I think the libel lawsuit was really designed to explain WHY Mikael was so able and willing to go out to Whozzits and felt so disconnected from his usual world. I also think they could have been edited down to less than the 150 pages it filled.
But from a Larsson standpoint, they were probably critical.
Has anyone read China Miéville's Kraken? It sounds AWESOME.
Has anyone read China Miéville's Kraken? It sounds AWESOME.
It's in my to read pile, but I haven't gotten to it yet.
So, I'm about 40 pages into An American Childhood, by Annie Dillard. Does a plot show up at any point, or is the whole thing just
word pictures from the point of view of a kid in the 1950s
? 'Cause I'm still waiting for something to happen. Or even something to suggest something will happen between now and page 255.
Hmm: Literary Buffistas, do you think the following a fair take on Defoe's views on faith vs works? (based upon Robinson Crusoe, Journal of the Plague Years and Moll Flanders.) :
===================
Defoe saw evil and improper acts as distractions that made it impossible to pay attention to God. Evil was always foolish in that it made you blind to God. Virtue included pragmatic self-interest so long as only proper action was taken in pursuit of that self-interest, and so long as self-interest was not all there was to you. Virtue did not ensure salvation, but salvation was unlikely, perhaps impossible without it. The virtuous had the choice of paying attention to God, in way the wicked did not, almost did not.
Defoe did not think you attained salvation by wrestling with the devil and winning. To Defoe, you obtained salvation by wrestling with God and losing.
Has anyone read China Miéville's Kraken? It sounds AWESOME.
I love the way he's described the magic system in it, but I'm not large with the Miéville love. I'll probably give this one a try tho.
I didn't find
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
all that slow, but I did skim the libel/corporate stuff. Or, I guess, the whole thing seemed slow, but that felt right for the story and the environment. When I finished I was like "that was good..." but it's been two years since I read it and I haven't felt any real desire to pick up the other two or see the movie.
Apparently I am totally disconnected from the zeitgeist.
I liked the libel stuff. I'm not sure why. But I definitely liked the first book more than the second (haven't gotten to hornet yet) so I seem to differ from most.
I have a theory that you like the books according to what genre you prefer: mystery (1),
thriller
(2),
legal thriller (w/ a hint of caper)
(3).
It's just a theory. I like all three, and didn't find the libel stuff slow, but I think they are very different books.
Gris, I usually only see you here or in Movies, so happy wedding! And honeymooning! And marriage!