The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

After starting and stopping this novel no less than four times, I finally finished it. It took about 100 pages for me to actually get involved with the characters simply because there are SO MANY characters. Being the first book of a series, I understand why so much is presented so early, but it was still frustrating and confusing for me. The financial scandal and the journalism issues weren't really that interesting to me, despite my interest in journalism. The mystery, the disappearance of a young girl in the 1960's is what's interesting, and once that story line becomes the focus, it's a race to the finish. I'm not sure I'm interested in Lisbeth Salander to continue the series, but I may pick it back up. I'm hoping there's another cool mystery--if there's not and I discover that after 100 pages, I'm done!

Tangled

Tangled by Carolyn Mackler


A girl-next-door with normal self-esteem problems, an Upper East Side princess with a professional modeling and acting career, a popular jock, and a computer nerd--a Breakfast Club collection of teenagers whose lives become "tangled" after a Caribbean vacation. Mackler was fantastic with The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, but her latest isn't up to par. The characters are all cookie cutter and the big issues--Depression and death, are handled as lightly as if they were well, not actual matters of life and death.

Perhaps I'm too harsh on YA fiction. (And perhaps I'm too old to be reading it.)