Books

I have been burning through books lately.  Mostly because I am tied to our recliner several times a day for several minutes at a time to feed Lorelei.  (Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having an excuse to sit and read!)  Another reason is because I received a Kindle for Christmas.  When they first gained popularity, I was indifferent to eReaders.  It wasn't until Lorelei was born, and I was tied to that chair, that I considered getting one myself.  I love actual books, but I'm at a point in my life where I have to be practical.  It's not easy to hold a 700-page book open with one hand.  It IS easy to hold a Kindle in one hand though!  It's also easy to toss a Kindle into your diaper bag.  I don't want to have to lug around a giant book in my diaper bag (which is already full), in hopes of getting a few pages read while I sit in a doctor's waiting room or wait for ballet practice to end (hehe...no, Sydney and Lorelei do not take ballet...yet).  Anyway, I love the convenience of my Kindle. 

I am currently reading the second book of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy (the second book is "The Girl Who Played with Fire").  This trilogy is awesome.  For a couple of years I saw the books on the store shelves, but didn't think much about them (truthfully, I judged them by their covers...I know that is a no-no, especially for an English major).  I thought they were going to be a sci-fi Harry Potter-Twilight-Matrix mixture.  (I liked Harry Potter and Twilight, but am not a die hard sci-fi fan, and am certainly no fan of the Matrix movies).  So I ignored them.  I honestly have no idea what made me take a second look, but I purchased the eBook version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and LOVED it.  It is so well-written, and so much different, storyline-wise, than I thought it would be.  It's a thriller-type book, but not in a Stephen King way.  It's also mysterious, but not in an Agatha Christie way.  The author was (he is deceased) Swedish, so it's translated into English, which automatically makes it a little different.  It's hard for me to put into words what makes it so great, but I think part of it is the great detail the author uses to tell the story.  Not details of the scenery or the characters, but background details and details of what the characters are doing.  This makes the books really long (the first book is 500+ pages, the second is 700+), but I truly think it's what makes you get lost in the story.  Anyway, you can read all about the trilogy, as well as the movies they made of each of the books, here.

Speaking of the movies, I have not seen "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", but heard that it is pretty graphic.  That makes sense, because parts of the book are pretty graphic.  There are scenes from the book that make me cringe when I image them being played out on the big screen.  I guess I just wanted to warn you in case you decided to go to the movies tonight (is "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" even showing at the theater still?!  I have no idea, I can't keep up...).