The End of (Another) Trilogy

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being the third in the trilogy this book picks up where the Girl Who Played with Fire left off...namely at the end of the action.  This book is 593 pages of closure.  Most of the heart-racing do or die moments have already taken place and the majority of this one is setting everyone up for their justice.  Somehow, thanks to Larsson's detailing of his engaging characters' every movement, I was still drawn in and kept racing along.  It is a good ending to a fantastic, gripping story.  

There were some flaws that afterwards left me a little puzzled.  Why the story with Erika Berger going to SMP?  Why the story with her stalker?  In truth it had nothing to do with Lisbeth except that she helped figure out who it was.  Seemed completely irrelevant and unnecessary.  

Also, there were two story points that felt entirely unresolved, perhaps due to Larsson's untimely death:

1.  What happened to Camilla Salandar?  she's alluded to and a complete mystery.  Reading the message boards it seems that Larsson planned 10 books around Lisbeth so I'm guessing at some point she would have been introduced back into her life.

2.  Why was nothing found for Lisbeth to do or to spend her millions on?  The obvious (maybe cliche) choice would be some sort of foundation for women.  Especially the money left from her father should have gone to stopping trafficking or domestic violence or something.  They kept focusing on Lisbeth becoming a responsible citizen but in the end she's left sort of wandering aimlessly.



Otherwise I will say that I felt a sense of relief to "be" in the courtroom when Teleborian was torn apart.  Most novels like this stop when the person gets caught but Larsson lets you see his bad guy twist on the stand and you are an eye witness to justice being served.  Almost all the ends were tied up satisfyingly.  Such a good story, sad we won't have any more from him.




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THG Withdrawal

It is seriously like those lovely ladies at Hello Giggles are inside my brain and then blog on the problems that are facing me.  Right now, it's my book withdrawal from The Hunger Games.  You laugh, but this is a problem.  I am a girl who is never without a book.  Since I have finished THG I just couldn't get into anything else.  British Historical Fiction seemed too obsolete and medieval...modern chick lit seemed too fluffy and I really just want to love on Peeta again.  So I did the MOST insane thing.  I re-read the trilogy.  Like days after I finished it.  I've never done that before.  So weird but it kinda helped because I flew through the first ones trying to find out who survives so I was able to let it sink in a bit on the second try.  But not too much because I finished them again in less than two weeks.  And now here I am back in the same situation.  So thank you @katespencer for hopefully helping me MOVE ON with my life.  At least until the movie comes out!


What To Read Now That You’ve Finished The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games Trilogy

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I finished these books in record time thanks to the long holiday weekend and Collins' amazing pacing. While providing every detail necessary to draw you into Katniss' world, the speed of the events of these three books is breathless. I'm actually finding myself excited for the movies because they would have to try really hard to mess this up. It has everything from larger than life characters, action, worlds exploding, good and evil, cool gadgets and mystery. I am anxious though to see how they play out the core of what this book was to me. Without spoiling anything for anyone who hasn't read it yet, the "love triangle" goes on in a completely new way and it's telling what its process and resolution means to everyone involved.


For me there was only one way this story could end and I'm so glad that's where she took it. By the last chapter I was sobbing hysterically and reading really slowly because I just didn't want to leave these characters. It's so rare that one book comes along that makes you leave your life behind for hours on end and get transported to another place wholeheartedly and become completely invested in a make-believe world. Even more rare that there are three that are equally as compelling.




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The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow.  It's been a long time since I was so excited about a 374-page book that I read it in about a day and a half.  A day when I worked for over 8 hours!  I absolutely could not put this book down.  And when I did, I still felt like I was there, in Panem, sometime in our sad future.  Katniss is the perfect heroine and Collins' telling of the story could not be any more riveting.  The world she creates is one of sadness and despair but hope and joyful respect.  Her supporting characters are wonderful and any of them could run away with the story.  The landscape is described in a way that sucks you in and while it's so alien it is also completely recognizable.  The deprivation of District 12 sounds astounding.  People are going hungry and The Capitol isn't doing anything?  But isn't that exactly what happens here, now?  Aren't there spheres of our society that are as ignored, as beaten down?

