The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This book was just okay; I'm not planning on reading the rest of the series. I don't really understand why it's so popular, to be honest--unless because it's one of those murder/mysteries?



I feel as though the whole mystery was wrapped up too fast; combine this with a lot of financial lingo and weird sex violence and there you have the story!



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House Rules by Jodi Picoult

House Rules by Jodi Picoult


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was okay; I liked it better than her previous book Handle with Care. I'm a bit disappointed that her novels seem to be becoming formulaic; a handful of them seem to share:

-main issue--something to do with a kid
-marital strife/divorce/affair
-parent falls in love with detective/lawyer/opposing party
-non-main issue kid has some sort of issue of his/her own that gets ignored
-turn of events at the end for a 'surprising' ending

Based on these observations, it might seem like I don't like her as an author, but that's not right; I do like her, but I think I may need to stick to her older books. Of hers, I have read:

-House Rules
-Handle with Care
-Change of Heart
-Nineteen Minutes
-The Tenth Circle
-My Sister's Keeper
-Keeping Faith
-The Pact


The first book of these that I read was My Sister's Keeper, which I picked up on a whim soon after it came out. My favorite one, however, was The Pact, followed by Change of Heart and The Tenth Circle (although that one had parts that irritated me).

I think it's kind of interesting how she takes a societal issue and makes a story around it; it gives a voice to the 'other side' I suppose.

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Blindness by Jose Saramago

Blindness by José Saramago


My rating: 1 of 5 stars
While driving in his car, a man suddenly goes blind. This blindness isn't the "normal" kind; rather, he "sees" white instead of darkness. As more and more cases like his pop up, the government decides that a quarantine in an old mental institution is the answer. However, the quarantine doesn't work...everyone (in the entire world?) loses their site and society falls apart.

This might have been a good book, but it is a grammatical nightmare. Saramago must have felt that neglecting to use any sort of structure in this book would provide the reader with the feeling of chaos--the same sort of feeling the characters are feeling. All I felt was frustration. None of the characters even had names.

If someone were to rewrite it using even some rules of grammar, this book would have been much more enjoyable.

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