Män som hatar kvinnor

So we all know that I have already completed my 2011 Reading Challenge so me continuing to read seems a little unnecessary....unless you know me at all then you know that reading is my passion. It's something that I can't imagine not doing on a daily basis. And we all know that I plan to continue my Reading Challenge into 2012. How many books? I'll never tell.... :)

But as you have probably figured out, I have not stopped reading. No in fact I have finished a book in a week. And I just want to throw it out there that that is what a good book should be. One that pulls you all the way through and makes you want to spend all your time reading. Well this book was definitely one that made me want to spend all my free time reading. Which the funny part about that is that this was the second time I tried reading this book. I picked up months ago with the plan to read it all the way through because I had heard a lot about it and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, but I found it very boring so I did something completely out of character. I put the book down within the first couple chapters and walked away.

And here we are months later and I have completed the book. So what was different this time? Well, the reason why I picked it up in the first place (again) is because Rob is reading a book about hacking and this book was referenced in it and he asked me about it. And shamefully I had to say that I hadn't gotten all the way through it but put it down. So I decided I would try again. But this time I forced myself through those boring and uninteresting (and sort what confusing) parts and right into the heart of the story. And let me tell you, it was worth it.

So the book I speak of? Seriously, if you haven't look at the picture and figured it out then...well then I'm judging you.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. **Sidenote: I bet you're wondering about the title I chose for this post. I'll give you two clues. It's Swedish. It has to do with this book. Still haven't guessed it? It's the original title of this book in Swedish. I know I'm clever. : )

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Ever heard of it? It was originally written in Swedish. So yup, all the locations and money and phases and the like are in Swedish and let me just say that I have no map in my head of Sweden. However Stockholm is one of the settings and I at least had heard of that. But the point is is that I struggled with this book in the beginning as I got used to the Swedish part of this book. But after awhile you just get used to it and just go with it, even though you have no concept of a map in your mind. Don't hold it against this book.

The book is about a financial journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, who gets convicted of libel against an important businessman and is facing jail time and fines and is taking a step away from the magazine he co-created needing a break and worried that the magazine won't survive with him still as publisher. Lisbeth Slander is a young PI who works for a company where she uses her hacking skills to dig into the lives of her assignments. She was given the assignment of digging into Blomkvist's life when a wealthy former CEO of Vanger Corporation wants to hire Blomkvist to find out what happened to his brother's granddaughter who he had taken in as his own. She disappeared over forty years ago without a trace and over all those years he has continued to receive a pushed flower in a frame that she had started giving him when she was young on his birthday. So the question is who is sending those flowers now? Blomkvist realizes he needs some help and hires Slander as his assistant and together they find out way more than they were expecting.

Of course, I'm not going to ruin this book for you. You should go read it for yourself. Now, I realize that you could just cheat and go see the movie but don't do that. After watching the trailer myself I wasn't all together sure about how I felt about this movie and how it would stand up against the book, but we all know that I'm going to take that trip to the movie theater and see for myself. This is one of my favorite things - to read the book then watch the movie then get angry at the movie when they mess it up. But seriously, I'm not sure how I feel about the movie based on the trailer compared to the book. What do you think?