Girl With The Dragon Tattoo/Girl Who Played With Fire/Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest

I am usually not the person to rave about book series that have become this popular and most times find myself disappointed after all of the hype.  I admit that I read the Twilight Series just like the rest of the world, but, found myself unamused by about half way through the 4th book.  So, for me to say this is saying something. 

While reading this book series, I found myself losing sleep, skipping meals, and taking a closer look at my Outlook calendar trying to block out time on my schedule.  There just weren’t enough hours in a day for me to finish this series as fast as I wanted to.  When Lisbeth Salander gave me my life back in June of 2010, I felt a huge weight come off of my shoulders, while at the same time feeling empty.  Knowing that there would never be another book about her or Blomkvist (since the author tragically passed away) left me feeling torn. 

I am not even going to try to explain the plot, so, here is the expert’s version from Amazon:
“Stieg Larsson’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.Harriet Vanger, scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, disappeared over forty years ago.  All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth.  He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate.  He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.”

*****/5 stars.  When I have recommended this book to others, I always give a proper warning on this book series.  If you don’t enjoy Law & Order: SVU and you think that the topics are too vulgar for your taste…don’t pick this one up.  I also would tell you that you will not enjoy this book series until you get 200 pages into it.  You will want to put it down, but for all that is holy, DON”T put it down.  I have had friends take several months to get to the 200 page point, and then finish the rest of the series (1500 + pages) within 10 days.  Stick it out and you will find yourself rooting for a very unlikely hero that makes you wonder if revenge should be such an oh-so-delectible feeling.

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Time Traveler’s Wife

While on vacation, I picked up the Time Traveler’s Wife on the recommendation of a friend.  This is a love story is about a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to travel through time, at moment’s notice.  Henry and Claire’ s journey, that initially starts when she is in grade school, is an endearing and portrait of how cruel life can be and how timeless their love truly is.

****/5 stars    If you like sci-fi books or if you are the kind of person that enjoyed Nicholas Sparks for the first five books (before you could guess the plot in 10 pages) I would pick this one up.  The Time Traveler’s Wife is a great vacation book and would suggest picking this one up when you are able to finish within a week or two.  With each chapter being a different year, you really need to have full clarity on where EXACTLY you left off with the last chapter and which character (and age) they left you at. 

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Sushi in So Cal – Toro

While in Cali for work, my coworker and I had the opportunity to go to one of the best sushi restaurants that I’ve been to (to date).  I found it on a whim while staying in Ontario, CA.  All we did was walk up to the sushi bar and tell them what our price range was for dinner and they put together a FEAST that included the best salmon that I’ll probably ever have; the marbling in it was like nothing I’ve ever had.  Here is the link to thier website and I would recommend them to anyone: http://www.torosushi.com/

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