Who here has read "The Girl Who.... " trilogy?

[Flaxbee]

I was on planes a lot last week and got through "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and just picked up "The Girl Who Played with Fire".

I enjoy these books - what have you thought? :hi:

[travelingtypist]

1. Haven't read the books, but loved the first two movies.

[Flaxbee]

4. a few of the book scenes are pretty intense ...

wonder if the movies captured those scenes, and not sure I want to see them, honestly.

If I do watch the movies, I'll watch the "original" versions first before the Hollywood remake (though I do love Daniel Craig).

[jobycom]

24. Yeah, they are intense in the movie, but bearable.

You won't forget them, but you won't have nightmares, either. They do just enough to make the point. The rape, especially--no attempt to make it sexy in any way, and just enough to make it brutal and uncomfortable.

The movies are really well done. They vary a little from the books--pretty much have to because of length--but are faithful in mood, and are good movies even if you haven't read the books. I actually think they are a little better than the books. They take out some of the drift and make the main points more focused. Then again, I think the first movie loses a little of Lisbeth Salander's rage at the crimes, and some of her character.

It's cool, too, to see the different ideals in Sweden as opposed to America, concerning beauty and age. No plastic surgery, Mikael and Erika are left with wrinkles, a little weight (on Mikael, anyway), and no airbrushing.

[riderinthestorm]

2. Loved, loved them! But boy did it take about 100 pgs +/- in the first one to finally get hooked!

Not sure why but since I only picked them up this summer, I "knew" the buzz was that they were great. So I stuck with it, and finally it clicked and I got why everyone likes them so much.

The Swedish film versions with Noomi Rapace are brilliant. You should watch them too (after you read the books imho.)

[Flaxbee]

5. same here - I had heard all the buzz, but didn't grab the

first book until I was in the Denver airport a few weeks ago. :shrug:

I'd like to see the Swedish films - how close are they to the books? Am I going to have to cover my eyes for the cat scene? Or is it mercifully removed?

[riderinthestorm]

9. Spoiler alert!

Cat scene is removed! But the rape scene with her guardian advocate is as bad as the book portrays it. And I've never gotten a tattoo so THAT whole home made tattoo scene was similar horrifying in a "car-crash-can't-look-away" kinda way.

The Swedish films stay "true" to the books. I've only seen the first and second films (waiting for the third to come out on DVD). The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was made by a different director than the second (Played with Fire) and third (Kicked the Hornet's Nest) movies. There's a different "feel" in that the second director doesn't have the same sense of drama. Did you see the first two Harry Potter films? And then came Alfonso Cuaron and Prisoner of Azkaban? Wowza!

Well the first (Dragon Tattoo) is riveting like Cuaron. The second is... like the first HP movie. Faithful to the series but not as intense.

[Flaxbee]

12. yikes - they kept that in?

holy crap.

Bummer to have the second movie be a bit of a let down. I'll get the movies, though, after I finish the second book.

[travelingtypist]

13. Thank you for this explanation.

The first movie was totally wowza, the second was good but that missing that special something that made me watch #1 over and over and over and over and over.

[riderinthestorm]

16. Heh! I know! More spoilers!

I heard a review on NPR of the second film. The reviewer was talking about the scene where Mikael is going to rescue Lisbeth at her father's farm which should have been the big drama scene (as it is in the book).

He describes how Mikael slowly gets in his car (as Lisbeth faces the peril of her hideous brother, desperately evading his horrific attempts to kill her), and then Mikael slowly drives down the interstate observing all speed limits (as Lisbeth's shot and buried!), and then he pulls onto the exit ramp SLOWER than the posted speed limit and pulls over and checks his map (as Lisbeth's father gloats and her brother walks away from her buried alive), and then he pulls into a McDonald's for a Big Mac (as Lisbeth claws her way back to the land of the living and confronts her terrible "family") - just kidding about the Big Mac but you get the pic.....

The director is entirely faithful to the story without ramping up ANY drama in the second pic! It was both hilarious to hear it described thusly, but also really disappointing since the books are so great. As usual though Noomi Rapace is sooooo good. Her English is actually extremely good. I wonder if we'll see more of her in Hollywood.

[travelingtypist]

19. I guess spoilers -- I watched GWPWF on Netflix streaming.

And I FF'd from where Lisbeth is skulking up to the house -- all I could think of was why didn't she disable the surveillance that she would know was there and that's completely out of character for her -- to where Mikael sees her bloodied coming out of that shed. It was so plodding, so yeah, I can see this coming, oh, great. It wasn't compelling at all.

[Paladin]

3. Loved The Books, Loved The Movies.

What a shame that such a gifted author died so young.

[Flaxbee]

6. And I have read that some people think he

was murdered, too. Have you heard anything about that?