I'm excited to see where the next two books will go.  I felt like I had to fly through this book just to see who survives The Games so I may be able to take the next one a little slower and enjoy the ride a little more. All I know is I'll be heading to Borders as soon as I'm done working...because I'm hooked!


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The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Hi Delicious-

So far this week I've blogged about running, movies and TV so it's about time for a post about my first true love, READING.  I've been so involved in the hundreds of Jean Plaidy books on the British royalty that I often go months without reading anything outside of it.  So I decided to sign up with a book club and get some outside help at choosing a book.  The Northern KY's December pick is The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.  Apparently a bestseller in France for years and recently translated and published in English, this is a quirky, heartwrenching tale.  At first the syntax was a little hard to get used to (especially since I've been reading a very English author for so long) but once I did, I truly enjoyed the lyrical quality of the translation. This is not a generic novel that follows any formula whether in character nor plot development. 

Told by two quirky characters, the book ambles along in a way that doesn't seem to be moving the plot forward but simply offers a glimpse into their seemingly humdrum lives.  As often happens when you read a translation, there's a sing-song quality to the construction of the sentences.  But this is also due to the fact that both narrators are somewhat outside of (above?) the lives they lead and exist in an almost-fantasy world while aptly describing the realities of the worlds they observe. In fact, contradiction and incongruity seem to be a running theme, hence, the elegance of the hedgehog. 

I loved this book for making me look up more words than I have in probably any previous book (conatus, deontology, kolkholz, antipodes to name a few).  I loved it for quoting everything from Proust to Eminem and for referencing everything from Blade Runner to Mahler.  I loved the stark cynicism of its 15 year old who states, "People aim for the stars and they end up like goldfish in a bowl.  I wonder if it wouldn't be simpler just to teach children right from the start that life is absurd" and who is probably the most hopeful of everyone. I love the concierge's play of words that tell you so much about herself and the other characters, "This fellow may be a nuisance but his language is delectable."  

But mostly I loved it for delving me into a world I didn't know I was involved in until the story takes an unexpected turn and I am caught completely off guard and like Renee, I I have experienced much more than I realized.

I can't wait to go to my first book club meeting on Tuesday and hear what the other readers have to say about it and where this book took them!

P.S. So I met with the lovely ladies of the NKY Book Club and they were not as enthusiastic about this book as I was. I truly think that reading should never be a chore and a lot of them felt this book was.  I didn't really feel that way...the first couple of pages took a little getting used to but then I was immersed.  So while I wholeheartedly recommend it, four other very literate ladies had a hard time getting into it.  On the flip side, it was nice to meet with other strong, interesting women and hear their stories and views whether it was on a book or anything else.  I look forward to the next one!

Hungry, Active, Literate Couch Potatoes Apply Here!

Hi Delicious-

Sitting down (at the request of @caboomer) to put these random, harried thoughts to the screen I realized I did this by first putting pen to paper.  Old School!  Maybe I'm the last person on the planet that has to see the written (versus typed) word to know it's real.  IThere's something to be said for seeing your words and crossing them out and ripping them up and then putting it up on the screen as the finished product.  So when you think of me doing this blog each week, imagine a pink notebook being filled with all kinds of scribble from a fuschia marker for days before I actually sit at the laptop to present to you.

Also trying to decide WHO would read this blog???  Someone as obsessed with pop culture and all things tv, music and movie related.  But not just any couch potato...no, an ACTIVE couch potato!  Because I'm equally (ok, almost) obsessed with running (altho I'm on a forced hiatus right now), yoga (I just started a 30 day yoga challenge 3 days ago) and healthy eating (@Hungrygirl is my favorite thing right now! plus I've been a vegetarian for the last 15 years) and pretty much just eating in general (last night at 2am I had Fourth Meal!) I also really enjoy travelling (everywhere) and exploring (my new hometown Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and it's surroundings) I love animals and have 7 of them...I am very sure you'll hear lots about them here!  Lastly, I guess, a LITERATE couch potato.  I am a voracious reader and always have a book (or two) going on (so far this year I've read 43 books) most of them on the English monarchy (random) but I love everything from Stephen King and Nick Hornby to Candice Bushnell and Anne Rice.

Still with me?