The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

This was a book for book club and I am also counting it as Author Outside Own Country for Full House, A Book with an Anti-Hero for Reading Bingo, as a Book with a Scandinavian character for the pink path on the Story Spites challenge, and the New Authors challenge.

Knopf

This is the first in the Millennium series and was a thriller read. Mikael Blomkvist is a reporter who thinks he has the story of a lifetime that will lead to the downfall of a dirty financier, but his source fails him. Looking instead at a prison term, the loss of his good reputation, and possibly his job, instead of honor and glory, he is approached by Henrik Vanger and his lawyer to help solve an unsolved disappearance of Vanger's great niece Harriet. Vanger's family is influential and can give Mikael not only job, a new writing project, and money, but also the goods on the dirty financier. As Mikael digs into the secrets of the Vanger family, he uncovers something beyond his worst nightmares. Thankfully for Mikael he is not alone in his search, he has Lisbeth Salander, an abused, brilliant, and anti-social woman who finds the information that shows the disgust that some of the Vangers have toward women. Lisbeth is 24, has a mother who is mentally unstable and sickly and is a ward of first a nice guy who lets her control her life and then an evil, malicious man who she puts in her place after he disgustingly rapes her twice. Once they learn the truth, Lisbeth and Mikael are in danger of a killer who will stop at nothing to stop them.

Well, I would not have read this book if it were not for book club. It is brutal and show the depth of men who hate women, whether it is through killing them( the killer) , making them submissive (Lisbeth's guardian and less extent her boss), having relationships with them to get what you need and then bailing (Mikael), or through a feeling of superiority( Henrik). The first third of the book is really detailed and talks about Swedish ways of doing business and how the government works there, so it is really slow, but about halfway through the book, the action and suspense really picks up. This is a really violent and graphic book, so if that bothers you I would not recommend it at all. It has a true to life ending and the characters are really flawed and the mystery is intriguing, but brutal, so for me it was way outside my comfort zone. I do give it 3 cups of cocoa for making me think and for having surprises throughout the book. I may read the rest of them someday, because I have heard the third one is really good, but I am not in a rush at the moment.  

My February TBR: And the Winner is...

This is hosted by Michelle @ Because Reading.I got the highest number of votes I have ever had with 13 and 7 of them went to this book:

Disney Hyperion

I am excited to read this one after loving Illuminae. I hope to get started soon. Thanks to everyone who voted and thanks to Michelle for hosting! I hope all the TBR books are good this month.

3rd Annual Love for Books Readathon Progress Update

This is hosted by Jessi at Novel Heartbeat and you can sign up at this link.

Monday:
I read about 78 pages in Light on Snow by Anita Shreve. It is heartbreaking so far with the discovery of an abandoned baby and a father and his 12 year old daughter recovering still from previous losses.

Tuesday:
I read 20 pages in The Little House on the Prairie. This was a busy work day and I could barely keep my eyes open to read tonight. 

Wednesday:
 I read 107 pages in Light on Snow.

Thursday-Sunday:
I was not feeling well, but managed to finish Light on Snow during those days and read about 200 pages in Little House on the Prairie, so not bad overall. 

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

This book fits the Flights of Fantasy challenge, Newbery Challenge, Royal Challenge, Full House for Color Word in the Title, and Reading Bingo as Read a Book with a Cat.

Greenwillow Books

Harry Crewe must adapt to the very different climate of the desert. She and the other Homelanders are trying to live beside the Hillfolk and Northerners without really having to deal with them. Harry is an orphan taken in by Sir Charles and Lady Amelia who have no children and are friends with her brother. Sir Charles does not understand the Hillfolk and their ways and relies on Colonel Jack Dedham for help and when Corlath, King of Damar or most of it, comes asking for help against the demon Northerners, both sides misunderstand. Corlath, who has the Gift, storms out in anger stares hard at Harry and can't forget her. His gift drives him to kidnap her and train her to be the next Aerin, a legendary figure who fought dragons and carried a blue sword. Corlath sees Harry's gift and wants to use it to stop the Northerners. Harry gradually learns why she has been kidnapped and becomes friends with Mathin, one of the King's Riders, her horse Sungold and a hunting cat Narknon who give her the confidence to take up the blue sword. Harry's Gift leads her to believe she can stop the Northerners and their king from taking over Damar and the Homeland, but at what cost?