[jonnyblitz]

8. Christopher Hitchens wrote a Vanity Fair article about it.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/12/hitchens-200912

[Flaxbee]

11. thanks - I'll read it soon

:hi:

Anyone know how Hitchens is doing these days?

[Demoiselle]

25. Thank you for this link, jonnyblitz..

I didn't know that some are suspicious about Larsen's death. I devoured all three of the books in 4 days (long weekend) and was submerged completely in the world he created. The possibility, far fetched though it may be, that he was murdered, and the hard fact that his companion of 30 years is cruelly cut out of his estate just continues the story line for me.
I've seen the first two movies, too...they're well done, but they don't have enough time, obviously, to incorporate the rich detail of the books.

[jonnyblitz]

7. i saw all three movies and have the 3 books for my ereader

but haven't read them yet. If I hadn't seen the movies already I would have read the books by now.

[Flaxbee]

14. The books are very good -

I don't want to see the movies until I've read at least two of the books ... I hope you enjoy the books!

[jonnyblitz]

17. I'd rather have read the books first but i had an opportunity

to see all three movies so i watched them though the subtitles for one of them were pretty crappy. it's been awhile since I saw them. But, yeah, I'd rather have read each book before I saw the movie that went with it.

[distantearlywarning]

10. I liked the books, have seen the first movie.

I didn't get the first book until about 100 pages in. I just couldn't figure out where the author was going, and almost put it down. But I'm glad I stuck with it - it got a lot more interesting after that.

They are pretty dark, though.

The first movie was not as graphic as the first book, but still had some disturbing stuff in it. Definitely not for kids!

[Flaxbee]

15. I was trapped on a plane w/o anything else to read and

got through the first 100 pages pretty quickly, but I also remember being captivated pretty quickly.

What do you think about Daniel Craig as Blomkvist?

[tigereye]

18. very well done- love the characters - intense stories

the 2 movies I saw were pretty good as well, I thought, although they don't quite get to the female protagonist's interior quite as well. Very meaty role, though.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

20. I am on page 177 of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" ....

so far - so good. :hi:

[Flaxbee]

21. enjoy! As you may have picked up (sorry for any spoilers)

there are some disturbing scenes. But a gripping book - and it's nice to know there are two more to follow if you like this one. :hi:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

22. Have already purchased the next one and I skipped over

the spoilers so, no harm done.

Signing off now so that I can go read it :D

[some guy]

23. Me.

I had a hard time with the ending of the second book, so that made it difficult to want to read the third.

spoiler: the whole she gets shot, buried alive, and digs herself out part, seemed a lot to have to try to believe. I did slightly know a person when I was in high school who had got shot multiple times, including in the head, and he lived - that was a .22 caliber gun, too - so I decided I could kind of believe that, and overlooked the digging herself out part.

Overall, though I liked the series. I haven't seen the films yet.

[Flaxbee]

28. hey - question about the third book --

does it resolve some of the storyline? Or is a cliffhanger? It was my understanding that Larsson might have had 10 books planned... I want to read the third one, but want to be prepared that there might be some unresolved storylines.

[some guy]

29. good resolution

I didn't think there was much left unaccounted for at the end of the third book.

All the characters who are still alive, have the rest of their lives ahead of them, so potential for continuing is there, but there's no cliff hanger aspect.

Sort of like the first one - it was fairly self-contained and complete. The second, definitely had a cliff hanger ending though.

[Flaxbee]

32. thanks very much, some guy!

Glad to hear it. I will probably make a beeline for the bookstore tomorrow to get the third one and am glad to hear that there is some sort of 'completion' since there won't be any more.

I really appreciate your input. I'd have read the end first otherwise! :D :hi:

[bikebloke]

26. I've read the books.

Really liked them. Stieg Larssen has spurred a rash of noir books from Scandinavia. Some are duds, but I like Jo Nesbo's Norwegian thrillers.

I also liked the first two films, and am waiting for Fire.

Noomi Rapace is supposed to be in Sherlock Holmes 2.

[applegrove]

27. I liked them. very original characters. They were like really real people.

[yankeepants]

30. Struggling to get to100 pages

in the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I am not a fan of the mystery/crime genre but this was highly recommended by my brother so I am giving it a whirl. So far I am not gripped.

[Flaxbee]

33. hang in there - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised

If you're not a big fan of mystery/crime novels, it might not hook you, but I did enjoy it. Hope you do, too.

[yankeepants]

35. Thanks. I'm sure I will be.

[TreasonousBastard]

31. After reading all three, I think the world is a lesser place with Larssen's death...

Lisbeth Salander is one of the great characters in literature and I would have really loved to see how Larssen would write the rest of her life.

(Not quite a spoiler, but I can say that I will never look at a nail gun the same way again.)

[Flaxbee]

34. Yeah, I really like the Lisbeth character.

Hm. Nail gun, huh? I'll just have to get book three this weekend!