The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

This is the last book in the Stieg Larsson trilogy though I did hear rumours of an incomplete fourth book. This book ties up the loose ends regarding Lisbeth. * Spoilers ahead*

The second book ended with Lisbeth being shot in the head and taken to a hospital. This book starts at the hospital where Lisbeth and Zalachenko are admitted for recuperation. Their rooms are two doors apart at the ICU and both of them figure this out within a few days.

The book traces the entry of Zala into Sapo. The Special section of Sapo, known only as the Section, takes on the Russian defector. After they offer support, they realize that Zala is a drunkard who abuses women and they have to clean up after him or his identity will be revealed. Zala foolishly gives his real name to Lisbeth's mother, Agneta Solander and then makes it a habit to beat her senseless, whenever he visits. During one of those visits, Lisbeth throws the molotov cocktail at him and watches him burn. The Section works with Teleborian to keep Lisbeth locked up as otherwise all their efforts would come to naught. When the Section is again dragged into the latest goof-up, Evert Gullberg, ex-head of the Section, decides that he has had enough, and kills Zala. The rest of the story is interesting and well-written. Paulo is not a part of this book. Mimi is brought in belatedly, as an afterthought. Erika leaves Millenium and then re-joins. Blomkevist has yet another affair and another woman falls madly in lowe with him. Too many things are happening but I cannot say that the book is uninteresting at any point of time. Maybe a bit slow towards the end but uninteresting - not really.

Wordless Wednesdays -- Whats on my mind Lately ??

The Girl Who Played With Fire

This book is the second one in the Trilogy from Stieg Larsson. Because I really lowed the first book, I was hoping that the second book would somehow be as good or better than the first. Also, I was looking forward to completing the book in record time. Usually, when the main character is a woman, most authors make her out either as an arrogant successful woman or someone downright dumb. It was such a relief that the main character was well-defined (though quite complicated), her quirks and eccentricities did not consist of shopping and gossip, and also that she is not quite the fantasy woman of most males.

This book gives us some insight into Lisbeth Salander's character and her past. At the end of the first book, Lisbeth is broken-hearted, angry, and bitter. This book takes off from there. Lisbeth cuts off all contact with Blomkvist and travels for a year before she returns to Stockholm. She has her share of adventures at various places ending the travel at Grenada with Mathilda - the hurricane. We are also given a peek into what happened so many years ago, how Lisbeth had thrown a molotov cocktail at her father and watched as he burned and as a result was institutionalized. Blomkvist, meanwhile recruits a new investigative journalist who is planning to write an expose` on human trafficing. And just when you are wondering Ok.. now what? The writer who free-lanced @ Millenium, and his partner are murdered. And everyone is looking at Lisbeth as the person who committed the crime(s). Soon, there is a nation-wide hunt for Lisbeth. Blomkvist trusts that Lisbeth is innocent and tries to re-establish contact after Lisbeth goes into hiding. The rest of the book is quite interesting and keeps you engrossed. Quite a few new characters are brought in who have interesting viewpoints on Lisbeth. The book ends wen Blomkvist catches up with Lisbeth as she cracks the case wide-open. I had somehow assumed that the phrase "All the Evil" was used to indicate sexual abuse at the hands of some1 very close, probably her father, but was very relieved that it was not so.

New Look

In an effort to get started on my totally-ignored book reading interest, I changed the look of my blog.

Lets hope it helps me read more and watch fewer movies...

Fyi, started on the "The Girl Who Played with Fire" - PDF version.

Never realized that holding a book in my hand meant so much to me. The PDF version is so not like reading a book. But, it is an option which lets me read and because driving to the library becomes yet another chore, I am glad to have the PDF version. My cousin wants me to get a Kindle. He is totally into audio books. Well, lets see...

Am I the only one having trouble with e-books, PDF versions, etc. etc. ?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

So many ppl have already read this book. My cousins discussed the books till I staged a walkout. Grrr.. After 6 loong months, numerous conversations that had: "Ya, I want to read tht book; No don't tell me the story; Can I borrow your copy?No? Well..; Do you have the first book? No- I do not want the third book;" - I finally picked up the PDF version of the book.

