Bundu Reviews

It took me a while but I have finally finished the last in the Stieg Larsson trilogy and in a nutshell – Wow!

A couple of people commented that the third book – The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest – was weaker than the first two books in the series but I completely disagree. The third book in the series wraps up a brilliant story and provides such context for the characters that you find yourself completely immersed and turning the page wondering what other revelations are going to come out.

What starts with an oddball character in Lisbeth Salander rolls out to be a 20-year old government conspiracy which certain members of the Swedish secret police are keen to keep under wraps at all costs. Even murder.

The second book ends with Salander being rushed to hospital in critical condition after being shot in the head by her father – an ex-Russian spy. What then unravels is a variety of parties including the police, a rogue element of the Swedish intelligence community trying, and journalist Mikael Blomkvist trying to piece together the conspiracy.

It is not a quick book to read. It took me twice as long to read this book as it did either of the other two titles.

The style is also slightly different – unlike the other two which were more “action” type reads, the third book focuses on tying the story together. It’s methodical without being boring.

If you are serious about reading then this series is a must.

Title: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest
Author: Stieg Larsson
ISBN: 978-1-906694-17

Rated the book and a series a 5 out of 5. Awesome reads and worth every cent.

You can buy this book  at online retailer Loot for R167. Do yourself a favour and get it!

Want to know which books are hot with the online retailers? As usual on a Sunday we compile lists of some of the bestselling books on offer.

It’s interesting to see that the Stephenie Meyer books have bounced back on the Kalahari listings and the textbooks have also proven popular purchases.

Exclusive Books
1. The Girl who Played with Fire
2. The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest
3. Breaking Dawn
4. New Moon
5. Eclipse
6. Captain in the Cauldron
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
8. Twilight
9. John Platters Wine Guide 2010
10. Outlier

Amazon
1. Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime – John Heilemann
2. The Help – Kathryn Stockett
3. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association – American Psychological Association
4. Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual  – Michael Pollan
5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
6. The Belly Fat Cure: Discover the New Carb Swap System and Lose 4 to 9 lbs. Every Week -  Jorge Cruise 
7. Dear John – Nicholas Sparks
8. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time – Greg Mortenson
9. Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books – Greg Mortenson
10. Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage – Elizabeth Gilbert 

Kalahari.net
1. Eclipse – Stephenie Meyer
2. Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer
3. About Financial Accounting – LexisNexis South Africa
4. Management Principles: A Contemporary Edition for Africa – P.J. Smit; G.J.De J. Cronje; T. Brevis; M.J. Vrba
5. Introduction to business management – J. Strydom; G. du Toit; B Erasmus
6. The Alternate-Day Diet: Turn on Your “Skinny Gene,” Shed the Pounds, and Live a Longer and Healthier Life
7. Twilight – Stephenie Meyer
8. The Girl Who Played with Fire – Stieg Larsson
9. Captain in the Cauldron – Mike Greenaway
10. A Student’s A-Z of Psychology – Kate Grieve; Vasi Van Deventer

Take2.co.za
1.  Street Game – Feehan, Christine
2.  Breaking Dawn – Meyer, Stephenie
3.  Twilight- Meyer, Stephenie
4.  Vampire Diaries, V. 1, Bks. 1 & 2- Smith, L.J.
5.  Vampire Diaries, V. 2, Bks, 3 & 4- Smith, L.J.
6.  Shades of Midnight – Adrian, Lara
7.  Eclipse Meyer, Stephenie
8.  New Moon Meyer, Stephenie
9.  Born of Ice -  Kenyon, Sherrilyn
10.  The Gabriel Method – Gabriel, Jon

This is the follow-up to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and all I can say is “Wow what a read!”.

If the first book is a little slow to get into, this second book starts off on a flyer and doesn’t slow down for the next 560 odd pages.

The reader again meets up with do good journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the psychologically unstable but brilliant Lisbeth Salander.

Salanders bank balance is bulging and she’s been taking some time off as she tours the world before returning to Sweden to take stock of her life unaware that her court appoint guardian is planning some violent revenge.

Blomkvist is working with another young journalist and a researcher on a story about the Swedish sex-traffic problems that is likely to name and shame a number of high-profile people.

Suddenly the journalist and the researcher are shot and killed and Salanders prints are on the gun which killed them and she quickly becomes the most wanted woman in Sweden. But in typical Salander style she doesn’t take this lying down and she goes on the hunt for those who have framed her.

