Monday, October 19, 2009

Sweet Swedish Reading


This author Stieg Larsson (official website link, Wiki link, YouTube)has been blowing up in the US since his novels have been translated to English. He's outsold Harry Potter in Europe if that means anything to you. He's kind of like Michael Crichton + Dan Brown, but he's Swedish.
Larsson started what was supposed to be a 10-novel series, but died after he wrote the first three, and only two have been translated into English so far . The Sweden Larsson wrote about is not your Ikea, Abba, Bikini Team Sweden, but rather the darker side of Scandinavia: Nazis, death metal, and human trafficking.
What stuck me as doubly tragic is that not only is a very talented author gone, but so are all the characters he'd created. When you are reading his novels, Lisbeth & Mikael are like living breathing people, but unfortunately they can't exist without Larsson, and we'll never know what he had inteded for them. What a loss!
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is due out this month in English. Movies based on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire have already been released in Sweden and are international hits. Check him out, you won't be sorry!

1 comment:

  1. Upon your book review/recommendation, I picked up The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - and devoured it in less than a week! Thumbs up. Now I have The Girl Who Played With Fire for the bus ride back from DC. Can't wait.

    ReplyDelete