The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo follows a financial journalist who, on break from his job as a result of a scandal, ends up investigating the death of the niece of a CEO of a major corporation years after it happened.

For a crime novel, it definitely beats the likes of Sue Grafton and Patricia Cornwell. The plot is far more clever and intriguing and surprising than any other crime novel I'd picked up before (note this is a grand total of two, after which I mostly gave up on the genre). The events are brutal and intense. It definitely made a 15 hour car trip far less boring, and I was generally compelled to read more.

If you were looking for something profound and earth-shattering, as so many seem to claim, you will be sorely disappointed. Though the author preaches a bit about abuse of women and financial journalism in Sweden, and we gain some degree of fascinating insight into the country through it, that part is little more than interesting information we could have read on Wikipedia. The characters, language, and similar elements in the book were enough to support the plot but nothing special.

Overall the novel is a well-done mystery with an interesting peep into Swedish culture.

Mr. Norell and Jonathan Strange by Susana Clarke

Mr. Norrel and Jonathan Strange is a novel about the return of magic to England, taking place in an alternate universe England in some undefined victorian-esque era. The new magicians have to deal with many obstacles on the way to promoting magic, including a mad fairy.

Sometimes I wish the editor of a novel had done his job. After all, if he had, about a third of this enormous book would have been cut out - and maybe more. While the beginning is intriguing, by the end of the novel little of it is relevant and Clarke could have started further along in the story. Many bits were dry and unentertaining, and I was tempted several times to put down the book, save for the fact that I paid $9 for it and had heard so many good things.

That being said, this novel is absolutely beautiful. The whole tone and elements of the novel had a very magical and whimsical feel to it, but at the same time dealt with very realistic situations and politics despite the unrealistic nature of the magic. This is not a book where you end up questioning the ability of eleven-year-olds in a magic school to defeat a Dark Lord - the only suspension of disbelief here is the existence of magic. The characters are well-defined. The plot, when one stumbles upon a scene that contributes to it, is clever and complex. The good parts are interesting enough - and following the social politics is a lot of fun. The picture of England that Clarke paints for us is rich.

Overall, when I reached the end, I was glad to have read it. I just wished I didn't have to read so much of it, and could have skipped the irrelevant information.

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets addresses post-WWII England, following a young girl living with her brother and mother in an old house whose upkeep is draining their resources. When she meets a maniac and spontaneous girl named Charlotte, she is pulled into a journey of self-discovery and healing.

I'm a most picky reader, and these days it takes a lot for a book to absorb me like this one did. Though a little predictable and a slightly muddled ending, the characters drew me in and made me giggle and smile a lot while reading. I can assure you this doesn't normally happen. The world was very rich and the language fresh. The thing that keeps this book from being just a fun, well-written read was Eva Rice's subtle and wonderful sense of humor. She approaches many situations with a charming satire and her quirky characters come up with fabulous one-liners. I only wish the novel had been more thoroughly soaked with this humor.

This novel is a quick and thoroughly enjoyable read (though I can't speak for the men). Funny, sweet, and just a bit heartwarming, this novel will definitely cheer you up.