Book 28 - The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson

I've got too much stuff to do, so no preamble this time. Let's just get down to the review, shall we?

The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson

The Girl Who Played with Fire is Stieg Larsson's second installment in the posthumously published trilogy about Lisbeth Salander, the young, brilliant, tattooed, and socially distant computer hacker, and Mikael Blomkvist, the middle-aged, doggedly tenacious investigative journalist. Salander's prodigious computer skills allow her to gain access to information that would be off-limits to most, while Blomkvist employs his reporter's instincts and persistent nature to get to the truth of whatever he investigates. Their work together in the first book managed not only to solve a forty-year mystery but to bring down the evil financial empire of a wealthy industrialist and arms dealer. Together they make a formidable team.

But alas, they are no longer together. Salander, once Blomkvist's lover and friend, has cut all ties with him, and refuses to answer his calls or emails. In fact, she has basically cut all ties with everyone and is travelling around the world. So how is a woman who is considered by the state to be incompetent, and has only a modest income from her job as an investigator for a security firm able to do this? Well, it seems she used her computer skills to claim a 20 billion Kronor consolation prize from the Cayman island accounts of the arms dealer she helped take down.

Upon her return, she buys a huge new place of her own, and bequeaths her old place to a part-time female lover. Snooping into Blomkvist's computer, she stumbles upon a name from her past: Zala. Driven to investigate, she visits the home of a couple who is working with Blomkvist on an expose of the sex trafficking industry. The next day, the couple is found dead, and Lisbeth is the chief suspect. Later another body turns up, the body of her state "guardian," which reinforces the notion that Salander is the culprit.

A media frenzy and a nationwide manhunt ensues. Armansky, Salander's employer at the security firm, doesn't know what to believe, but has sufficient doubts such that he launches an investigation of his own, and makes his resources available to the police. Blomkvist, convinced of her innocence and suspecting that the real killer's motive was something in the sex-trade expose that was about to be published, launches an investigation as well. Salander is also investigating, but her target is the mysterious Zala, a name that evokes so many painful memories.

I hadn't originally intended on reading this quite so soon after the first one. There are only three, and of course there won't be any more, so I wanted to savor each one a bit before launching into the next. I'm glad I didn't wait though, because I thought this book was even better than the first. I thought the plot was more complex, and the action moves much more quickly than in the first one. If you like a good mystery thriller with a dark edge, this is a book you should check out!

Book 27 - Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson

My local library has a cart that sits next to the information desk with a sign that says, "Good Books You May Have Missed." It was here that I stumbled across this week's book, Snow Falling on Cedars. I had heard of the book, and had heard it was supposed to be good, so I decided to give it a try.

Book 27 - Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson

Set on San Piedro, a small island in the Puget Sound of Washington State, Snow Falling on Cedars tells the story of the trial of a Japanese-American man named Kabuo, who has been charged with murdering Carl Heine, a white man. The trial takes place in the mid-fifties, and anti-Japanese sentiment runs high in the small town. Kabuo has motive and opportunity, and there are pieces of circumstantial evidence which may or may not point to his guilt, but Kabuo maintains his innocence against the accusations of the zealous prosecutor, who seems to be capitalizing on the jury's predjudices against Japanese in order to get a conviction.

As children and teenagers, Hatsue, Kabuo's wife, was involved with a caucasian boy, Ishmael, the son of the local newspaperman. They spent countless hours in secret together, lest their families find out and forbid them to see each other. Finally, when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Hatsue and her family, along with all the other Japanese and Japanese-Americans on the island are rounded up and taken to an internment camp. Ishmael makes her promise to write, and thinks that one day they will be together again, but Hatsue has already decided that she does not love Ishmael, and while at the camp she meets Kabuo, with whom she falls in love and marries. Ishmael continues to carry a torch for her, and this influences his actions in relation to Kabuo's guilt or innocence.

With this book, I was hoping for more of a mystery story, and less of a Harlequin romance. The story, while beautifully told, is predictable, and in my opinion seems to be overly focused on Ishmael's obsession with Hatsue. This is not to say there weren't other elements that were interesting: the culture of the Japanese-American families; the cruelty of the internment; the prejudices the Japanese-Americans faced both before and after the war. But in the end, I found it a somewhat unsatisfying read.

Obviously many people liked this book, so feel free to read it if you like.

Book 26 - When You Are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris

I'm halfway there! Twenty-six books down, twenty-six to go! Of course, it's already the middle of October, but never mind about that. I have three more books already completed and I'm halfway through a fourth, which I'm hoping to finish by the end of the week. In other words, I'm still cranking it out, and although it's going to take some effort at this point, I have every intention of making it to 52 without having to resort to Reader's Digest Condensed Books.

Speaking of condensed literature, I love essays, especially humorous ones. All through the 80's and 90's, and into the new millennium, I could not wait to read Dave Barry's column every Sunday in the Washington Post magazine. Barry now only does the annual "Year in Review" feature, and although I miss him, I love Gene Weingarten's replacement column. I'm also a fan of Twain and Swift, and of P. J. O'Rourke, who despite his conservative pedigree, or perhaps because of it, is one of the best humorists of our time. But one essayist I had never got around to reading was David Sedaris. I had heard him read his essays from time-to-time on "This American Life," the popular storytelling show that airs weekly on NPR, but I had never sat down to read them myself. I had originally put Naked, which I believe is his second book, on my list of potential reads for this project. However, when I saw a hardback version of When You Are Engulfed in Flames sitting in the bargain bin at Border's for four bucks, I knew that would be my introduction to Sedaris' work.

Book 26 - When You Are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris

David Sedaris is a man of extremes. He can take the most mundane experiences and hold the reader rapt with the details. Conversely, he can take the most bizarre people and situations and make them seem human and normal. But no matter which direction he steers the reader, the ride is always funny, albeit uncomfortable, for Sedaris humor has an intensely dark side.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames is Sedaris' sixth and most recent book. His essays are mostly autobiographical, and range from childhood, to his college days, to his current life both here and abroad with his boyfriend Hugh. At first blush it would appear there is a fair amount of embellishment to his tales, but perhaps not as much as one would think. Sedaris channels weirdness, and when he can't find the truly weird, he manages to make everyday life seem weird and interesting.

Some of the tales focus on his youth. In "The Understudy," he and his sisters are forced to endure the substitute babysitter from hell. "Road Trips" recounts his attempts to come out to his friends about his homosexuality, and tells of his virginity's close call with a supposedly straight trucker who picks him up hitchhiking and wants to him to perform sexual favors for him. In "What I Learned" he tells us how he tried to temper his parent's enthusiasm for his attending Princeton by informing them that he is going to major in Patricide.

Other stories focus on his contemporary life. "April in Paris" and "Aerial" take place while he was living in Normandy with his partner, while "The Smoking Section," the book's longest essay, has Sedaris and Hugh moving to Tokyo so he can quit smoking. Perhaps one of the funniest parts of the book is a subsection of "Brother Can You Spare a Tie," an essay on his problems with fashion and accessories, in which he discusses his experience with the Stadium Pal, an external catheter designed so truckers on cross country hauls don't have to stop to urinate. I stumbled across a YouTube link for Sedaris reading this on the Letterman show. I highly recommend taking a moment to check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBdymtyXt8Y

Sedaris' writing is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but if you've got a twisted streak to your sense of humor, you will most likely find him quite hilarious.

BTW - Sedaris has a new book called Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. The Washington Post ran a promotional article about Sedaris and the book last week, and the online version has a video of Sedaris reading from the new book. Here's the link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/03/AR2010100304162.html