The Reading Room

« first day (182 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (4763 days later) »

TML

04:07

@DForck42 so, did you finish the book?

DForck42

04:37

@TML finished it a while ago

and 2 other books since then

something came up and i didn't get back home in time for the club, but no one else was here

TML

Well, I've only just arrived home from work, so we can talk about it now :)

@DForck42 so, what did you think of the ending?

It was interesting, after reading this I happened to go back and re-read some Piers Anthony s/f, and I was really shocked at how misogynistic his work suddenly seemed to me.

I hadn't read any of it since I was a kid, but the way he portrays women - even when they're nominally the "hero" of the story - is INCREDIBLY hateful.

DForck42

@TML you mean her getting upset about seeing him?

TML

yeah

DForck42

saw it coming

TML

and about him going back to Erica

I really wanted Blomkvist to end up with Lisbeth

I never bought into the character of Erica for some reason

DForck42

04:51

i didn't, i think she could do better

TML

LOL - fair enough :)

DForck42

blomkvist let her be her, but didn't understand her

imho for a relationship to work there's got to be someunderstanding between the two

but yeah, what's his face turning out to be a serial rapist caught me off guard, but i was immediately suspicious of him from the start

TML

I don't know that she's ever going to get a better deal than what BLomkvist offered

Yeah, I suspected Martin right away

DForck42

but i also kept saying to myself "they overlooked something very simple, which if she just ran away?"

TML

See, I never even thought she might still be alive

Didn't even occur to me :)

DForck42

04:55

@TML it's really the only way it could have worked, the way everything was set up

TML

I thought it was going to be the mother and Martin, somehow collaborating

DForck42

i say that because the incident happened at a time of year where, if the body were in one of the cars, it would have smelled too bad to go unnoticed

@TML that never struck me

i always just through martin

mainly because he wasn't talked about much and, really, he was the one that had the most to gain from her disappearance

TML

I figured early on that the Dad was abusing both kids, and assumed the Mom would be in on it too

DForck42

she was slated as the next ceo, but she disappeared and he became it

gottfriend's cabin was hilarious imho

TML

Like with Jaycee Dugard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Jaycee_Lee_Dugard

DForck42

05:00

when he picked up the bible and put it back, in my head i screamed "the bible's the mother effing clue to the random numbers you twat!"

TML

I'm still not entirely sure I understand how the numbers were referencing the bible - something to do with the Pentateuch

DForck42

the pattern was something like [letters][4 numbers]

the letters represented the book or whatever and the numbers represented the page/verse

something like that anyway

@TML that's not a bad question to post on literature

because it was somewhat confusing to follow

TML

Good idea

DForck42

@TML that's kind of the point to this ;)

TML

:) Yeah

I just always have a hard time thinking of what to ask

DForck42

05:08

ok, i can't remember. did martin intentionally kill himself, or was he trying to just lose her and accidentally killed himself?

TML

It's much easier for me to answer

He swerved into the oncoming truck on purpose

DForck42

@TML so he did commit suicide, ok

i kinda want to read the other two books, but i'm working up to the next one

TML

@DForck42 I can't recall, does the book give us Lisbeth's internal reasoning behind destroying the evidence?

Yeah, I'm planning to read the others as well

DForck42

it's definatley not a series i want to read all three of in a row

TML

It's sad he never got to finish the rest - it's said he had planned about 10 books

DForck42

05:11

@TML which evidence? of them being in martin's room?

TML

Of the depth and breadth of Martin's crimes

DForck42

@TML i... don't remember her destroying anything of his other than hiding the fact they were there

and the golf club

TML

Hm - I must have conflated it with something else :)

DForck42

@TML maybe

but yeah, she hid the fact that they were there because she doesn't trust the police, at all

TML

sure, that much I get

I just thought she took/destroyed the register of names he'd been keeping

but looking at the book, I can't find that anymore

DForck42

05:17

@TML ahh

TML

you remember about it something now?

DForck42

@TML nope

don't remember anything about any evidence or register

sure it wasn't in one of the movies?

TML

No :)

I mean to say I'm not certain

DForck42

lmao

TML

I saw the Hollywood movie the day after I finished reading the book, so they are pretty conflated in my mind :)

DForck42

05:21

@TML nice

i've heard good things about the hollywood one

TML

It was well-done

DForck42

i watched the sweedish one, didn't care for it and fel asleep halfway through

TML

You can't call it a "good movie", any more than it was a "good book"

I mean, it's a pretty horrific story, when all is said and done

DForck42

@TML yeah

TML

None of the characters are particularly "heroic", there's some pretty graphic depiction of some pretty dark stuff...

but well done, for all of that, both in the recent movie and the book :)

DForck42

05:22

@TML that's kind of the point ;)

TML

Clearly :)

Do you think Lisbeth was intended to be suffering from Asperger's/ASD, or was it all environmental?

DForck42

@TML mostly environmental

she seemed to value her privacy and her own ideals more than she cared about what others thought

part of the reason why she alwasy shut off or ran away when things got to personal

Stack Exchange

Q: What do you think of these "Variations on sonnets of Shakespeare"

What do you think of these "Variations on sonnets of Shakespeare" www.scribd.com/doc/33056309/Variations-on-sonnets-of-Shakespeare-erotic-poetry

DForck42

i've known a couple of people that could function fine but would shut off if you asked them anything too personal

TML

You're like quick-draw mcgraw with that closure!

DForck42

05:29

@TML ;)

but yeah, i figured that once things got back to normal blomkvist would be with erica again and lisbeth probably would go on her own

sucks that she actually fell in love with him though

TML

Sucks that he ended up back with Erica

She's a rat

DForck42

but life sucks like that

i don't understand he relationship with her husband

i'm sorry, but i don't think i could be married and in love, and be ok with my wife sleeping with another guy

TML

Yeah, that was kind of odd

I put it down to some fundamental cultural difference that I wasn't ever going to be able to bridge

DForck42

another hint that him and lisbeth wouldn't work out was the fact that he had his little fling with whats her face

TML

True

DForck42

05:37

oh, and that he was divorced

well, i'm gonna get off of here

TML

Right on

Thanks!

Stack Exchange

05:53

Q: In "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", what is the relationship between the numbers and the books in the Bible?

There are a series of "codes" discovered in Harriet's journal, as follows: Magda - 32016 Sara - 32109 R.J. - 30112 R.L. - 32027 Mari - 32018 Originally believed to be phone numbers, it is discovered through the course of the book that they are Biblical references. What is the relati...

stieg-larsson bible girl-with-dragon-tattoo

Stack Exchange

06:44

Q: A novel by Hermann Hesse about butterfly

I've read this novel long time ago in my mother tongue when I was a boy, and I'd like to read it in English again. But I cannot find the English title of this novel. Any help? The first person narrator recalled his experience in his youth. He liked to collect butterflies, and one of his friend (...

novels hermann-hesse

11 hours later…

Stack Exchange

18:08

Q: Book Club #4 suggestions

Alright, let's pick a book for the next book club. We'll take whatever the highest book is on February 15th (tie breaker will be sort order on votes) and then meet March 7th. Guidelines: One suggestion per answer List the Author and Title Provide a link to a store to purchase the book online ...