Date Night

When Craig and I went to Las Vegas in August for my 28th birthday celebration I took with me a book that had come highly recommended by my friend Emily called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Swedish author Stieg Larsson.  I had seen it on several best-seller lists as well as it's two sequels The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest.  Every time I went to Barnes and Noble this trilogy sat on the shelf with it's bright covers taunting me - I would pick up the book, read the back cover and the first page of the first chapter and set it back down.  The story seemed intriguing but yet so......involved and completely out of the "genre" of book that I typically read.  But yet I kept hearing great things about it so I bought it on the cheap at Half Price Books and packed it in my bag for the two-hour flight to Las Vegas.  Once I got past the first chapter which is super boring and just lays out the business foundation for the end of the novel, I was hooked.  I did not put this book down for the remainder of our vacation.  One afternoon while we were staying at the beautiful Encore hotel instead of going downstairs to hang out and spend time with my husband, all I wanted to do was sit up in my room in complete silence and read this book.  And so I did.  For two whole blissfully silent and uninterrupted hours.  It was glorious.  I finished the book while on vacation so at the airport I went ahead and bought the second book in the series and unfortunately I haven't had the luxury of time since then to read as much as I would like.  I'm close to the end so hopefully over Christmas break while the little one is napping, I'll turn off the television, quit worrying about the laundry and settle down with a cup of hot apple cider and finish the second book.....only to have to start the third.

The book is dark, depressing and full of adult themes such as murder, sexual assault and abuse, violence against women, etc.  I'm not sure why I enjoy the series so much - maybe because of the setting (Sweden is a new location to read about) or maybe it's the intricate plot line and well developed (and COMPLEX) characters.  Whatever it is, I love it and that's why I'm so excited about the Hollywood movie version of the book coming out next week.  The trailers for the film have been fantastic and made even more incredible because of the soundtrack created by Nine Inch Nail's Trent Reznor.

I've been waiting for this movie to come out since I finished the book in August and next Wednesday is the day.  Craig and I have our babysitter lined up and we are going to go to dinner and then to the movie and I am absolutely stoked.  I think it will be a movie that he will enjoy as well - lots of mystery and intrigue.  Either way, it will be a lovely way to start our Christmas vacation!