Saturday, May 8, 2010

Books, Target, and a Pleasant Surprise

I love reading and I'm pretty non-discriminating when it comes to genres. My tastes tend to run to historical fiction (I was reading Philippa Gregory's work before The Other Boleyn Girl took off at the box office), with an occasional dabble in fantasy a la the Twilight saga and Harry Potter.


I most recently listened to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson on CD, which was a new experience for me. I wouldn't recommend foreign books on audio - especially one that required a genealogy in its printed form - if you've never listened to audiobooks before.

But I digress...The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was printed posthumously. The story line is fascinating and full of ups and downs, which often kept me in the car until I had reached an acceptable stopping point. The day before the CDs were due, I listened to the discs at work while processing gifts and upon arriving home listened until the very end. And the end pissed me off. Days later I was still enraged.

(Did I mention I get emotionally invested in the books I read?)

Fast forward half a week to today. The DH is backpacking with some friends (why I didn't go is fodder for another post), so I have a day and a half to myself. I went to Target and browsed for awhile and soon found myself in the book aisle.

(I should disclose at this point that I have not bought a book - with the exception of Make it Fast, Cook it Slow, which is my lifeline - for myself in ages, the result of an enlightening conversation with a friend about how much money we spent on books versus how much we pay in taxes coupled with the fact taxes pay for libraries. With her amazing deduction, my friend had already opted to use the "free" public resource instead of buying books and when I learned how close the townhouse we were moving into was going to be to the library I didn't have an excuse not to use it.)

Despite my change of heart towards buying books, I still peruse book stores and book aisles. Target has a history of introducing me to some of my all-time favorite books and authors (including Philippa Gregory), so it especially holds a special place in my heart. (I know, gag.) What happened today, however, must have been fate.

While glancing over the end cap books on sale - most of which are currently being made into movies and/or I have placed a hold on at the library - my eyes fell on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo sitting on a shelf next to another Larsson book titled The Girl Who Played with Fire. Some what interested, though still perturbed by the ending of his first book I read, I picked it up and immediately recognized the names of the characters. I was even more amazed to learn there is a third book: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Larsson turned all three manuscripts in prior to his death as The Millennium Trilogy - which is why it seemed there should be a sequel to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. (The end of the book would not have been so bad had I any hope there was a follow-up book.)

The best news of all? The library has them in stock.

2 comments:

Mrs. Mootz said...

I have never heard of those books. But now I'll have to check them out :)

george rede said...

Two things, Nike.
1. I love the look of your blog. Very stylish and super easy to navigate.
2. I'd never heard of Shelfari but I just signed up. Looks pretty cool.