Recent Reads

The last five books I’ve read were written by non-American authors.

I almost wrote “un-American” and that definitely doesn’t convey the correct meaning.

I alternated reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy by Stieg Larsson, a Swedish author, and a two-book series by Irish author, Tana French.

At first, I was a little hesitant to read the Dragon Tattoo books because they have been translated from a foreign language. I don’t have anything against foreign novels. It’s just that I’ve only had 50/50 luck with translated novels. Sometimes the translation is flawless and sometimes it’s laborious. Larsson’s books were very well done.

Another reason I hesitated is because the books are so HUGELY popular at the moment. I was concerned that the Dragon Tattoo would be another DaVinci Code. Rather pedestrian and written for the masses. I’m pleased to report that it was neither.

Tana French’s novels In The Woods and The Likeness are both set in Ireland and surround murder mysteries. I really like French’s writing style. She requires the reader to be intelligent. French’s books like Larsson’s are exciting and are difficult to put down.

I only have one gripe about Tana French… I don’t care for the way she ends her stories. All through her novels she alludes to something supernatural at large but it never manifests. The reader is more or less left to think that it was all in the character’s imagination. The author leaves a big gaping hole at the end of the story. I don’t expect a neat, pretty package tied up with a bow but I do enjoy a little bit more closure.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading the novels by both authors. I was absorbed by them. After reading a couple of the books written by European authors I started to notice different things culturally.

For example, if the novels are an accurate representation, then the Irish and the Swedish smoke and drink way too much. Or it could just be that Irish and Swedish policemen and reporters do.

While reading Larsson’s trilogy I really wished that I drank coffee. It seemed that all the characters drank an enormous amount of coffee and ate tons of sandwiches. They were either, making coffee, drinking coffee, making more coffee, or stopping at a café for coffee. Then there were the sandwiches with lots of cheese and pickles. Meatballs and ligonberry sauce didn’t even get a mention until the third book!

The big difference in these Irish and Swedish books from American books?

The attitude towards guns.

In these books the characters’ attitudes towards guns is so different than that of an American. The guns are not only illegal they are viewed as taboo and treated as such. It seemed as if a person touched a gun others around him would run away for fear of catching cooties.

I realize that Americans’ right to bear arms is a unique freedom in this world. But the fact that I picked up on the different attitude in these non-America novels makes me wonder if we’re too desensitized to firearms. I don’t intend to open a can of worms because I don’t care to discuss controversial topics on my blog but I thought this was worth mentioning. I read five excellent novels in the past month and this is the message that has stuck with me.

All of the books above are worth reading. I will warn you that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has sexual violence in it. My Sweetie and I watched the Swedish film a couple of weeks ago and a particular scene is in the movie as well. By the way, it’s difficult to knit while watching a movie with subtitles. The really good news that an American version of the film is being made with Daniel Craig as the leading man. That’s definitely on my list to see.