33, 34, 35 & 36

Posted on November 1, 2010

Still hacking away at the 50 books in 365 day challenge… maybe a little more realistic now that golf season is pretty much over… a little difficult as there is nary a book on my shelf that I haven’t read… hm… may have to hit the library…

#33 – Detective by Arthur Hailey. I have never read anything by the esteemed Arthur Hailey, but would I would read another of his if one crossed my path. This is (obviously) a story about a homicide detective who is compelled to hear the death bed confession of a serial killer that he put on death row.

Good book.

#34 – 36 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire &  The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson. Although I felt like, I’m sure I’m actually not the last person on the planet who read this series. One friend of mine told me that they were the best books she’s ever read. Hm. It is a great series, but not the best book I’ve read.

I was a little leery about the series, as I’ve heard so much about it, and I tried avoid hearing about it. The movie previews I’d seen were a little comic book looking, and I’m not particularly drawn to hard-core novels of that genre, however, gladly, my impressions were wrong.

The books are mainly set in Stockholm, Sweden, so it was a little challenging to understand the locations of cities that were discussed and many of the characters’ names had me scratching my head, but the story was so good and compelling, it was hard to put down.

I must say that throughout this book I craved coffee. Coffee was consumed on nearly every page of each book, and I’m amazed that the characters essentially lived off coffee and sandwiches. It doesn’t surprise me that Sweden is #6 in coffee consumption in the world… Hm… Canada is #11, and the US is #26 (per capita of course). Little factoid for ya there.

Anyway, the books were really good, and it’s quite sad that the author died, as I would love to read more books by him… (well and also because it just sucks to die… I’m not that self absorbed to wish he was alive only so I could read another book…) I was hoping that the ‘twin sister’ aspect of the story would have developed… oh well.