Books TBR Challenges Writing
Friday 22 January 2016
Monday 18 January 2016
#2.1 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Don't you just hate it when life gets in the way of reading a good book? I am behind on my reading this January, and life events are to blame.
My thoughts so far on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson (regular readers of Bookshany will recall that Slip No. 2 from the Bookshany TBR Jar instructed to read the trilogy.):
I can easily picture in my mind what the characters look like, and having not yet watched the European made film versions of the book, nor the American re-make, I feel as though the American cast were well chosen based on appearances alone, based on the screen shots and publicity images that I recall from around the time of the film's release. We're not talking about book to film adaptations today though, that will be coming in the future!
I've enjoyed the translations so far, as the person responsible for changing the book from Larson's native Swedish tongue into English has done a cracking job with it. The language flows smoothly as it would have done had a British writer written the novel, and has avoided the cliché of using Americanisms in the text, e.g. kindergarten vs. nursery.
I won't reveal any spoilers at this point, as there isn't much to say just yet. The political side of the plot could happen tomorrow just as easily as it could have done when the book was set earlier this decade. And for Mikael Blomkvist, just like all great investigators who came before him, the mystery is afoot.
Having now finished the novel, I can give my final review:
Title: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Author: Steig Larson
Date Started: 03/01/16
Date Finished: 01/02/16
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Thoughts and Quotes:
All crime novels have a question to be answered. The initial question raised by The Girl With The Dragon tattoo is this: 'what happened to Harriet Vanger on Hedeby Island?' This of course, is eventually answered, but is joined by a second question, 'what is Lisbeth Salander's secret? How does she do what she does?' This is also eventually answered, to an extent.
Lisbeth and Mikael do form a good team, and it is through their relationship that we learn more about Lisbeth herself. Lisbeth is an excellent heroine. She does suffer in many different ways through out the novel, as do most protagonists, she has her secrets and flaws, she is afraid of her own feelings, and in the moments where she is the victim, she does not fall into the standard 'perfect victim' trope, making her into a fully formed, realistic person, as we all, as individuals react differently when certain scenarios are thrust upon us, invading our ordinary lives.
My thoughts so far on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson (regular readers of Bookshany will recall that Slip No. 2 from the Bookshany TBR Jar instructed to read the trilogy.):
I can easily picture in my mind what the characters look like, and having not yet watched the European made film versions of the book, nor the American re-make, I feel as though the American cast were well chosen based on appearances alone, based on the screen shots and publicity images that I recall from around the time of the film's release. We're not talking about book to film adaptations today though, that will be coming in the future!
I've enjoyed the translations so far, as the person responsible for changing the book from Larson's native Swedish tongue into English has done a cracking job with it. The language flows smoothly as it would have done had a British writer written the novel, and has avoided the cliché of using Americanisms in the text, e.g. kindergarten vs. nursery.
I won't reveal any spoilers at this point, as there isn't much to say just yet. The political side of the plot could happen tomorrow just as easily as it could have done when the book was set earlier this decade. And for Mikael Blomkvist, just like all great investigators who came before him, the mystery is afoot.
Having now finished the novel, I can give my final review:
Title: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Author: Steig Larson
Date Started: 03/01/16
Date Finished: 01/02/16
Star Rating: 4 out of 5
Thoughts and Quotes:
All crime novels have a question to be answered. The initial question raised by The Girl With The Dragon tattoo is this: 'what happened to Harriet Vanger on Hedeby Island?' This of course, is eventually answered, but is joined by a second question, 'what is Lisbeth Salander's secret? How does she do what she does?' This is also eventually answered, to an extent.
Lisbeth and Mikael do form a good team, and it is through their relationship that we learn more about Lisbeth herself. Lisbeth is an excellent heroine. She does suffer in many different ways through out the novel, as do most protagonists, she has her secrets and flaws, she is afraid of her own feelings, and in the moments where she is the victim, she does not fall into the standard 'perfect victim' trope, making her into a fully formed, realistic person, as we all, as individuals react differently when certain scenarios are thrust upon us, invading our ordinary lives.
"To Sally, who showed me the benefits to the sport of golf."