Robin McKinley's well-crafted descriptions bring to life Damar and its people. I had a bit of a problem with the kidnapping, but I did like how Harry is treated as a strong female and that admiration is usually the tone that even the men adopted toward her. She doesn't complete just trust the Hillfolk, but she does feel drawn to the land and then wants to help the people. I love also the description of the animals and can see why everyone would want a Hill horse and their own hunting cat. I read The Hero and the Crown a long time ago, but don't remember much about it, but I think that it is fine to read either The Blue Sword or the Hero and the Crown first, even though this one was written first, but the other is first in the chronology. I love that Harry is a strong female lead and I know the book gets complaints because the romance is not really developed, but to me it seems realistic and that magic can draw the characters together fits the story. I love McKinley's books and this is a 5 cups of cocoa read for me! It was a well deserved Newbery Honor. I am rereading The Hero and the Crown now and will compare the two a bit more when I finish it.

Brief Thoughts on The Shack by William Young

This was a book club pick and I would classify it as an inspirational fiction.

Windblown Media

I am going to do just a few brief thoughts on this one. The plot is that Mack has lost his daughter to a serial killer and they found her bloody dress in a rundown shack. About a year later, he gets a note from "Papa" to come to the shack. Papa is his wife's name for God and Mack decides to go there to see who the note is really from and experiences something he never dreamed of, a few days with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Parts of this were really interesting and I liked that the key is forgiveness, even when it seems impossible. I liked that the author attempted to have diversity in his depictions of the Trinity, but I felt at times he was not being true to the experiences of the culture of the races he picked. I did not like how he implied that churches were not good, because they only condemn and don't really "follow God's will". That is not my experience at all at church, so this just did not work for me. Overall it is not one I would read again and I would have a hard time recommending it to others. I thought it would be good for grieving families, but even then I think it could turn them away from others and God instead of providing the peace the book was meant to inspire. I did not understand the meaning of the ending until we discussed it at book club, so I did think this was supposed to be a "true" account, which was confusing, and only when they told me that a particular accident in the book determined Mack's experiences did it make sense to me. 2.5 cups of cocoa for me, mainly because I liked the discussion of forgiveness.

My February TBR List

This is hosted by Michelle @ Because Reading. Each month you pick three books on your TBR list and people vote on the one you should read that month. I am picking three books off of my Kindle that will qualify with the COYER challenge.


First Choice:

Little, Brown Books

I received this on Edelweiss and have really wanted to start this series for awhile. I am doing a Steampunk Challenge, so this would qualify for that one as well. This is about an unruly girl who is going to a "finishing" school, but not the type she thinks.

Second Choice:

HarperTeen

 I love Kiersten White's books and this is another one I received on Edelweiss. It is described as a "Downton Abbey meets Shadowhunters" book and I enjoy both of those.


Third Choice:

Disney Hyperion

Another Edelweiss book and a YA sci-fi. I actually read the first one in Kaufman's Illuminae Files series and enjoyed it and then remembered I had the first one from her other series on my Kindle. This is about the crash of a luxury spaceliner and the conspiracy behind it and the romance between the two survivors.

Help me choose my next TBR read! You do not have to participate in this meme to vote. Thanks to Michelle for hosting!

3rd Annual Love for Books Readathon Signup

This is hosted by Jessi at Novel Heartbeat and you can sign up at this link. I was looking for a readathon to signup for in February and actually participated in this one last year too! It is a low stress readathon, where you can read what you want. Jessi will have a small giveaway at the end and there may be some challenges hosted by other bloggers.

My reading list so far:
This Time Together by Carol Burnett (Book Club)
Light on Snow by Anita Shreve (Book Club)
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
Soulless by Gail Carringer

Thanks to Jessi for hosting!