Lisbeth Salander or bust!

It is a very long time since I have been hooked on a book. I can probably count on one hand the number of books I have read in my lifetime which have totally engrossed me. The first to come to mind was "Jaws." Next from memory was "Silence of the Lambs" and though not as gripping but I enjoyed it nonetheless was "The Horse Whisperer"

In recent times and allow me to reiterate the word "recent" I cannot believe the excitement and enjoyment I am experiencing whilst reading Stieg Larsson's works commencing with "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" and oh how I loved this book. The first of Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. I have, just last week, commenced book 2, "The Girl Who Played With Fire" and again I am really enjoying the read and am very proud to be able to state that I am a quarter of the way through it already.....I hope this is the positive sign for my deep wishing to turn over a new leaf and read much much more this year and for the years to come.

I am ashamed to admit that it has been a long time since I have read a book cover to cover in less than a year. Yep, some have really bored me to distraction and hence I have left many to gather dust after just a few chapters. However thanks to the works of the now deceased Mr Larsson, I am hoping that those days are gone.

Don't get me wrong. It is not that I don't enjoy reading it is just that reading sends me off to sleep, like a good sedative, especially when reading is the last activity at night and after a busy day, this sedative always seems to triumph after the first page of any laborious book is read. But oh how things have changed in the last weeks. So much so that not only have I purchased the Trilogy as audio books, I also have them as iBooks and have paperback copies too. Yep, I am enjoying the reading that much.

The characters and a good story line are of course what make a book a good one and Larsson has certainly won on every count here. The heroine, Lisbeth Salander, a computer-hacking, bisexual who has a few grudges in life and rightly so; her boss Armansky; her friend/associate, Mikael Blomkvist, and many more make up the characters who make this trilogy such a damn good read. I find them all engrossing.

However, as a true suffragette, it is Lisbeth Salander whom I am enjoying the most. Larsson has made her into quite a dark figure, very gutsy character, always masterfully avenging her wrong-doers with such intrigue and brilliance that I am in awe of her. Her multiple disguises, her brilliance in computer hacking and her internal personal confusion and torments allows us to be both fearful of her and at the same time sympathise and empathise with her.

The non-English movies of the Trilogy have already been released. I did hear of one young man removing himself from the theatre as he found the dragon tattoo too much to cope with. Interesting. However I am looking forward to seeing the newly released English version. Yes, there are some parts of the book which are disturbing and no doubt my heart will beat a little faster during those more intense scenes but being the mother of an eighteen year old, challenging and often infuriating child who is slowly turning me into Attila the Hun in her presence (oh and this new 'me' is actually a good thing so don't worry,) it will take a lot to turn my stomach! Maybe Lisbeth is my alter ego? Who knows? Regardless, it is a great read. Thank you Stieg Larsson for your brilliance.