Friday 15 January 2016
Friday 8 January 2016
Sunday 3 January 2016
#1 Inspiration
Slip 1 - Read a Picture Book
The book selected from my own shelf [others taking part in the challenge may have selected a different book] is: Inspiration by Ron van der Meer.
Title: Inspiration
Author: Ron van der Meer
Date started: 3/1/16
Date finished: 3/1/16
star rating: 4 out of 5
Thoughts and quotes: Inspiration is a high end quality pop-up picture book, featuring six large paper-crafted interpretations of old Chinese proverbs. The book, when properly opened makes for a bright, visual display piece. The text is clear and easy to read in a generously sized font, however despite the nature of pop-up books, I would not give this book to a young child as it could be easily damaged, especially on the first page where the pieces are suspended by cotton threads. I would have given this book 5 stars if there had been a few more pop-ups, perhaps bringing the total from 6 to 8 or even 10. This book is not commonly found in shops, but can be ordered online or ordered to specialist art gallery shops.
Background side notes: I was fortunate to attend an art gallery event in which the artist was in attendance, and was shown how this book was actually made, and allowed to handle examples of Victorian pop-ups as well, as such, this copy is signed, but the signature is not fully visible in the first photograph.
The book selected from my own shelf [others taking part in the challenge may have selected a different book] is: Inspiration by Ron van der Meer.
Author: Ron van der Meer
Date started: 3/1/16
Date finished: 3/1/16
star rating: 4 out of 5
Thoughts and quotes: Inspiration is a high end quality pop-up picture book, featuring six large paper-crafted interpretations of old Chinese proverbs. The book, when properly opened makes for a bright, visual display piece. The text is clear and easy to read in a generously sized font, however despite the nature of pop-up books, I would not give this book to a young child as it could be easily damaged, especially on the first page where the pieces are suspended by cotton threads. I would have given this book 5 stars if there had been a few more pop-ups, perhaps bringing the total from 6 to 8 or even 10. This book is not commonly found in shops, but can be ordered online or ordered to specialist art gallery shops.
Background side notes: I was fortunate to attend an art gallery event in which the artist was in attendance, and was shown how this book was actually made, and allowed to handle examples of Victorian pop-ups as well, as such, this copy is signed, but the signature is not fully visible in the first photograph.
Saturday 2 January 2016
Slip 1 + Slip 2
Two slips came out together when reaching into the jar, which currently holds more than 50 slips, and so here are the first two slips of 2016.
- Read a picture book
- Read the millennium trilogy aka girl with the dragon tattoo series
From the bookshelf, for slip no. 1, I have selected: Inspiration by Ron van der Meer, published by tangopaper
NB: This is not a commonly found book, but is stocked by larger art galleries on order in the UK and the USA. My copy is unique in that it is not only a pop-up picture book, it is also signed by the artist/author in person.
For slip no. 2, I have an as yet unread copy of Girl with the dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson on my kindle paperwhite. As the slip says trilogy, I will be purchasing the remaining two books to read, but not the fourth, as that was a series continuation by David Lagercrantz. The series can be purchased from all major book retailers in paperback as well e-book format.
Reviews to follow soon!
The Bookshany TBR Challenge has begun!
Bookshany is now on goodreads!
Join the Bookshany group!
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/179527-bookshany
We're now on facebook too!
https://www.facebook.com/bookshany/
Bookshany is now on goodreads!
Join the Bookshany group!
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/179527-bookshany
We're now on facebook too!
https://www.facebook.com/bookshany/
New Year's Resolutions
New year, new challenges, new books to be read!
Every month, or so, a new TBR Challenge shall be held by Bookshany as part of our new years resolutions.
Want to join in? Then simply pick a title of your own to match the tbr jar slip, or find a copy of the selected book to read along with Bookshany! Feel free to comment with your own thoughts on every post and if you like, simply right click and copy Bookshany's media graphics to repost on your own profiles, twitter or facebook.
#bookshany #bookshanytbr
Every month, or so, a new TBR Challenge shall be held by Bookshany as part of our new years resolutions.
Want to join in? Then simply pick a title of your own to match the tbr jar slip, or find a copy of the selected book to read along with Bookshany! Feel free to comment with your own thoughts on every post and if you like, simply right click and copy Bookshany's media graphics to repost on your own profiles, twitter or facebook.
#bookshany #bookshanytbr
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