Post-Millennial

I have now finished reading the Millennium Trilogy by the late Stieg Larsson.

I really enjoyed the first book

I found the second quite violent – halfway through I said to Bob “Not sure I shall want to read the third one after this” “Oh you will – to find out how it ends” he said [at this point he had just read 1 & 2]

Then I talked to my niece who assured me that the tone of #3 was quite different, and not full of violence in the same way.

So I ordered it from the library and now I have read all three!

Conclusions: The first book was definitely the best. The second was unnecessarily violent. The third one was hardest to read because I kept getting bogged down with all the Swedish surnames [many of which were very similar]

I thought that Larsson’s premise was very clever – but just too far fetched. And there were some complex things which people seemed to do far too easily. The heroine [if that is what Lisbeth is] bought an amazing luxury apartment ‘just like that’!! And any computer issue – well, she or her friends just hacked into other people’s machines and did all sorts of phenomenal things – apparently in less time than it takes me to write a blogpost.

And why did Larsson feel the need to list so comprehensively the details of furniture and coffee makers [I almost expected the catalogue code number for the IKEA Poang Armchairs!]

But the questions remain unanswered as Stieg is no longer with us.

I share his abhorrence of Nazism and violence against women though – on those two points I am in total agreement with him.

Bob is currently reading ‘Secret Asset’ - a Stella Rimington spy thriller which I picked up at the library last week. But he is so scathing about the poor standard writing and says it is almost Mills and Boon – which is a little worrying if this woman was in charge of our intelligence services for 4 years! [mind you, the Guardian reviewer seems to share Bob’s opinion too – here] So that one may go back to the library unread by me.

I’m planning to read something less contemporary next and get back into some historical stuff. Watch this space.