After a loong time, I came across a book where I wanted to know the ending and at the same time did not want the book to end. This book had all the ingredients of a thriller: suspense, an unsolved mystery, a detective who was actually a financial investigative journalist, the girl with the dragon tattoo. Even though the author had quite a few key characters: Blomkevist, Erika Berger, Wennerstorm, Lisbeth Solander, Henrik Vanger, and Harriet Vanger, each of them had a well-etched role. There are two tracks in this story: Blomkevist, while investigating a financial giant, Wennerstorm, publishes an article based on a "trust-worthy" source who disappears and he is charged with libel. As a result, he has to spend 3 months in jail and is fined a huge sum of money. The second track: Henrik Vanger, an ageing member of the Vanger Corporation wants someone to investigate the disappearance or possible murder of his niece, Harriet Vanger. Harriet, before she died, always presented him with a photo frame consisting of a flower. After her disappearance, Henrik continues to receives the photo frames on his birthday. He suspects the murderer of doing this act to make him crazy. He also suspects a member of his large family. The girl with the tattoo, Lisbeth, forms the connection between the tracks.

The book was engrossing, very difficult to put down, and a good read. However, I must point out that it is not a book for all. There is a fair amount of casual sex and quite a few explicit macho-sadistic scenarios. Some of them are scary, painful, and frankly quite disgusting. The author, is quite influenced by an incident that happened to him wen he was fourteen. He witnessed the gang rape of a young girl and was unable to help her.

I saw the movie too, but I rate the book a lot higher than the movie. In fact, I got bored while watching the movie. There are some changes from the book and I did not like the digressions that much.

Lunch at Zoe

After a really looong time, I was meeting with a frend whom I knew and worked with - a loong time ago. We opted to have lunch and a shopping break. The Arien was on a drive to Bheemeshwari with a bunch of other phatphatiya owners. It was the purrfect time to take a break plus no guilt tht I have guzzed the Arien. (I know... I really cannot understand tht guilt thing.)

Anyway, we met at Garuda mall and shopped like mad. The mall had sm arbid singing fest going on and we had to yell on top of tht to be heard. She wanted to have Italian food or a Sizzler and so I settled for Zoe. Zoe is a small restoCafe in Indiranagar that serves yummy food. We had a lot of catching up to do and so we decided to order so tht we cud get started on the catching up. We ordered Loaded skin and Chilli Cheese Fries, first. Between the two of us - we polished it off :D Because we loved the starters so much - we went a lil crazy and ordered a pasta and a sizzler. The pasta was creamy and nice and the sizzler had pineapple which we were amazed at but we simply cud not do justice to the food. We felt so stuffed tht we decided to not have dinner. While I like the pasta served @ Casa Picola, I like to eat out with company @ Little Italy. Zoe, has now been added to tht list -Yeah!

Zoe is not easy on your pocket but is a nice place to sit and talk for hours - no one hurries you out. And you if you like cheese, pasta, and all tht - you will probably like it here. However, be warned, if you want a quick bite so you can head for a movie, or if you are very very hungry, Zoe is not the place for you. They take forever to serve, fill water in your glass, or even give you the bill.

Endhiran -- Finally

So after all the Waaanh(s) and this cannot be happening(s) - we finally saw Endhiran, on Friday. We were late by 5 mts - thanks to the amazing traffic at 8:55 pm. The Arien drove like he was in an F1 race. I spent the entire drive praying. The senior Arien did his best to maintain an outward calm. Anyway, all that was forgotten as soon as we entered the theatre.
** Spoilers ahead**

First, the Good Stuff: I was very impressed with the look that was given to Rajnikanth - all 3 versions. The graphics was mind-blowing for a bollywood movie - pretty impressive. Return of Rajni as the quintessential villain -- superb touch. No punch dialogues - SCORE!! Picturisation of the song - Kadhal Anukkal - nice. A R Rahman - good, not excellent. Ash - looked pretty slim- quite unlike herself in Action Replay. Some unnecessary display of non-existent cleaveage which was not reqd.

