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Title: Mrs. Darcy's Dilemma Author: Diana Birchall Genre: Historical fiction Rating: 7/10 # pages: 212 Date read: March, 2008

Review: In this sequel to "Pride and Prejudice" we are introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Darcy 25 years later. They now have three children of their own: the youngest, Jane, takes after her namesake and aunt, Henry is the image of his father, but unfortunately Fitzwilliam, the elder son and Darcy's heir, is a bit too much like his aunt Lydia for his parents' liking. This becomes all too apparent when Mrs. Darcy invites Lydia's daughters to come for a visit, and Fitzwilliam looses his heart to the elder, thus embarking on a scandal that will upset the entire family.

While amusing, the plot unfortunately offers little new to the reader, who'll be able to guess the ending at a very early stage. Instead the strength of the novel lies in Diana Birchall's writing style. She has studied Jane Austen's writing closely, and her fidelity to this style - in both words and plot - enables her to cross the line between "fanfiction", and a novel worthy of being a sequel to one of the great classics. The characters are exactly as I remember them - which is almost a shame in the case of Lydia, as she is precisely as intolerable as always, making me occasionally want to put away the book in disgust over her behaviour. Elizabeth is as kind as ever, and while ardent admirers of Mr. Darcy will regret that he makes such a small appearance, when he does show up on the pages, he is exactly the loving husband loyal readers expect him to be.

I seldom read sequels written by a different author, as I fear nobody will be able to do the original author justice. This is especially the case with my favourite authors, and I was therefore somewhat reluctant to start this book, but had not turned many pages before I saw that Diana Birchall had managed to do what I deem most important in any sequel - she had managed to capture the spirit of Jane Austen. For that alone I could easily forgive her the predictability of the novel, and enjoy it for what it was - a loving homage to one of England's greatest writers.

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Title: Pigen der legede med ilden (The Girl Who Played with Fire) Author: Stieg Larsson Genre: Suspense Rating: 5/5 # pages: 639 Date read: March 2008, Jan 2011

Michael Blomkvist from Millennium has gotten hold of a hot scoop. The Journalist Dag Svensson and his girlfriend, researcher Mia Bergman, have found revealing information about an elaborate sex-trade between East Europe and Sweden.

Lisbeth Salander's dark past rears its ugly head once again, and she determines once and for all to punish those who deserve it. Michael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander cross paths once more.

I haven't read a book this quickly since "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

The sequel to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and just as good as the first one. Well written, well researched and impossible to put down. The only thing I missed was a bit of a conclusion at the end, but rumour has it that will come in the last book in the trilogy, which makes sense as this one tied up some lose threads from the first book as well. I can't wait to get my hands on the last one.

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Title: Matilda Author: Roald Dahl Genre: Childrens Rating: 9/10 # pages: 230 Date read: March, 2008

Summary: Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she's knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she's a super-nerd and the teacher's pet. But everything is not perfect in Matilda's world. For starters she has two of the most idiotic, self-centered parents who ever lived. Then there's the large, busty nightmare of a school principal, Mrs. ("The") Trunchbull, a former hammer-throwing champion who flings children at will and is approximately as sympathetic as a bulldozer. Fortunately for Matilda, she has the inner resources to deal with such annoyances: astonishing intelligence, saintly patience, and an innate predilection for revenge.

Review: I was first properly introduced to Roald Dahl when I lived in New Zealand in 1990. My teacher read his books aloud in class, and they were the perfect difficulty for somebody like me, whose English vocabulary wasn't too big, and as they are also wonderfully crazy I loved them from the start. I've read them frequently over the years, and fortunately they are books that age well. Matilda is one of my favourite, probably because it's so easy to relate to her. Besides, magic always appeals :-)

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Title: Kalle Blomkvist lever farligt (Kalle Blomkvist Lives Dangerously) Author: Astrid Lindgren Genre: Childrens Rating: 8/10 # pages: 195 Date read: March, 2008

Summary: The Red Rose (Sixten, Benka and Jonte) and the White Rose (Anders, Eva-Lotte and Kalle) have once again declared war. However, this time the friendly war leads them directly on the path of a muderer. Once again, the Master Detective Blomkvist has to spring to action.

Review: Yet another book that I loved as a child, but this one fully stood the test of time. Astrid Lindgren knows how to write books that are fascinating to children and charming to adults. I also have this book to thank for teaching me a secret language! (sort of like Pig Latin, but slightly more complicated to understand).

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Title: Robin Hood Author: Unknown Genre: Classics Rating: 4/10 # pages: 201 Date read: March

Summary: Deep in Sherwood Forest, the legendary Robin Hood-the brave, good-humored outlaw- proves himself the best in England with his bow. Here are all the exciting tales of how Little John, Will Scarlet, Alan a Dale, and Friar Tuck joined his merry band of men...Robin Hood's breathtaking escapes from his arch enemy, the Sheriff of Nottingham...and one hilarious escapade after another, filled with quick action, scheming villains, and great surprises. Days of old bursting with pageantry, knights, and beautiful maidens return in a superb classic story

Review: To my great disappointment I have to say I finished this out of stubbornness and nothing else. It was badly written, boring and repetitative. A huge disappointment to somebody like me who grew up on the Disney and 1939-movies, had my first crush as a 3-year-old on their version of Robin Hood and was looking forward to reading the book behind the movie. A waste of time. I may read Howard Pyle's version at some point, but right now I'm not rushing to do so.

