Abbie K.'s comments (member since Jun 20, 2009)

Abbie K.'s comments from the The Next Best Book Club group.

Murphy's Law: If you drop a slice of buttered bread on the carpet, the chances of it landing butter-side down are in direct relation to the expense of the carpet.

(Which explains why my carpet is clean, I think)

I did it! I got through 40 books before my deadline! Phew!!! Here they are ... the stars are for the really good ones!

1. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
2. Revolutionary Petunias by Alice Walker
3. Sweet Revenge – Diane Mott Davidson
4. The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Muriel Barbery
***5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society – Mary Ann Shaffer
6. The Awakening – Kate Chopin
7. Veronika Wants to Die – Paulo Coelho
8. Skin Trade – Laurell K. Hamilton
9. Lover Avenged – J.R. Ward
10. Dust - Martha Grimes
11. My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
12. Dark Celebration – Christine Feehan
13. Living Witness – Jane Haddam
14. Bone Crossed – Patricia Briggs
15. Dead and Gone – Charlaine Harris
*16. The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
*17. (Education Text) What a Writer Needs – Ralph Fletcher
*18. (Education Text)Write Beside Them – Penny Kittle
19. Where There’s a Will – Aaron Elkins
20. The Witch of Portobello – Paulo Coelho
21. The Valkyries – Paulo Coelho
22. The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coehlo
**23. The Irish Country Doctor – Patrick Taylor
**24. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larrson
25. Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia – Jean Sassoon
**26. The Glass Castle: A Memoir – Jeanette Walls
27. Not Quite What I Was Planning: 6 Word Memoirs by Famous and Obscure Writers
**28. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
29. Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi
30. Who Do You Think You Are? – Alyse Myers
**31. On Writing – Stephen King
*32. Whisper to the Blood – Dana Stabenow
**33. Almost French – Sarah Turnbull
**34. The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
***35. Driving Over Lemons – Chris Stewart
36. Archetypes of the Feminine Hero – Annis Pratt
37. Thief in Retreat – David and Aimee Thurlo
**38. At All Costs – David Weber
*39. Halfway Human – Carolyn Gilman
**40. (Education Text) Discipline with Dignity – Richard L. Curwin

I think Salander's choice to sleep with Blumqvist is supposed to show some sort of progress for her in dealing with a sexually abusive past. She finally chooses who she will have sex with rather than being in a position of victim. Of course, she has chosen a man well into his 40's (classic father figure?). Although her choice of partner is not necessarily wise, she has made a first step in allowing someone into her life by choice rather than having that choice made for her and against her will. We'll see in the next book whether she rises above her past or whether she is inhibited by it.

Figures! Lesson to writers...explain what the heck your talking about to those of us who haven't a clue! LOL

does anyone know if Larrsen was an accountant in his other life before writing...wow, what a lot of information I'm never going to understand.

I bought Whisper in the Blood for a camping trip I'm taking next week, but I peeked and got hooked. One less book to take with me. It was very good for mystery lovers though.

I still have The Time Traveler's Wife and Almost French. Those will have to do...if I can avoid reading them before I leave that is...

I'm with Liz...I loved 84 Charing Cross Road!

Believe it or not, but back when I taught in a Catholic high school, I taught Stephen King's The Stand as a classic piece of literature with the concept of good vs. evil. I told parents there were passages that were shocking and contained some sexual reference, but would you believe it...NO ONE objected! The kids loved it.

Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell

belted

Can you drop a letter?

If it is a good book, I CANT put it down until I'm finished. I'm not a speed reader, but I do read quickly. I can read a book in an evening after work (unless I have to grade papers).

I would have said autistic too except for how she communicates with Blomqvist. When she chooses to communicate, she is clear, focused, intelligent and quite obviously capable of excellent verbal skills. Though my experience with the autistic is limited, I have not found that level of conversational give and take a part of the autistic's skill base.

I'm not sure Larrson is calling Salander a savvy P.I., but rather a bit of an electronics savant. She indicates that it is always something she's been able to do...computers, numbers, photographic memory. I think we can assume from information presented or inferred that Salander is an unusual girl. She is lacking in socialization skills, which is why she makes a good researcher, but not an investigator. In any case, it could be why she, not Blomqvist, is the protagonist in the next book.
As to why Larrson includes her history with abuse, it makes her background as a bit of an odd duck more believeable. She might even be that way by design rather than circumstance. She chooses to who and when she communicates...look at her new advokat.

There is a hint at Salander's history in the teaser for the next book at the end of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I will order it so that it gets sent to me ASAP through Amazon. July will be a long month!

My apologies, I didn't understand. Yeah, I did try to imagine myself in that picture and fill in the blanks. I agree with you totally. Larrson did an excellent job of making my skin crawl. Maybe, for me, it was Martin discussing his crimes as though he were describing how to put peanutbutter on bread. That reasonable tone while discussing such horror is very creepy.

What is an expression between furious and frightened? Consternated? As in "thrown into confusion?" I'd guess the picture is purposely vague to keep us from finding out the relationship between her death/survival to Martin's doings too soon. Thats why the picture doesn't show the man's face, just the red patch on his jacket.
I don't think we're supposed to have an explantaion for Gottfied except that he was becoming progressively insane with a touch of religious mania. If the reader connects it to Nazism, so be it, but it doesn't really matter. Why is Martin loonier than a rabid warthog? You don't learn that level of nuts from a mentoring behavior, do you? And who was a nastier piece of work, Dad or Mom? She knew what was going on and didn't care.

My goodness, such wonderful suggestions! I'll enjoy reading all these...of course, this could be the longest paper I've ever written! Hope my advisor likes it.

I'll check it out. Thanks. I've read the intro to The Help and it looks very good!
I'm currently reading Persepolis, The Princess, Glass Castles, and of course, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. All very different forms of female protagonists.

I think that she, as a victim of similar violence, didn't want anyone to be able to use that notebook to sensationalize or victimize the families of the dead girls. Remember, she kept the discs and gave them to the lawyer and told him to do all he could to identify the girls and let their families know they were dead. The notebooks were Martin's records of not only the violence, but also his twisted recollections of his enjoyment of his work.
At least, that's my guess.
Anyone else have a theory?

Well darn, Lori, deflate a girl's hopes huh? hehehehe