I've finished listening to the Stieg Larsson Millenium Trilogy. "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" "Girl Who Played with Fire" and "Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest". The three books on CD amounted to around sixty hours of listening pleasure.
I did it kinda backwards. I had tried to read the first book - Dragon Tattoo and fizzled out on that a couple years ago. I just couldn't get into the book and took it back. Then last year I'd heard people talk about the books, and became interested again.
I've blogged before about how I enjoy listening to books while I commute. In some ways I like listening better than reading! Hard to believe as I've been a life-long reader. But I read so fast that sometimes I miss things. When I listen, I'm forced to hear every word. (Unless I space off).
Last November I went into the Waukee library and found #3 of the trilogy on CD. I began to listen and was immediately sucked in! The series is set in Sweden - where I went with my mother in 1983. (We also visited Norway, Denmark and Finland) The reader has an English accent, yet he can do other accents which he needs to do in the course of the book.
The book is told from a variety of viewpoints, and I grew to love Lisbeth of course (unloveable as she is...) and Mikael. I also liked many of the "bit" characters - Larsson was great at framing them and giving them personalities. He often went into great detail into their histories to give us insight into their personas. I liked Lisbeth's boss at the security company - decent guy, and Makael's sis. Needless to say the bad guys were very sinister and dispicable!
Book 3 was very satisfying! Unfortunately I then knew I had to listen to the rest of the books. Merely reading would not do. I lucked out and found Dragon Tattoo just before Christmas. Ah...more listening pleasure. It started slowly - good thing I knew it was worth sticking with! No wonder I bailed out the first time I tried reading it. Exciting by the end though - especially once Lisbeth is introduced.
Last week I finished up Fire. Again - started slowly. But excellent once it got going - and answered so many questions I'd had from the other two books. Why was Lisbeth the way is was? How did her father end up in that position? So I was actually sad last weekend when I finished up the last CD.
I almost need to go through Book 3 again - just to hear the reader again...not right away though. So sad the Stieg Larsson dropped dead of a heart attack November 2004 after he wrote the books. Evidently he left no will causing strife between life partner, Eva, and his father and brother. Check out the website. http://www.stieglarsson.com/the-truth-about-stieg-larssons-legacy
The Swedish version of the movies based on the books have been popular, and now there are US version being made. Hope they're good!
No comments:
Post a Comment