I'm getting more into The Girl Who Played with Fire, but I've still been reading it at an uncharacteristically slow pace. I think I preferred the first book's mystery-from-the-past plot; it had more weight and lent some gravitas to the book. But hey, Fire is still pretty cool so far.
Lisbeth has now been framed for three murders: those two new nice young reporters who we didn't really get to know, and Bjurman, of all people. Ding-dong, the psycho's dead, which makes happy, and it's also a pretty interesting plot twist. I'm assuming that the crazy giant killed him to frame Lisbeth for the assassinations of Dag and Mia. Crazy Blonde Giant is probably the true identity of Zala, who is perhaps the evil guy who showed up in the confusing opening flashback/prologue? Hmmm. Then again, maybe Lisbeth actually did kill Bjurman, since we haven't seen her since the murders actually occured. It's an interesting and effective device to spend the first part of the book focused like a laser on Lisbeth, and then switch perspectives once th plot heats up. I would like to know what she's up to, though. Hiding out with Plague, the creepy hacker guy, would be my guess. Or maybe she's just holed up in her Awesome New Bachelorette Pad, which the feds don't know about. I have to admit I thought she was being mighty paranoid about keeping the location a secret, but it turns out that she was being mighty intelligent and insightful.
I'm not particularly excited about the humungous cadre of detectives that have been introduced, though. Seriously, I'm glad that the series finally has a police presence of some kind, but couldn't Larsson have made the cops more interesting? Bublanski, the head of the investigative team, has no signifying features except an irritating and difficult-to-pronounce name. As for the rest, it's pretty much name soup. I think one of them is supposed to be a jerk, and one of them is really smart, and one of them has a reputation for being a loose cannon, but when they talk they all say basically the same stuff. I bet that at least one of them is a villain. Maybe Andersson? I'm looking forward to more development on the detective front, although I'm amused by how much at home they make themselves at crime scenes. Is that a thing in Sweden? Do cops just hang around at the houses of murder victims, making themselves comfortable and eating cinnamon rolls? Interesting.
In any case, it's a good read, and I'm looking forward to how it all ends up (and I hope that Blomkvist and Salander will actually have a scene together at some point). In other news, I just hit a flea market and bought forty-some new books to add to my library. I honestly go a little crazy when I find a bookstore with really good deals, and this particular stall was an excellent one. A dollar for paperbacks, and two for hardcover? Can't beat that.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Life is a Beautiful Thing
Here I was, flipping through the AV Club tonight (great site, by the way, fantastic TV reviews), when I found the MOST AWESOME THING I WILL HEAR FOR A LONG TIME.
*struggles to maintain composure*
J.K. Freaking. Rowling. Is writing. A new book.
Wow.
The world has just proved itself to be a magical fairyland of unfathomable delights.
It's not a new Harry Potter book--if it was, I would be jumping around and screaming instead of hastily writing a blog entry. The only information available is that it is "very different" and for adults, not kids.
I don't care if it's about a yak who wants to be president of the moon. Or a cookbook. Or an atlas. It. Will. Be. Awesome.
It's really funny that I should find this out today, because I was feeling majorly nostalgic for Harry Potter and kind of wishing I could re-read one of the books. And now this.
I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm already sort of planning to buy it at midnight. I just know that Jo will knock everybody's socks off again.
Here's the AV Club article. And here's the Mugglenet announcement, too.
Now I am going to go and punch the air and whoop.
*struggles to maintain composure*
J.K. Freaking. Rowling. Is writing. A new book.
Wow.
The world has just proved itself to be a magical fairyland of unfathomable delights.
It's not a new Harry Potter book--if it was, I would be jumping around and screaming instead of hastily writing a blog entry. The only information available is that it is "very different" and for adults, not kids.
I don't care if it's about a yak who wants to be president of the moon. Or a cookbook. Or an atlas. It. Will. Be. Awesome.
It's really funny that I should find this out today, because I was feeling majorly nostalgic for Harry Potter and kind of wishing I could re-read one of the books. And now this.
I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm already sort of planning to buy it at midnight. I just know that Jo will knock everybody's socks off again.
Here's the AV Club article. And here's the Mugglenet announcement, too.
Now I am going to go and punch the air and whoop.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Casting Finnick Odair
This is not going to be one of those blogs where I spend most of my time posting bad YouTube mashups of actors that I want to play a particular role. I swear. I tend to get very cringe-y when I see someone suggesting some awful 5'8" teenybopper to play Jamie Fraser, or raging against the casting of Kristen Stewart. I like a good book-to-movie adaptation as much as the next gal, but I'm not one to spend my time making up lists of who looks the most like my personal image of a character (that said, I need to do another post praising the Harry Potter casting directors to the sky).
