Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Just finished Girl With the Dragon Tattoo earlier today. I'm still not quite sure what I think about it.
(Spoilers Follow---Caution Caution Caution):



I liked the majority of the plot, and while part of the ending was satisfying, I wasn't sure how I felt about the convenient ending of Martin Vanger. I wish we could have seen him brought to justice. I found the characters quite intriguing, I think Salander was my favorite, I'm interested to learn more about her past, hopefully the second book (which I just started) will let us know more. I didn't really care for Berger much, and wished that Henrik would have had a more interesting role in the second half of the book. I liked the writing style, I found the book quite engaging and would definitely rank it as one of my favorites.

Rating: 5/5

The Light Horseman's Daughter by David Crookes

Just finished reading The Light Horseman's Daughter on my Nook last night. It was a free download from Barnes and Noble a few months ago. I enjoyed the book quite a bit. It is the story of Emma McKenna and her family (mother and 2 brothers) during the Great Depression in Australia. After her father dies while the family is being evicted, Emma is left to care for her mother and her two twin brothers all by herself. Emma is a very strong character, doing whatever she can to survive and bring the family back together through multiple hardships. I did like learning about the Australian Great Depression, as I do not know much about Australian history. I liked the way that David Crookes handled the romance scenes with the "fade to black" method reminiscent of old movies.

Spoiler Alert!


I did think that some of the plot was rushed through, such as some of the revelations near the end about parentage and the Mary Wells Society, and I think that most of the character's reactions to them were rather blase. Coltrane was the only one that seemed to really be affected, the other characters didn't seem to care too much, which was surprising given how race was treated in the 30s. Also, I wasn't too fond of the last chapter that said "this person is now..." for every character in the novel. I mean, I understand that he had to tell what happened to everybody, but it just seems like a last second addition. I also wasn't a big fan of Stephen or Bill, neither of them seemed like good matches for Emma, but being a romance, she had to end up with one of them. I also wish we would have learned more about some of the secondary characters like Strickland and Eleanor.

 All in all though, I found the book rather enjoyable, and it was a good story to read to wind down at the end of the day. Rating: 4.5/5

52 books in 52 weeks challenge

Robin (of My Two Blessings) is the host of the returning 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge.

The challenge is simple: read 52 books in a year (thus, the 52 weeks).  It can be any book you want - easy or hard; as Robin states: "The goal is to read 52 books.  How you get there is up to you."


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I'm excited to be participating in this challenge this year, and will do my best to blog a review about each book that I read. You can see what I'm currently reading on the sidebar to the right.

Below is a list of the books I've read this year, with a link to my review of each one.

1. The Light Horseman's Daughter by David Crookes
2.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
3. Catherine the Great by Robert Massie
4. The Girl Who Played With Fire by stieg Larsson
5. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
6.  Open by Andre Agassi
7. The Shallows: What the Internet is doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
8.  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
9.  The Girl who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
10.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
11.  The Emancipation of Robert Sadler

New Year, New Blog

2012 goals:

1. Read 52 books (that comes out to 1 a week). I'll blog a review about each one here.

2. Cook a new recipe every other week. I'll share my results here as well.

3. Sew 2 quilts start to finish. Will share progress here.

4. Blog at least twice a week.