Review of The Girl Who Played with Fire (two stars)

I offer a review of this second book in the Millennium series after rating the first book as 1 star. There was a period when my book-reading acquaintances were reading and sharing their views on these books and they were all agog at the quality of the story. I’ve found the series poor, however, I find myself in an odd situation of rating this second book as 2 stars. At such rate, I hope to rate the fifth book in the series 5 stars.

 

The novel is better than the first in the series as there is more depth to the plot. The reader is challenged to hold competing threads together. I particularly appreciated how the main female had a significant absence from the book – all the while hiding up in an apartment that was within reach of the action. The re-entry of the main female was very well timed and allowed for a successful webbing together of all the competing threads.

 

A few failures:

 

>This novels reveal of Salander’s evil papa had a Star Wars “Luke, I am your father” feel about it.

 

>The notion of a diminutive female riding a burly Harley Davidson motorcycle failed.

 

>Don’t bother readers with details of the main female character’s mammoplasty unless the enhanced assets are going to play a part in the novel; Salander is not the type of lass that ranks feminine charms highly in her arsenal of skills. Her fuller jugs were probably only added to the book with a view to a screen play – although I’m open to some weird plot twist in book three; Salander disguised as a wholesome waitress at a Munich beer hall during an Oktoberfest event.

 

>Salander, who is suffering enough from a sad history of psychological and physical abuse, does not also need to be on the autism spectrum – yet, that part of the story seems to be a setup for book three.

 

>Salander seeks to keep her new abode a secret, yet Ikea workers are welcomed to complete both delivery and installation of furniture. Ikea workers must be the most upright of all workers in Sweden; not open to any bribe to reveal customer details.

 

>There are a few moments where the translation from Swedish to English seems to fail.

 

A suggestion:

 

>The inclusion of a double page map that depicts all the towns that are named in the story would assist foreign readers in following the story.

 

And, a very Swedish idea:

 

>If you are incredibly rich you still purchase Ikea! Yet being rich means you pay for both the shipping and installation!

 

Subjects covered:

 

>mental illness and treatment, psychological and physical abuse, giantism, sex trafficking, police investigation, investigative journalism, homosexuality, murder.

 

Body count:

>four

 

I have book three to read yet will break from the series to read another book for now. I do hope I can rate book three to 3 stars and then ultimately book five as 5 stars.

 

This review links from my Goodreads account. I found the book, along with book three in a Street Library. I returned the book to a second street library.

 

Shalom,

Ozhamada

#goodreads #sweden #Oktoberfest #starwar #agreatread #books #streetlibrary #streetlibraryaustralia #streetlibraryadventure #loveyourlibrary #starwars #iamyourfather #darthvader #lisbeth #lisbethsalander #salander #millenium #series #book #literature #dragon #tattoo #thegirlwiththedragontattoo #girlwiththedragontattoo #dragontattoo #stieglarsson #novel #fiction #mystery #swedish #crimefiction

Review of "Do Ants Have Arseholes? and 101 other bloody ridiculous questions"

"Do Ants Have Arseholes? and 101 other bloody ridiculous questions" is a short book. It is a parody of magazine reader question and answer columns. 

It is worthy only in sharing the delight of the wide array of books available in local street libraries. My neighbours clearly have very diverse reading habits. My neighbours are not shy in sharing their books with others.

Read this book for a laugh. 

Some questions raise a laugh in their own right, like:

If a deaf man goes to court, is it still a hearing?

and

Is there another word for synonym?

Some questions raise a chuckle in the reader's answer, like:

Can birds fly upside down?

Where an Englishman suggests that migratory birds fly upside down over France "because the wretched place isn't worth shitting on".

And, then:

If you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant . . . what do you do?

Where a morris dancing enthusiast concludes that it is simply best to just go morris dancing.

The book also includes a letter from a gentleman Simon who took to the task of finding a new colour: Are there any colours that have not been discovered yet? Despite Simon's letter advising of the inclusion of the colour card of his aptly named discovery "Simon", the editor assures all readers that "Simon" was actually purple. 

Simon would have been wise spending his time morris dancing! 

Shalom,

Ozhamada

#agreatread #books #streetlibrary #streetlibraryaustralia #streetlibraryadventure #loveyourlibrary #france #morrisdancing