However, what with the upcoming release of the first Hunger Games movie--which looks very awesome, by the way--I did start thinking about the adaptation of Catching Fire. Specifically, how they are going to portray my favorite character, District 4 victor Finnick Odair, who at first seems like a pompous jerk, but turns out to be helpful and kind, despite his horrible life experiences. He's one of the few characters in the series who's consistently funny, as well as a stalwart friend for Katniss when both Peeta and Gale were acting like asshats. Finnick dies tragically in Mockingjay (leaving behind his pregnant wife, who he sacrificed everything for), because Suzanne Collins is apparently evil. He's a great character, and he could be a really great part of the movie series as well.
And there's only one actor who can play him.
Justin Hartley.
Um, what was I writing? Oh yeah. He's perfect. He's tall, blonde, ridiculously athletic, not bad-looking by most standards (like the standards of this planet, or the pantheon of Greek gods). He played Oliver Queen on Smallville, one of my favorite shows, and he has great range: he's terrific with a quip, but he's got the angst/brooding down, too. He played Aquaman in a failed pilot, so he must be comfortable in the water, as some self-respecting District 4 resident would be. I will grant you, he's like ten years older than Finnick, but it's not like the age is that important. Having someone quite a bit older than Katniss and Peeta makes sense for the story, anyway. Overall, I think he is the perfect choice for the part, and I'm sure that Lionsgate executives will concur.
I will leave you with one more picture.
You're welcome.
However, what with the upcoming release of the first Hunger Games movie--which looks very awesome, by the way--I did start thinking about the adaptation of Catching Fire. Specifically, how they are going to portray my favorite character, District 4 victor Finnick Odair, who at first seems like a pompous jerk, but turns out to be helpful and kind, despite his horrible life experiences. He's one of the few characters in the series who's consistently funny, as well as a stalwart friend for Katniss when both Peeta and Gale were acting like asshats. Finnick dies tragically in Mockingjay (leaving behind his pregnant wife, who he sacrificed everything for), because Suzanne Collins is apparently evil. He's a great character, and he could be a really great part of the movie series as well.
And there's only one actor who can play him.
Justin Hartley.
Um, what was I writing? Oh yeah. He's perfect. He's tall, blonde, ridiculously athletic, not bad-looking by most standards (like the standards of this planet, or the pantheon of Greek gods). He played Oliver Queen on Smallville, one of my favorite shows, and he has great range: he's terrific with a quip, but he's got the angst/brooding down, too. He played Aquaman in a failed pilot, so he must be comfortable in the water, as some self-respecting District 4 resident would be. I will grant you, he's like ten years older than Finnick, but it's not like the age is that important. Having someone quite a bit older than Katniss and Peeta makes sense for the story, anyway. Overall, I think he is the perfect choice for the part, and I'm sure that Lionsgate executives will concur.
I will leave you with one more picture.
You're welcome.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
The Girl Who Shopped At IKEA
A couple of months ago, on my other blog, I waxed eloquent about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the first in the late Stieg Larsson's trilogy about Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. It was a fabulous mystery/thriller (one of my favorite genres) with great characters, an exotic setting and I didn't see any of the twists coming. I loved it, and it even made my best of the year post. Since there's not much that I love as much as a good series, I have been really eager to get my hands on book two, The Girl Who Played with Fire.
I'm about two hundred and twenty pages in, and so far I'm not doing jumping jacks. The trilogy was famously published after Larsson died, and despite its many wonderful qualities, you could tell that Tattoo lacked editing. Fire, even more so.
I already know that the plot involves Lisbeth being framed for a crime she didn't commit (thank you, back-of-the-book plot summary), but so far nothing like that has happened yet. She's bummed around the Caribbean a lot, got involved in a weird murder plot that got derailed by a surprise hurricane/tornado, reconnected with her old girlfriend Mimmi and done a lot of shopping. Like, a lot. It's almost like Larsson combined his furniture wish-list with fiction. I like his sometimes quirky focus, but who's interested in hearing what kind of end table Lisbeth settles on at IKEA? And isn't this kind out of character for Lisbeth, who supposedly has no taste and no interest in having conventionally nice things? She doesn't strike me as the kind of girl who would spend six hours buying sofas, even if she did have billions of kronor.
Anywho, Lisbeth's old nemesis, Advokat Bjurman, seems to be forming an alliance against her with a blond giant from her past, who is in turn linked with a motorcycle gang who smuggles crystal meth. All of this is somehow linked with the human trafficking story that Millennium is working on, and some Serbian and/or Czech gangster named Zala that everyone is afraid of. It's a tangled web at present, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all fits together. I'm kind of hoping that the real story will get going soon.
Oh, and Blomkvist is in a relationship with Harriet Vanger. I don't know why, but that really shocked me! I actually said "What!" out loud when I read it, because I'm dramatic that way. Looking back at the end of Tattoo, there were some hints that there might be chemistry between the two, but what with Blomkvist knowing about her horrible past, I just never thought of them getting together. But getting together they are, which is a neat use of Harriet as a recurring character. We really haven't seen much of Blomkvist so far, and I'm a little worried that the book will suffer without having the focus on him. I love me some Lisbeth, don't get me wrong, but she's tricky to have as the sole protagonist. Having Blomkvist at the center of Tattoo gave the book balance.
