2010 Reading Challenge Block

So it's been a few weeks since I've finished a book.  I'm about a month behind in my reading challenge for 2010.  I hope after I feel moved in and my parents leave (they came down to help me move and I'm not wishing they would leave sooner) I'll be able to pick it back up.  I have 4 books I wanted to read.  The list keeps growing with every book blog I read. I'm still hoping for 50 in 2010.

Books I am reading or want to read:















1. Magic Kingdom for Sale. Sold!
One of my co-workers recommended this book to me.  Since we have similar tastes in most things I thought I would give it a try.  It's more fantasy style than I normally read, but so far so good.


2. MockingJay
My awesome friend Chris got me the Hunger Game series for my birthday this past week.  I read Hunger Games and Catching Fire earlier this year (but will be reading again) and I since I finished I have been looking forward to this book.  I may start with this one when I begin again.


3. One for the Money
I've been hearing about the Stephanie Plum series all year and it sounded interesting.  I finally bought it for my Kindle and am about 6 chapters in. I really like it!


4. Living Dead in Dallas
I really want to read the all of the Sookie Stackhouse books, but I'm having trouble getting into this one... and it's only the second book.  I think I trouble stems from  True Blood.  When a book is transformed into a movie or tv show I like to read the book first.  I know the novels are different from the show and as I read this book I keep comparing it to the show and trying to remember what happened into compared to the book.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Jones Soda

The last thing I need is more stuff to clutter up shelves, but these are awesome and I want them. 

[caption id="attachment_395" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Jones Soda Buffy edition"][/caption]

 

Wouldn't they look so nice next to my Buffy boxed set?  (And they are limited edition!) You can order them at the Jones Soda website.  Feel free to gift me a set.

Quick Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I don't know if this book can really be reviewed quickly, but here I go...

Even though this wasn't my typical type of novel I enjoyed it.  To be honest it took me awhile to get into it.  The first few chapters seem so scattered and individual... it wasn't too interesting.  I told myself it was all for character development, since it's a trilogy, and I believe I was right.  Once the story really gets started it takes off.  The story telling is done in such a graphic way at some points that leads me to give you this advice: when you get near the middle don't eat dinner and read like I did. :p  Here is a brief synopsis from the author's website:

Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomqvist is hired by Henrik Vanger to investigate the disappearance of Vanger’s great-niece Harriet. Henrik suspects that someone in his family, the powerful Vanger clan, murdered Harriet over forty years ago.
Starting his investigation, Mikael realizes that Harriet’s disappearance is not a single event, but rather linked to series of gruesome murders in the past. He now crosses paths with Lisbeth Salander, a young computer hacker, an asocial punk and most importantly, a young woman driven by her vindictiveness.
Together they form an unlikely couple as they dive deeper into the violent past of the secretive Vanger family.

One thing that I don't think helped was reading the book via my Kindle.  The Vanger family is quite large and there is a family tree in the beginning of the book that I couldn't skip to easily (though right now I realized that maybe I could have set a bookmark for future reference).  My small brain had trouble remembering who was who, but it didn't seeem to really matter.   The story is not only about the Harriet Vanger mystery, but also goes into a scandal that Mikael is involved in.  To me, it was like two different stories... though the scandal is what allows Mikael to become part of the Vanger family mystery.  I don't want to give anything away, but once you get into it the story is compelling and difficult to put down (even though I read it over a three weeks).  I'm really looking forward reading the second book.