What I'm Reading

IMG_3936, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I decided not to bring my Kindle on vacation and ended up re-reading Dan Simmons' Ilium and Olympos and they hold up to a second reading. I will be reading them again sometime down the road. I recall reading a review of one of Simmons' books (Black Hills), where the reviewer can't get past all the fantastic elements in his novels but she loves his books and reads them compulsively. I think the strong point of all his novels are the great characters. He puts believable characters in unbelievable situations, all the time. Actually, I'll buy into anything if you give me people to like.

That's pretty much a pattern for me: I love totally loopy stories with people I can empathize with. I don't understand people who don't like fantastic elements in their novels. As far as I'm concerned once I hear "Once upon a time" all bets are off with reality no matter how "true to life" the story is.

Currently I'm reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the third of the Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larsson who unfortunately died after writing these three books (the other two: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl who Played with Fire). They were originally written in Swedish and the direct translation of the first book's title is Men who Hate Women. Larsson has some interesting things to say about violence against women, and does it in a story about a woman named Lisbeth Salander who is a fantastic crazy-awesome character. I've heard the movie version out of Sweden is worthwhile too. I shall have to rent it on DVD when it comes out.

when I have nothing to read I'm reading trashy mystery/detective novels. Unfortunately none of them hold a candle to Dan Simmons' trashy Joe Kurtz novels. I hope he writes some more. Hell, I'll read his grocery lists if he publishes them. I'm sure they would make me cry.