Things that I hope happen in Fire:
~ Bjurman gets his disgusting ass killed, preferably by Lisbeth.
~ We get major answers about Lisbeth's back story (and maybe meet her sister?).
~ Erika Berger takes an extended leave of absence from the magazine. I don't know why, but I find her annoying.
~ We find out why the blond giant is being haunted by some kind of troll or fairy. Seriously. I do not understand this at all. Is he crazy? Hallucinating? Maybe a big fan of the Spiderwick Chronicles?
~ We get a few substantial Blomkvist/Salander scenes, because they were the highlight of Tattoo.
~ I figure out how to pronounce the name of the motorcycle club.
~ Blomkvist gets to do something awesomely badass, because 1) he's long overdue for it, and 2) he's played by James Bond in the movie, for God's sake!
I'm about two hundred and twenty pages in, and so far I'm not doing jumping jacks. The trilogy was famously published after Larsson died, and despite its many wonderful qualities, you could tell that Tattoo lacked editing. Fire, even more so.
I already know that the plot involves Lisbeth being framed for a crime she didn't commit (thank you, back-of-the-book plot summary), but so far nothing like that has happened yet. She's bummed around the Caribbean a lot, got involved in a weird murder plot that got derailed by a surprise hurricane/tornado, reconnected with her old girlfriend Mimmi and done a lot of shopping. Like, a lot. It's almost like Larsson combined his furniture wish-list with fiction. I like his sometimes quirky focus, but who's interested in hearing what kind of end table Lisbeth settles on at IKEA? And isn't this kind out of character for Lisbeth, who supposedly has no taste and no interest in having conventionally nice things? She doesn't strike me as the kind of girl who would spend six hours buying sofas, even if she did have billions of kronor.
Anywho, Lisbeth's old nemesis, Advokat Bjurman, seems to be forming an alliance against her with a blond giant from her past, who is in turn linked with a motorcycle gang who smuggles crystal meth. All of this is somehow linked with the human trafficking story that Millennium is working on, and some Serbian and/or Czech gangster named Zala that everyone is afraid of. It's a tangled web at present, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all fits together. I'm kind of hoping that the real story will get going soon.
Oh, and Blomkvist is in a relationship with Harriet Vanger. I don't know why, but that really shocked me! I actually said "What!" out loud when I read it, because I'm dramatic that way. Looking back at the end of Tattoo, there were some hints that there might be chemistry between the two, but what with Blomkvist knowing about her horrible past, I just never thought of them getting together. But getting together they are, which is a neat use of Harriet as a recurring character. We really haven't seen much of Blomkvist so far, and I'm a little worried that the book will suffer without having the focus on him. I love me some Lisbeth, don't get me wrong, but she's tricky to have as the sole protagonist. Having Blomkvist at the center of Tattoo gave the book balance.
Things that I hope happen in Fire:
~ Bjurman gets his disgusting ass killed, preferably by Lisbeth.
~ We get major answers about Lisbeth's back story (and maybe meet her sister?).
~ Erika Berger takes an extended leave of absence from the magazine. I don't know why, but I find her annoying.
~ We find out why the blond giant is being haunted by some kind of troll or fairy. Seriously. I do not understand this at all. Is he crazy? Hallucinating? Maybe a big fan of the Spiderwick Chronicles?
~ We get a few substantial Blomkvist/Salander scenes, because they were the highlight of Tattoo.
~ I figure out how to pronounce the name of the motorcycle club.
~ Blomkvist gets to do something awesomely badass, because 1) he's long overdue for it, and 2) he's played by James Bond in the movie, for God's sake!
Welcome to the Hellmouth!
Hello, and welcome to As I Lay Reading! I am O'Hara, vampire-slayer, book-lover and blog-writer extraordinaire, and I will be presiding over this, my latest blog. I started my first blog, O'Hara's Book Reviews, a couple of years ago in order to keep track of the books I was reading and what I thought of them. I love online review sites, so I was eager to make one of my own. Writing the blog has been fun, and it's a great way to really focus your attention on what you're reading, and to identify what you like or don't like about a particular book.
But as time went on, I realized that my little book review blog wasn't--well, it wasn't as much fun as I had hoped it would be. I have fun writing it, but my reviews were becoming kind of stuffy. Even a bit pretentious. I realized that I kind of wanted two things: I wanted to write neat capsule reviews of the books I had completed and at the same time I wanted a blog blog where I could post up-to-date reactions, predictions, thoughts, opinions, pet peeves, stupid ideas and miscellaneous stuff.
So I decided to run two blogs! This one is the fun one. I will keep putting reviews on my first site, but I'll blog about all the good stuff on this one, including ongoing commentary on books as I read them. Be warned, though: my stream of consciousness is weird. Not much I can do about it, though.
Enjoy!
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