The Stuff that was so-so: Actually, the songs sound better without the video. Somehow the picturisation of some of the songs killed the song. The story was quite slow and predictable in bits unlike Shankar's Mudhalvan. The story picks up speed only in the last 40 mts and majority of tht is graphics. Not much of a role for anyone but Rajni saar- thankfully, it was not Dasavatharam.

Absolutely Fantastic Stuff: Rajni as a villain after a really looong time. He is menacing, scary, and absolutely believable as the evil robot. After seeing him play the good samaritan, the poor lil rich boy, the orphaned servant boy, etc etc. in so many of his movies, I find him a boringly nice actor. However, seeing him as a villain again (albeit for a short time) - makes you realize why he is a demi-god and also why so many ppl worship him, are crazy 'bout him. The Arien(s) totally liked his tongue-in-cheek dialogues as the villain, as well. If you are crazy 'bout Rajni films - his recent ones - you may not like this movie much - tho' it is raking in the moolah. This is strictly for folks who are looking for an entirely different experience. However, in all honesty, this movie jes allowed Shankar to re-invent Rajni. And Rajni delivers and how - Thalaivaa Vaazhga!!

This cannot be happening....Waanh

A colleague casually mentioned "Today, I feel like running off @ 4 to catch a movie". It must have been some kind of magic spell 'cos tht idea got stuck in my head. We do not attempt catching movies on weekdays but hey - I was under this spell. I was hoping we cud mayb catch the 9 pm show b'cos the Arien had a conf call @ 7. The Arien agreed. Woohooo!!! The Senior Arien also agreed. Double Woohoo!! The Taurean asked us to go on ahead - Well.. he had already seen the movie - so it was ok. I left work early (Ok Ok-by my standards). So, there we all were - all set to catch a movie on a weekday. And then the Waaanh part: The Arien was unable to book the tickets online. He kept trying till 7 pm and gave up. His call went on till 8 pm and by then I gave up. I felt very blaah when I called the Senior Arien to tell him tht the movie was not hpng. I was very surprised wen he said: "Its actually good - I was feeling very tired. I think I have a headache. Its ok. We can catch it some other day." Thus ended the evening - I spent most part of the evening biting my nails, calling the Arien repeatedly and ... we are not seeing the movie?!!! This cannot be happening - but it did :( Waaaanh -- Do you think this is the Arien's way of ensuring tht we do not catch too many movies?? Grrrr...

On an aside, I started reading "Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" and I am lovin it :)

TS3 from Net and BEB on Thiruttu VCD -- 2 Reviews in 1

This weekend was going to be Movie Weekend. After Dabaang, I thot we had had enuf of movies wen the Arien insisted that we finally watch Toy Story 3. He had dowloaded the movie a long time ago and was dying to watch it. He wanted to get Dabaang out of his head - me thinks. We also had this camera print of the hugely popular - Boss Engira Bhaskaran movie. We caught Toy Story 3 first.

Usually, sequels never have the impact the first story does. You may recall Shrek 4, Hannibal, etc. and so I was actually not too keen on this movie. However, I was in for a surprise. The movie, while continuing as part of the series, goes on to have its own story. Andy was going away to college and his toys are mistakenly given away to a Day Care center. What happens at the Day Care center, how the toys get back to Andy's attic and do they get to stay there - forms the story. I do not want to share too much of the movie except that it lived up to high expectations and some more. I was trying to distance myself from the movie b'cos I felt it wud not meet my expectations - but got pulled into the story. There was no room for any disconnect. Some scenes you shd not miss: Ken and his outfits, Buzz in his spanish avatar, etc. If you have not caught it yet - go borrow, download, and watch the movie. Do not miss it. I wish I had watched it on the beeg screen :(