The more that her, Salander and the police dig into the story the more they find evidence of a cover-up which many people are prepared to kill for to keep quiet.

The book ends on an absolutely thrilling and spine-chilling climax and keeps the reader in absolute suspense and looking to get their hands on the final book in the trilogy.

Without a question it is a thrilling read and it ties a lot of the unanswered questions from the previous story together. You find a lot of interesting aspects of the characters starting to emerge and there are twists and turns where you least expect them.

Title: The Girl Who Played with Fire
Author: Stieg Larsson
ISBN-13: 978-1-906694-18-0  

This is one of the best books I have read in a long time and I can comfortably give it a 5 out of 5 rating – provided you had read the first in the series to give yourself the background info.

You can buy this book online from retailer Loot for R107 – well worth it!

Admittedly I have been a little late to this whole Stieg Larsson lark, but as they say: Rather late, than never at all.

A very quick piece of trivia around Larsson – he was a Swedish author and journalist who died in 2004 (Born 1954). This trilogy was the first of his books to

be published in the US and 2009 proved a bumper year for him as these books remained top of the bestsellers lists for much of last year.  It is definately interesting to see how almost five years after his death, the books have finally jumped into the spotlight.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the first in the series and revolves around disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, a young private investigator with many dark secrets.

Blomkvist is asked by a wealthy industrialist to investigate the disappearance of a young girl (his niece) who went missing almost 30 years ago.

Apart from the investigation there are three other key story lines in play – the first being Salanders battle with her own demons, the second being the future of the magazine operated by Blomkvist and partner and finally the relationship which develops between Salander and Blomkvist.

Initially I found the story a little slow going, particularly as the characters were introduced. My wife says that the second book – which she has read – is much quicker and easier to get into .

The other issue for me was that it was the first book I was reading on the Kindle and it did take a bit of getting used to. As the story built itself up though it definately gathered momentum and I found it harder to put the book down.

Initially the writing style was a little difficult to get my head around. There are places where the dialogue comes across as a little stilted and you get the sense that there are some sentences which have literal translations from Swedish to English – the book was tranlsated – but after a while you find yourself getting used to it.

A lot of work was also put into the development of the characters and there is a lot of depth to them. There are no larger than life “American” style characters and that makes them very believable. 

Title: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsson
ISBN: 978-1-84724-545-8

This was probably one of the better reads and I rated it a four and half out of five with just the dialogue thing bugging me. A brilliant read.

You can buy this book online from retailer Loot for R112.

Its the week before Christmas and as usual on a Sunday we gather data from the various online retail platforms to see what books have made the bestseller lists.

Exclusive Books
1. Captain in the Cauldron
2. Eclipse
3. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
4. Breaking Dawn
5. John Platters Wine Guide 2010
6. Twilight
7. Dont Mess with the President
8. The Girl who Played with Fire
9. New Moon
10. The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest

Amazon – books
1. The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown
2. Going Rogue: An American Life – Sarah Palin
3. The Help – Kathryn Stockett
4. Mastering the Art of French Cooking (2 Volume Set) – Julia Child
5. Under the Dome: A Novel – Stephen King
6. Arguing with Idiots: How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government – Glenn Beck
7. SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance  – Steven D. Levitt
8. The Twilight Saga Collection – Stephenie Meyer
9. Have a Little Faith: A True Story – Mitch Albom
10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days – Jeff Kinney

Take2.co.za
1. Born of Ice – Kenyon, Sherrilyn
2. Twilight – Meyer, Stephenie
3. Lover Avenged – Ward, J. R.
4. Eclipse – Stephanie Meyer
5. New Moon  – Meyer, Stephenie
6. The Gabriel Method – Gabriel, Jon
7. Born of Fire – Kenyon, Sherrilyn
8. Eclipse – Meyer, Stephenie
9. New Moon- Meyer, Stephenie
10. Born of the Night – Kenyon, Sherrilyn

Kalahari.net
1. Twilight – Stephenie Meyer
2. Captain in the Cauldron – Mike Greenaway
3. Eclipse – Stephenie Meyer
4. Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer
5. New Moon – Stephenie Meyer
6. The 10 Secrets of 100% Healthy People: Some People Never Get Sick and are Always Full of Energy? Find Out How! – Patrick Holford
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
8. The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown
9. Karoonag En Ander Verhale – Deon Meyer
10. The Girl Who Played with Fire – Stieg Larsson