The Bloggerhood of the Traveling Book Tour

The tale of the Bloggerhood of The Traveling Book (in case none of you are familiar with it), more or less goes as follows:

Unfinished Person (aka Unfinished Rambler or, “UP/UR” for short - he really needs to pick one name or stay on his meds, or something), sent the “Book” to Quirkyloon who forwarded it to Boom Boom Larew (aka Cat Lady Larew – again with the names?) who posted it to nonamedufus and then, finally (via conch-mail) it reach me.

And so the torch has been passed.

The “Book” to which I refer is The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson. It’s the second book of the Millennium Series – a trilogy about the trials and tribulations of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist (aka “Kalle f*cking Blomkvist” - really? What’s up with the names already?? Oy!)

So, at the suggestion our resident schizophrenic (that would be UP/UR’s suggestion), we came up with the brilliant idea for each of us to write our own review of the book in question. Hence, the Bloggerhood of the Traveling Book Tour was born. In succession, the reviews are as follows:

Unfinished Person - Monday

Quirkyloon - Tuesday

Boom Boom Larew - Wednesday

nonamedufus - Thursday

00dozo - Friday (you are here)

Egad! It is now my turn to hand in my review. I wasn’t sure what to write. Having read the previous reviews of my predecessors (who have each done a fantastic job), I felt a bit daunted by this task. So, here it is:

The Girl Who Played With Fire

by Stieg Larsson

What can I say about Lisbeth Salander that hasn’t already been said. She is a definitely unique heroine but not so much of a heroine in the true sense of the word. She does not seek out those in need of help but, as a victim of great injustices herself, Lisbeth’s own twisted set of morals dictates who, why and how someone must suffer her unique methods of punishment, whether or not she likes or even knows the victim. This is a woman into whose cornflakes you do not piss.

Ah, Blomkvist – again, what can I say? He’s not a womanizer, but a charmer of women. His character offsets the theme of abuse and degradation of women by the other male characters in this story. He is humble and honest but a very determined journalist – a man into whose coffee you do not put milk if it is supposed to be espresso. Although, from his description (and despite his carnal tendencies), I wouldn’t kick him out the bed for eating kex*.

The book itself is full of it: intrigue, corruption, violence, many surprises, characters you love to hate, characters you hate to love, a lot of coffee and sandwiches, among other things. It even has some ‘naughty bits’.

Since no one has mentioned it, this book (as well as all three in the Millennium Series) has been translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland and I think he is worthy of a special shout-out. (“Hey Reg! How’s it hangin’?) They are wonderfully translated and very easy to read.

The trilogy consists of:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played With Fire

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornest’s Nest

If you haven’t already, please visit the other reviews for their take on the book and a bit of additional information of the Millennium Series.

I hope that Reffie, the latest recipient of this book, will proffer her own review. If not, it’s always open for the next reader.

*kex: crackers

(Post publishing edit:  I forgot to provide a link to Reffie's blog - it's there now (sorry Reffie!))

The Bloggerhood of the Traveling Book (Chapter 5)

Firstly, let me apologize in advance for this creatively mediocre post - not that my posts are all that creative, or not mediocre for that matter - but I am suffering from a head cold gifted to me from a friend from Canada. I only picked him up at the airport for christssake! A mere ten minute drive from the airport to his place and - WHAM! - I was down and out for the count late Sunday afternoon. I will forgive him, though, since he brought me a couple of Cadbury's Caramilk bars, which I will not eat until my taste buds return to normal. It's torture, I tell you!  Torture!

So, I am feeling out of sorts: my brain feels like it is having an out of body experience.

But I am digressing, sneezing, coughing and moaning.

It all started this past summer - I'm guessing in June or July - when Unfinished Person (a.k.a. and/or formerly known as Unfinished Rambler - and who I think may be suffering from an unfinished identity crisis ;-) sent a book to Quirkyloon (who is still Quirkyloon and quirky - in a nice way, of course ;-). After reading it, Quirkyloon offered the novel to the first person brave enough to e-mail her his or her actual mailing address! "Daredevil" Boom Boom  (formerly known - but may still be known as -  CatLadyLarew, who has oneofthelongestURLblogaddressesI'veeverseen, and also appears to be suffering an identity crisis  ;-)  received the book from Quirkyloon.

Boom Boom thought that the passing of the book to others was such a novel idea that she decided to keep this readership going and coined it, "The Bloggerhood of the Traveling Book".  From Boom Boom, the book made its way to nonamedufus (who I've recently nicknamed, "Sir Punsalot" merely because he does and is a master at it ;-) and lives in Canada, more specifically, from *farts* Quebec.  After answering a simple question - okay, I admit I was wrong on my first guess - the book made it to me.

The title in question is, "The Girl Who Played With Fire" by Stieg Larsson, and is the second of a trilogy.

I now have the privilege of being part of this Bloggerhood book club and the honour of passing this novel to anyone else who is interested in joining. As I said, this is the second book of a trilogy, but I think its story stands on its own so it isn't absolutely necessary to read the first.   It's an exceptional read.

So, without further ado, I'll send it to the first person who can decipher this acronym:

BOS 

• Hint #1: It's what I feel like with this head cold. 
• Hint #2: It's what a mischievous kid (and possible future arsonist) would leave on the porch of a nasty neighbour.

If you don't want to join, comments are still welcome!  But, just think ...

(My web cam shot of the inside cover.  What?? I'm lazy and ill - sue me.)