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Title: Mænd der hader kvinder (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) Author: Stieg Larsson Genre: Suspense Rating: 10/10 # pages: 556 Date read: March 2008

The retired director for the Vanger concern, Henrik Vanger, hires Mikael Blomkvist, journalist at the periodical Millennium, to write his biography. Blomkvist reluctantly accepts the job and as an assistant he hires Lisbeth Salander, a tattoed, pierced young lady who's been declared incapable of managing her own affairs, and who just happens to be a fantastic researcher and the best hacker in Sweden. Together they dig deep into the Vanger family's past and there meet a darker story than any of them had ever expected.

Though more than 500 pages I read it in less than 24 hours. I simply couldn't put it down. I read until far too late last night, and got up early this morning for the sole purpose of reading a bit more before having to leave for church. The plot is fascinating, uncompromising and horrifying, but the masterpiece is Stieg Larsson's way of expressing this plot, and the characters that he brings forth. It is not easy reading, and many of the details are just disgusting, but once you pick up the book, it's impossible to leave it until the last page is read.

Reread in 2010. I still think it's an amazing book, but this time I was really surprised to see how slow it actually is. I didn't remember that at all from my first read, but the first 8 chapters are pretty much just background. The story quickly picks up after that, but I understand how some people might give up before they got to that point.

But still a terrific book!

Title: Diary of a Young Girl Author: Anne Frank Genre: biography, ww2 Rating: 8/10 # pages: 237 Date read: March, 2008

Summary: This vivid, insightful journal is a fitting memorial to the gifted Jewish teenager who died at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, in 1945. Born in 1929, Anne Frank received a blank diary on her 13th birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Her marvelously detailed, engagingly personal entries chronicle 25 trying months of claustrophobic, quarrelsome intimacy with her parents, sister, a second family, and a middle-aged dentist who has little tolerance for Anne's vivacity. The diary's universal appeal stems from its riveting blend of the grubby particulars of life during wartime (scant, bad food; shabby, outgrown clothes that can't be replaced; constant fear of discovery) and candid discussion of emotions familiar to every adolescent (everyone criticizes me, no one sees my real nature, when will I be loved?). Yet Frank was no ordinary teen: the later entries reveal a sense of compassion and a spiritual depth remarkable in a girl barely 15. Her death epitomizes the madness of the Holocaust, but for the millions who meet Anne through her diary, it is also a very individual loss.

Review: Again an important book about World War 2. Very well written - I kept forgetting it was a real diary and not a fictionalized account of their lives. However, this time around I also found it a very depressing read, because from the very begining you know (well, I did anyway) that Anne doesn't survive the war. I would have been interested in hearing more about what happened after the end of the diary, but I guess there's not much documentation on that.

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Title: Evacuation Plan: A novel from the hospice Author: Joe M. O'Connell Genre: Fiction Rating: 6/10 # pages: 182 Date read: March, 2008

Review: Aspiring script writer Matt visits a hospice in order to gather inspiration for his great play. Spending the days getting to know the people staying there, Matt realized the hospice is full of stories, for anybody who cares enough to sit down and listen. From the lady whose sister ran off with a circus artist (or wanted to, anyway) to the old man who was just hoping to be reconciled with his children before he left this earth, Matt talks to them all, asking them what was their best experience in life, and hearing the stories they just have to get off their chest, before it's too late.

The idea behind Evacuation Plan is brilliant. Joe O'Connell works from the theory that "everybody has a story to tell", and the reader is left with the knowledge that this is without a doubt true. The book changes focus constantly with the chapters being told alternatingly from Matt's point of view, and from the view of one of the people at the hospice.

The main thread running through all the stories is death and how to cope with it, but this is not a strong enough connection to get the stories linked together properly, and Evacuation Plan ends up feeling more like a book of short stories with a common theme, than like a full novel. This doesn't make the book any less worth reading, but it is always an advantage for the reader to know what to expect, in order not to be disappointed by the number of lose threads left hanging.

Though dealing with a sober subject, Joe O'Connell manages to be neither to somber nor engage in too much gallows humour. Death is faced unapologetically and straight forwardly which is a very refreshing change from books that tend to either shy away from the subject, or wallow in it.

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Title: The Princess and the Goblin Author: George MacDonald Genre: Classics Rating: 7/10 # pages: 167 Date read: March, 2008

Summary: The Princess and the Goblin is the story of the young Princess Irene, her good friend Curdie--a minor's son--and Irene's mysterious and beautiful great great grandmother, who lives in a secret room at the top of the castle stairs. Filled with images of dungeons and goblins, mysterious fires, burning roses, and a thread so fine as to be invisible and yet--like prayer--strong enough to lead the Princess back home to her grandmother's arms, this is a story of Curdie's slow realization that sometimes, as the princess tells him, "you must believe without seeing."

Review: As a sweet fairytale it's a book I'd have loved to have read aloud as a child, so I'm going to try to remember that for when I have kids of my own. While there were also aspects for an adult to enjoy, I think the book still needs the nostalgic charm of childhood to fully bloom. The sequel seems to be more of the same, so while I'll probably read it eventually, I'm in no great hurry to do so right now.

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