Lisbeth is Life

The 50 semifinalists in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest have been announced and can be downloaded at www.amazon.com/abna

As I expected, only one of the novels that I reviewed made the list. I believe that it is good enough to win but we'll see.

With my role in the Amazon contest over and a lull in manuscripts from Publishers Weekly, I've been sampling some of the books I gave my wife for Christmas and her birthday in January. It's not exactly kosher. She's about 12 months behind in her reading, and I'm enjoying her presents before she does. But, she's a good sport.

I stayed up late recently to finish The Girl who Played with Fire, the second in the late Stieg Larsson's "Lisbeth Salander" trilogy. Usually between April and October, I stop reading at 9:00 p.m. for ESPN's "Baseball Tonight." Last night, I read right through "Baseball Tonight." And, the local news. It's that good.

Larsson, a Swedish journalist who died in 2004, isn't a gifted stylist. But, he's a superb storyteller. He reminds me of the early Tom Clancy in that way. Not only does Larsson tell a compelling story but he has created one of the most intriguing characters in modern fiction in Lisbeth Salander.

Lisbeth defies easy description. I guess one could say that she's an anti-hero. Psychologically damaged, she lives on the margins—or perhaps in the shadows—of society. She's pierced and her wardrobe is recent Goth. She's a world-class computer hacker. She is uneducated but likely a genius. She distrusts authority and takes no prisoners. But, she'll capture your imagination and your heart.

I read the first of Larsson's trilogy, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, last year and enjoyed it. In it Larsson introduces Salander and crusading Swedish journalist Mikael Blomkvist. Together, this unlikely pair solves a decades-old missing-person mystery. Along the way, we learn much about Lisbeth and Mikael, but the focus is on the mystery.

The Girl Who Played with Fire begins several months after the conclusion of the first book. This time, though, Lisbeth is the mystery. Accused of three murders, she goes into hiding while she tries to unravel the mystery. Lisbeth and Mikael's relationship has soured—for reasons unknown to Mikael—but he begins a parallel investigation to clear Lisbeth. Meanwhile, the cops are trying to find her. So is a private investigator who once employed her. And, perhaps most ominously, so are the real bad guys. As it turns out, the solution lies at the nexus between a journalist's investigation into the international sex trade and Lisbeth's rocky past.

The conclusion answers some questions but leaves others—including Lisbeth's well-being—in doubt. I usually don't buy hardback books, but I have pre-ordered the third title in the series (The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) from Amazon. Publication date is May 25. Guess what I'll be doing over Memorial Day Weekend?

A Swedish screen adaptation (with English subtitles) of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will be out on DVD on July 6. Swedish actress Noomi Rapace plays Lisbeth. Check out the reviews at www.metacritic.com

American director David Fincher (Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) is now working on an English-language version of the book and plans are to film the entire trilogy. Early reports hinted that Fincher wanted Carey Mulligan for the role of Lisbeth. Me? I'm thinking Natalie Portman. Or, Kristin Stewart. Or, a long shot admittedly, Keira Knightley.

QUOTABLE

"There were not so many physical threats that could not be countered with a decent hammer."

"Salander felt like a bag of bananas that had been left too long in the sun."

"It proved once again that no security system is a match for a stupid employee."

"'You look like s__t. Like a f__king whore. But you've got my eyes."—Lisbeth's father upon seeing her after 10 years

"'Ronald doesn't have sex with girls. He's not a fairy. He just doesn't have sex.'"

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On a more literary note, I also recently finished Janice Y.K. Lee's excellent debut novel The Piano Teacher. It's a love story—actually two love stories—set in Hong Kong. The stories are set respectively in 1941-2 during the Japanese occupation and in 1952 and unfold in alternating narratives.

The protagonists include British expatriate Will Truesdale and his two (serial) lovers: wealthy local heiress Trudy Liang and Claire Pendleton, the wife of an English civil servant posted to Hong Kong. Truesdale's love affair with Liang does not survive the war. Neither does Liang. The question is whether Claire's extramarital affair with Truesdale can survive his guilt over his failed relationship with Liang.

This is a bittersweet—more bitter than sweet—story of love, courage, survival, and guilt. It's also a vivid portrait of pre-war, wartime, and postwar Hong Kong.

QUOTABLE

"'Wealth can make a woman beautiful.'"

"'Everything to do with women seems counterintuitive.'"

"It's surprising how true personalities shine through after a few weeks of hardship. The missionaries are the worst. They steal food, don't pull their weight with the chores, and complain all the time."

"'Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to. We can't all live in perfect harmony with our integrity.'"

"'People have always expected me to be bad and thoughtless and shallow, and I do my best to accommodate their expectations.'"

"Brute force trumps all in the end."

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Finally—though first in order of reading—I read the delightfully ironic A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick. In frozen northern Wisconsin right after the turn of the (20th) century, wealthy businessman Ralph Truitt advertises in the Chicago papers for a reliable wife. Soon enough, Catherine Land, who represents herself as a missionary's daughter, arrives to marry Truitt.

Nothing is as it seems though. Land is actually a prostitute and takes Truitt's offer in order to slowly poison him. Truitt, however, knows about Land's past, if not her future plans, and doesn't care. He recruits her to help him bring home his prodigal son.

There are more twists and turns here than the Pacific Coast Highway. Hold on tight for a breathtaking ride.

QUOTABLE

"They made love as if someone were watching."

"[Nothing would] restore to him what he had lost, because what he had lost was time and what he had left was rage."

"She realized that her body was her bank; it was all the money she had. It was all she would ever need."

"Living takes time."

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Next time: a report on the final chapter in the Lisbeth Salander saga!