The next movie that we caught was of course, BEB. Rumoured to be Nayantara's last movie before she got married to namma desi MJ - Prabhu Deva, I thot it may be one of those hyped movies which usually fall flat. After listening to a colleague, I decided it was worth checking it out at least. Firstly, the movie is not a full-length spoof like Tamizh Padam but it has a number of these "spoof" moments which will make you break into a laugh in the middle of a scene. Arya plays the role of a good-for-nothing lad who writes his arrear exams annually and lives a happy-go-lucky life. His tongue-in-cheek performance leaves you in no doubt of his acting skills. Nayan has a role that demands little from her and she delivers. In fact, the actors who play Arya's mother and brother must be commended. The ending falls a little flat with a totally silly climax - but it is ok to watch once. Some scenes not to be missed: meaning of the word "pardon" as stated by Arya's frend, Santhanam, the scene following the wedding of his elder brother etc.

After a looong time, caught some movies that I did not regret watching. Want to catch "Endhiran" - probably next week or the week after tht. Do not want to catch "Anjaana Anjaani" after seeing PC in KKK. The Arien thinks we are watching way too many movies -- I have to agree :(

Dabaang -- A Review

I wanted to see Dabaang when it released. First Day First Show. But, we were at Jaipur at that time. It took us this long to finally catch it. The Arien woke me up saying - "Looks like we may not get the tickets if we jes land up at the theatre so I am booking online." I think I agreed. (Hard to tell at 7:00 am on a Saturday). 10:05 am saw us zipping past traffic in the Phatphatiya and we managed to get parking space and walked in during the National Anthem. Thank God!

And now for the movie: Dabaang is a Sallu movie all the way. Its a total masala movie with a teeny-tiny story-line. Sonakshi looks pretty and holds her own in her debut movie - which is pretty awesome for a newbie. Sonu Sood, as Cheddi Singh is good. The movie survives only on Salman - his aviator glasses - and his charisma. With almost a zero story-line, Salman makes you fall in lowe with his bad-boy image of Chulbul Pandey urf Robinhood Pandey. A case of reel life imitating real life. If you think 'bout it - tht was a very clever idea. Sallu is at his hilarious best in the "Munni badnaam hui" song. Well, I am a fan of Sallu and I was really tired of the terrible movies that he chose to act in. Not that this is a fantastic movie. This movie was completely over the top but I enjoyed very bit of it. The more bizarre the action sequence - the funnier it was. The songs were catchy and I was humming the "Dabang Dabang Dabang" as we left the theatre. Dabaang - it was. Catch it if you wanna have a good laugh.

Khatron Ke Khiladi - Thiguna

Fear Factor has been one of my favorite shows, F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Caroline in the City, being some of the others. I was usually found glued to the TV screen whenever these shows came on during school and college vacations. When I heard that we would soon have our very own Fear Factor - Khatron Ke Khiladi, I was impressed. Akshay as the host, was the perfect choice given that he is known for his action-oriented roles and his love for death-defying stunts. Having said that - I must add that Akshay was not the best of hosts. However, there was an innate simplicity in him that has stood him in good stead. Also, he grew on you.

After seeing the latest show, Khatron Ke Khiladi - Thiguna, with Priyanka Chopra, I feel that Akshay was simply great. Not only is Priyanka absolutely boring and completely unwatchable, she has with her "anchoring skills" made Akshay seem like a Demi-God. (Don't believe me? Catch the show). Don't even get me started on her outfits or her "filmy" expressions. She totally lacks spontaneity and that is surprising because she is known to have a bubbly, cheerful personality. At times, she is so blunt - the celebrities are taken by surprise. And, then there are times wen she forgets that she is the host and goes "eeee-yuck" or "Ohhh". If thats the bubbly, girlie behavior - well, the less said the better.

So, if I am so fed up - why am I still glued to the show?The celebrities, of course. Rahul Bose, Rahul Dev, Milind Soman, Karan Singh Grover, Cyrus Broacha, Terence Lewis, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Dino Morea, Manjot Singh ... to name a few. If you are a regular viewer, you may notice that the third level is indeed tougher but then the celebrities are also known for their fitness. The show shd have been great but thanks to PC, it is just about OK. This is only my opinion. If you disagree, drop me a comment.

