I can tell (but Bess doesn't find out about this secret until much later in the book).

The story starts off with Bess being sent to visit her grandmother in Lancaster County at the beginning of summer. We aren't sure why Bess has suddenly decided to visit, but it seems that there's some sort of good-hearted trickery on the behalf of the grandmother, Bertha, that initiates this visit. Meantime, Lainey O'Toole comes back to town and finds herself sucked in by a fateful car break-down. Bertha, being her tricky self, manages to welcome Lainey back to town in her gruff but loving way. Before we know it Bertha has also managed to good-heartedly "trick" her estranged son to coming to town to "rescue" her and Bess from jail.

The conflicts are numerous. Bertha shares with Lainey that she know about the "baby-swap" and grief and selfless love become major themes. With this, Lainey and Bertha try to figure out the right time to break the news to both Bess and her father, Jonah, that Bess is really Lainey's half sister and not Jonah's legitimate daughter. We also find out that Jonah's daughter really died with his wife in the buggy accident that left him with remaining physical maladies and Lainey swapped out the babies to protect Bess from the rough homelife Lainey endured.

While this main conflict plays out, other minor conflicts such as finding the polluter who's been destroying a nearby pond's ecosystem and a love triangle between Bess, Billy Lapp (Bertha's apprentice) and a cunning Amish bombshell keep the reader nail-biting with a box of tissues on standby.

I love Fisher's balanced approach to writing. There's some love to keep the romantics interested, but there's always some death and real-world manipulation to keep the cynics at bay. I also appreciate the fact marriage isn't one dimensional in her stories: she shows how it's used as a tool for creating bonds between families on both the physical as well as the financial level. As well, she shows the fact that 'love' sometimes gets in the way of reasoning, but that ultimately patience and selflessness always win out to determine whether or not a relationship should endure. I wish more people were given such a message when deciding whether or not to pursue relationships- I think this might prevent some discontent for young lovers.

My first complaint about the book was this: I read 291 pages and had didn't realize the story was set in the 1970s until I read the wedding date for one of the couples. It jarred me into the past, whereas I had been visualizing a modern day Amish story. I guess I should have remember that Caleb Zook and his story (Book 2) was taking place during Vietnam, but I'd totally forgotten because there hadn't really been any other obvious indicators to me about the era. I guess I'd dismissed the VW Bug breaking down to it simply being old (since you still see them around today- but mostly in rough shape). So, this may be my fault, but I found myself dissatisfied because it seemed like an unnecessary detail that could have allowed readers to connect on more levels and related on more levels if the story was left open to any time period.

With this being said, my second complaint/point of confusion was this: If Lainey and Bess are half sisters, I'm having a hard time deciding if they share a father or a mother...? Here's why this matters: If Lainey and Bess share a father, Simon, then it seems that the relationship between Lainey and Jonah that develops seems a bit incestuous because Simon is Jonah's uncle...

I mentioned both of these points of confusion to my mother-in-law, Anita, so I had to call her to see if she figured out the relationship (I'd already loaned the book to her because I'd knew she'd just love the story). She set me straight: 1. With the time period issue, early in the book it does hint at the time period because it mentions something about either Lainey or Bess's birthday and then it makes reference to how old she is in the book--which helps put the reader in the frame that it is indeed set in the late 60s & early 70s. 2. Simon is Jonah's uncle and here's how each girl's relationship breaks down with Simon: Simon & his wife get married & the wife brings her daughter, Lainey, with her to the family. Simon's wife then has Colleen with Simon and then the wife dies, leaving Simon responsible for Lainey and newborn Collen. Meantime, Jonah, his wife & their newborn get into a buggy accident. Jonah gets hospitalized, his wife and the baby die on the scene. Lainey shows up on the scene to help (has the baby, Colleen, with her?) and tells Jonah that his wife is dead, but the baby made it in order to give Jonah hope and a reason to continue to live and try to get better. So, when Lainey and Jonah get together later on (15+ years after the accident), Jonah is not related to her by blood, but he would technically be her step-uncle..?

