Booky stuff

I'm light years behind the rest of the world when it comes to Stieg Larsson's The Millennium Series (I just started book two, The Girl Who Played with Fire).

How wonderful it is to come across a book that you just can't put down — that you really consider taking to work in case there are a few moments to read a few lines during the day — that you notice on the bedside table and simply long for the other events of the day to pass quickly so you can go to bed early and get back into it!

Between volumes one and two, I read Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin, which is the book we'll be talking about when The Shipping News Book Club meets next.

Luckily, it was similarly engrossing, simply and beautifully told, all the more poignant for its subtlety. Fantastic — lots to talk about with the club.

Now I'm starting The Girl Who Played with Fire, and am encouraged to see the blurb says it's even better than the first one, which is just what the young lad in the bookshop said. Yee-ha!

Anyway, click here to read an intriguing NY Time article about poor old Stieg and his legacy.

Must say, I'm with the Poms on the third book title's apostrophe ...

And have you ever though, ever ever, that Ikea represents a "design-loving Socialist paradise"? Socialism (just like we have here in evil old Australia, with our nationalised health-care system) is a terrifying, sickening, noir concept to America ... you gotta love 'em! Or feel sorry for 'em ...