The Lost Symbol

Robert Langdon, arrives at Washington DC, at Peter Solomon's request to be the key note speaker, at a private gala. When he reaches the Hall, where he is supposed to give his speech, he is shocked to see that no one is there. The hall is empty, save for a few casual observers. The security guards are completely unaware of the event and this leaves Robert puzzled. Then, he recieves a call from Peter Solomon's executive assistant, who had actually initiated the discussion and confirmed the plan. Robert explains that there is no one at the Hall, and it does not look like anyone is aware of the gala. The executive assistant replies, "Peter Solomon has no idea that you are here. You are here, Mr. Langdon, because I want you here."

So starts the book.. Actually, all of this happens in the first 10 chapters that also contain detailed descriptions of Washington DC, the landmarks, etc., typical of Dan Brown. This is the latest offering from Dan Brown, and it totally falls short of my expectations. I feel that the book started off interestingly enough but failed to capitalize on any of the interesting bits.

I thot Da Vinci Code was a good book because it combined a murder, cryptic clues, a thrilling chase, an intelligent professor, with some information that some ppl considered anti-christ. I think the fact that we were not aware of that information and the subsequent controversy, helped increase the sale of the book. But, I doubt if the controversy was the reason the book was popular.

Now, in this book, while he has most of the same concepts, the moment you figure out the truth and this is way before the author reveals the truth to you, you get bored. Then, your patience gets stretched as he tries to show you something more which you either already know or when you get to know it, you are not too impressed. I was wondering where he was going after the murder and kept reading, only to be truly disappointed. I had a lot of expectations riding on both these books, and I am now :( Any suggestions for a book that does not disappoint?

Nine Dragons

Michael Connelly is one of my favorite authors. I never seem to have enough of the main character, Bosch. I usually re-read most of the books over and over again. Sadly, this is one of those books, I did not like as much. *Spoilers Ahead*

In this book, Nine Dragons, Harry has had enough of his partner, Iggy, and is contemplating if he shd ask for another partner when they are pulled into a case. The case involves a robbery which also resulted in the murder of the man behind the counter, accidentally or so it seems. The clues they notice point them away from the accidental "murder" theory. First, the missing tape that recorded the robbery/murder. This pointed to the murderer having prior knowledge of the shop, the camera, and the tapes. Second, just behind the counter, slightly above it, sat a shelf containing very expensive alcohol which was untouched. Third, there was a gun taped to the under-side of the counter which the victim would have reached for if he was suspicious. He had not. Because the victim was someone who had offered Sanctuary to Harry at a time when it was very dangerous to be a cop and to be outside, Harry feels he has a debt to be repay and takes on the case with full enthu. After some very quick jumps, Harry with the help of another detective from the Asian Crimes Unit, catches the person who they think has committed the crime (murder of the shop-owner). Everybody including Harry, have doubts regarding the criminal. I, too had some doubts if he was indeed the person who killed the shop-owner. In fact, I felt that Harry was botching up the case big-time because he seemed to have taken major leaps from very basic clues. Amidst this, he receives a phone threat. When he checks his phone, he notices that the message sent by his daughter is actually a video clip. She has been kidnapped.

While it is racy and gripping until the kidnapping, somehow after the kidnapping of his daughter, the book does not do justice to either the kidnapping or the rescue. I was left feeling very blaaah. I am not sure if it is because of the movie, Taken, that handles a similar scenario, of a detective father going in search of his kidnapped teenage daughter. The movie was very very good and somehow I feel that the comparison did not work in the book's favor. Also, I think we all had harboured a hope that Eleanor and Harry would get back together at a later date, and so by killing her, the book evokes "You cannot do that. You did?? Oh come on!" reaction. Somehow that the daughter could actually play such a prank on Harry was a major shocker. All in all - I would rate the book 2.8 out of 5. Do you think I am over-reacting? Read the book and let me know :)