I'm still not sure if I have this right, but I can definitely say that I've found myself thinking and talking about this novel- which are the reasons I enjoy reading. Why read it if you can't share it?
If you like a book with tasty layers, this book is definitely one for you. This would be a particularly good book for a book club because you could discuss this for hours without tiring of the numerous nuggets and the complex characters. And don't worry, I didn't even begin to tell enough about the book to do it justice. You'll just have to pick up a copy to see what I mean.

Split Second: David Baldacci

After numerous urgings from my husband, I finally read a David Baldacci book. My husband finally convinced me because he kept telling me about the main characters, Secret Service Agent Michelle (Mick) Maxwell and former Agent Sean King. I needed a fast paced book after my last read and I was tempted to find one that was a reliable standby, but I decided to be risky again.

The book I chose was Split Second, which is one of many of Baldacci's Michelle Maxwell books. Not that I didn't believe my husband's assessment of the book, but what finally got me to pick up the book was the fact that it supposedly had a strong female protagonist (my husband knows what a sucker I am for a girl who shows the guys how it's done). He was right. Michelle kicked butt and took names.

The story jumps around a bit between an assassination that happens under the security of Agent Sean King and then it jumps to a kidnapping that takes place on Michelle's time supervising a presidential candidate. One thing leads to another and the two agents become entangled and help one another even though their styles are different, but they realize that they're both being set up.

There are romantic tensions between Maxwell and King, but they merely flirt with the idea because they both become too involved simply trying to crack the case and protecting themselves from the "madmen" making attempts on their lives.

Toward the end of the story, it became complex enough that I had a little difficulty following who was motivated to do what and why they were so motivated. Usually I'm pretty good keeping such things straight, but there were enough stretches of motivation that I had to suspend my disbelief a bit and I just went with it. Did everything end up neatly tied with a bow? Yes. And I liked it that way. Sometimes it's just nice to have that feeling that the good guys will win. Was Michelle Maxwell a bit much to believe (Olympic rower, 4th degree blackbelt, etc.)? Yes. Was the "bad guy" unreasonably bad? Yes-- even to the point where I wanted him to be more human and less mechanically bad. My suggestion to make the bad guy scarier: follow the Joker's lead and allow the villain to calculate without over analyzing and enjoy the messiness more.

Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro caught my attention a few weeks ago as I was perusing the shelves of my high school's library. Something about the title struck me as interesting and when I read the blurb on the back cover; my interest was piqued because it looked somewhat futuristic and sad- leading me to believe there was some sort of mystery the main character would solve or some secret would be revealed to her in an untimely fashion. It's technically adult fiction, and I would agree on this "diagnosis" based on the peculiar obsession the main character/narrator has with trying to figure out the logistics of sex, which seems somewhat likely based on the progression of the main character's age and maturity, but it actually became a little bit annoying because I kept hoping the author would get back on track and tell the story. Apparently, I've become spoiled by YA fiction.

The gist is this: Kathy recounts the story of her "childhood". We find out that she is one of many students being raised in a group home and eventually all of these children will be educated and groomed to become full-time organ donors. The organ donation isn't a big secret, but the author doesn't exactly reveal this tidbit until a considerable chunk into the story (about 80 pages or so) and this fact doesn't necessarily create the conflict. So what is the conflict? The idea that maybe love can get the donors a temporary (3 year) reprieve. However, this "reprieve" doesn't turn out to be the legit.

What else pushes the story forward? There are strange "frenemy" tensions between the main character, Kathy and her good female friend, Ruth. It seems that the two girls keep one another at arms-length and a boy named Tommy seems to be partially to blame for this. It doesn't seem that Kathy is overly drawn to Tommy, but it seems that Ruth enjoys having Tommy on a string more than she actually enjoys being involved with him.

While I pushed through the book and the moral of the story seemed to be the same message as that of Brave New World or even 1984 (beware letting technology advance beyond or morality) , I can't say that I found it worth the time and effort. Many reviews praised the book repeatedly, but I didn't find it particularly witty or revelatory even after looking at other reviews for some insight. It definitely reminded me how artful some authors really are in that they make reading enjoyable-- Susan Beth Pfeffer, Suzanne Woods Fisher, Alex Garland, and David Baldacci. It just reminds me that it takes the rainy days to appreciate the sunshine.