a reading list, the fourth

• The Girl Who Played with Fire – Stieg Larsson.  Good. Good. Good.  This book is the second in a trilogy series – I wrote about the first one here.  Book two dove deep into Lisbeth’s past while making use of her excellent computer hacker skills.  I really liked how complex this crime-thriller book was, and how well developed the plot turned out to be.  I do most of my reading during nap time or while I am nursing Eva, with this book I found myself sitting and holding her long after she as done eating just to get to a good stopping place in the book and to see how Lisbeth was fairing.  For some reason, this book was my favorite of the three.  I liked knowing more about the troubled heroine, her hellish past, and rooting for her.

• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – Stieg Larsson.  As soon as I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire, I immediately requested the third book in the series from the library.  The Girl Who Played with Fire ends in a cliff hanger, and you want to know what happens immediately.  This books picks up exactly where the former left off.  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is definitely the culmination of the three tales.  Not only is Lisbeth’s saga solved, beautifully at that, but a much larger Swedish conspiracy, which Larsson was laying the groundwork for in the other two books, comes to be exposed through Blomkvist & the Millennium Magazine staff .  I liked the unexpected plot surprises, and the interweaving of relationships.  On the night I was no more than 75 pages until done, Joel had just finished putting the older girls to bed and asked me what I wanted to do that night.  All I wanted to do was finish the book.  (He ended up playing Fifa 11 soccer.)  I am very sad there can be no more crime thrillers from Mr. Larsson.  These books were great nap time companions.

***As an aside, the crime solved throughout these two books did not upset me like the one in The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, however, if these were movies, they would be rated R.  I wrote about the first one here.

• Anne of Ingleside by L.M.Montgomery.  I continued my reading of the Anne of Green Gables series with the sixth book in the series.  I loved the first five in the series, but I suppose all good things must begin to end at some point.  I did not care for this book nearly as much as I did the previous Anne books.  In this one, she and Gilbert are busy raising their children.  To me, this books was just more lack-luster than the others.  The trials and tribulations of the Bylthe children did not have the same allure as Anne’s woes.  Anne did not see to have the same vivaciousness and the story just didn’t seem to gel together.

What are you guys reading these days?

Here’s to a relaxing weekend and some good family time. Cheers to you.

{This post is linked to Life as Mom Bookin’ It 2011}