Past list view

So the other day I was sitting and having a little bubbly at The Wine Therapist and I just love this place. So we will meet there at 3:45, thus giving everyone a 15 minute window, we will begin the discussion about 4ish. This is a great book and if you have not read it, no worries, however be warned now, we will discuss the ending as I love this twists and turns of this book, that is after you get past the character development and meet our wonderfully evocative leading lady. By the way the 2nd book by this author is out and I enjoyed it too.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson

This was the authors last book and so very intriguing. Here are a couple reviews to gain your curiosity below:

Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there's no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's">Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. --Dave Callanan

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Cases rarely come much colder than the decades-old disappearance of teen heiress Harriet Vanger from her family's remote island retreat north of Stockholm, nor do fiction debuts hotter than this European bestseller by muckraking Swedish journalist Larsson. At once a strikingly original thriller and a vivisection of Sweden's dirty not-so-little secrets (as suggested by its original title, Men Who Hate Women), this first of a trilogy introduces a provocatively odd couple: disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, freshly sentenced to jail for libeling a shady businessman, and the multipierced and tattooed Lisbeth Salander, a feral but vulnerable superhacker. Hired by octogenarian industrialist Henrik Vanger, who wants to find out what happened to his beloved great-niece before he dies, the duo gradually uncover a festering morass of familial corruption—at the same time, Larsson skillfully bares some of the similar horrors that have left Salander such a marked woman. Larsson died in 2004, shortly after handing in the manuscripts for what will be his legacy. 100,000 first printing.

Cheers!
Tiffany

It's an intriguing mystery, it's on the best seller list and we get to wonder if Ron Howard will being making this into a movie.

Not scary, but intriguing - here is the October reading and if we don't get finished, we can do an encore at the happy hour on Halloween.

This book has more than expected and definitely meets the criteria for "scary." I hope the Prologue wasn't too much for anyone or the first several chapters. Anyway, glad I picked it for Halloween.

Change of date for this book, which should give everyone a chance to read this one. I have been asked what this book is about. I haven't been writing mini reviews about the books as much because I have been too busy.

Remember my book list was about American novelist, realism and our country. This first chapter in this book included a reference to the author's father who was Sherriff in 1948 and who did not ever carry gun on or off duty. He simply did not need it to enforce his duties. The book has a much broader goal and story to tell, but this thought stuck with me.

Remember the list focused on American Novelist and Realism.

This book fits those criteria. You can go online at amazon.com and read the first few pages if you want to check this out before you buy it.

On that point I want to add that while the fact that the Sherriff in rural Montana did not carry a gun way back then (i.e., 1948) struck me. It struck me for entirely different reasons than you might think. Keep in mind the set of books I have chosen aren't about romanticism or idealism - but realism. This passage struck me because I was affirmed in my own conclusion that I had drawn about our citizens being too naive or having the true facts kept from them- which has proven out over the last decade.

In another words, I did not think it was some great world in which everything had been done right the first time. Instead, I was reaffirmed that if people just go along and don't try to understand what is really happening that the results are less than desirable. I think the book proves out that point.

Anyway, food for thought.

As usual, the location will be posted closer to the event.

Since the thing on American authors has gone so well, we’ll be finishing these books up by August 15, 2009, (the last one “Montana 1948”).

Now, as we discussed, the theme is changing for fall.

The first book is one of my favorites: “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.
All I can say is from the Midwest to Tanzania to California to the second highest mountain range in the world K2 – this book is a fantastic view of what can be achieved through individual effort. It also very effectively communicates a foreign culture that we probably all have some interest in at this point.

See you on the August 29, 2009 for this one.

Hey everyone!

I have to reschedule this event. I have been down with something 'icky' with my roommate being sick and my office manager being sick, would'nt you know it I got it. Was not safe at either place.

Fellow Literature and Wine Lovers!

Every once in a while I like to do something special. If all works out we should be graced with two phenomenal speakers.

I’m Tall You’re Not – So That Makes us Even is a short book about Tall women and a GIANT dose of confidence (TomKat Production, LLC). Author and Amazonian Goddesses, Katherine “Kat” Smith takes a humorous look at the challenges and advantages of being a tall woman and her journey to 6’2”. This beauty of a human being has an incredibably infectious smile and laugh with her speedy retorts we will be laughing all day.

As some of you may know I want our group to get involved in a charity. I have found one that has really spoken to my heart and when you hear from this next lovely lady you too will be just as passionate as I have become in getting involved. Go to www.wedchild.org for more information.

As I mentioned above I am still waiting on confirmation from both speakers. So for now save the date check out their websites and hopefully everything will come together for a great event full laughter and compassion.

Cheers!