Ally's #16: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson

It's hard to keep momentum going for three books straight, and this was unfortunately my least favorite of the Larsson trilogy. If I had to point to one thing to blame, it would be the focus on unearthing the extremely secret conspiracy going on behind the scenes in the Swedish equivalent of the CIA. It grew tiresome watching secret service agents, the journalists at Millenium, and the police talk themselves in circles speculating on the group behind the Zalachenko cover up. It may be interesting to watch on the big screen, but reading it is slow going for 500+ pages.

The final book in Larsson's trilogy opens with Lisbeth Salander receiving medical care for the life-threatening wounds she received at the end of book two. Amazingly, her brilliant mind is unaffected by the bullet and bone fragments that burrowed into her brain. Her father, the infamous Zalachenko manages to survive an axe to the face and is recovering in the hospital room two doors from the daughter he tried to murder. An overzealous prosecutor is determined to burn Salander for aggravated assault and attempted murder and she is confined to prison after several weeks of recovery in the hospital. For a person who is banned from receiving visitors and has no contact with the outside world, Salander is able to accomplish a great deal. Not only does she compile a cut-and-dry autobiography that sinks the prosecution's case, but she also pin points a source of harassment at one of the largest newspapers in Sweden, thus saving the reputation and career of the former head of Millenium  magazine, Erika Berger.

I was disappointed that the majority of the story revolved around Mikael Blomkvist, the man who sleeps with pretty much every woman he meets. I much prefer following Salander's character, who is as cunning as her old man, but with a better moral compass. But Blomkvist is dogged and successful in his mission to exonerate Salander from all the evil that has been said of her and to expose the real criminals within the government--for that, I have to tip my hat to him.

To say much more might ruin it, so I'll close by once again offering up a strong recommendation for this trilogy.

Ally's #15: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

Oh man, I'm hooked. My dream came true in the second book of this series--the secrets of Lisbeth Salander's past have unfolded. I don't want to give too much a way for those who haven't read it yet, so I'll stick to generalizations and thematic observances in this review.

If your a fan of "Law & Order SVU," you'd love this book, but let me warn you that it's significantly more graphic in terms of (homo)sexual encounters, vulgar language, and the like. Sometimes I have to turn that show off because the subject matter kills a little bit of my soul, yet, I also want to cheer at the end when all the searching is done and the bad guy is caught. That's what I love about Larsson's series. He's written up the strangest heroin I've ever heard of, and yet I find myself cheering for this 90 pound wildcat every step of the way. This is perhaps the most succinct and accurate description of Lisbeth Salander:

Salandar was the woman who hated men who hate women.

It truly sums up her mission in life, which we learn is born out of a history of being a victim and observer of abuse against women. You have to get through about 80% of the second book before you get the full picture of "All the Evil" that occurred during the mysterious gap in Salander's early teen years that earned her a bed equipped with restraining belts in a padded room in a psychiatric ward for children.  Not only does Salander not want to share that part of her life with anyone, but the Swedish government also goes to great lengths to keep it hush hush. Anyone else smell a conspiracy?

While the first book was about Salander helping track down a murderer/rapist, the tables turn in this book and Salander is the one being hunted. She's wanted in connection to a triple homicide and manages to not only evade the multitudes who are searching for her, but to also be successful in her own man hunt for the person truly responsible. In the process of searching for Salander, the police and the press hang all of Salander's dirty laundry out there for the nation to see. They make sport her "mental incompetence," her bisexual relationships, and her violent streak. My big question for the next series in the book is how does Salander go on with life in a place where everyone now knows every secret she had been trying to bury deep.

Bring it, Larsson. I'm ready for book three.

Mark's #12 - The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Over the past few years, as I've tried to read the books I should have read in high school, there have been times when I felt like I had cheated myself for not reading one of the classics of literature earlier in life - The Scarlet Letter does not fall into that category.

The Scarlet Letter is the story of Hester Prynne, her adulterous encounter with the town minister, and her subsequent life of punishment wearing the scarlet letter 'A' for adultery.

Written in 1850, the novel takes place 200 years prior in puritan Boston.  This book is a nasty caricature of Puritan life.  No doubt many negative conceptions of puritanism have been formed by this book.  The reader is left to believe that puritan Boston was a legalistic and graceless society.  However, when one takes time to read the works of any of the major puritan figures (Owen, Edwards, Burroughs, or Sibbes for example), you see that these men had a great understanding of the grace of God.

From a literary standpoint, I quickly tired of the overly dramatic prose.  The story, which explores issues of sin, legalism, and grace (or the lack thereof), goes too far.  The young daughter, Pearl, is constantly saying annoying phrases that no 18-year-old girl would say, let alone  a five-year-old.  By the end, when the minister reveals his own scarlet letter carved on his chest after preaching his 'election' sermon, and then dies, I was irritated by the cheesy predictability of it all.

Conclusion: If you're in high school skip The Scarlet Letter and read The Hunger Games instead (Ron, I know you'll love this line).

Ally's #14: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The first 74 pages of this book were a bit ho-hum and I wasn't quite sure where it was headed. Then on page 75, the author serves up the most delicious looking carrot that keeps you chasing for answers right up until the end.

The three main characters are Mikael Blomkvist, Henrik Vanger, and Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist is an investigative reporter who suffers a major blow to his writing career and magazine company. Vanger is the elderly head of a centuries-old family corporation. Despite his age, he's still as sharp as a tack and is eager to have the biggest mystery of his life examined by the unemployed Blomkvist in hopes of securing some answers before he dies. Forty years prior, Vanger's niece, Harriet, vanished from the family estate without a trace, and Vanger suspected foul play within the family.

Salander's character deserves a paragraph all her own. She's a teeny, tiny, anorexic looking 25 year-old in the body of a 14 year-old boy. She also sports a punker look, with jet black hair, oodles of tattoos, and a fair number of piercings. You can tell right off the bat that she's a deeply scarred and extremely guarded individual. While we never get too much information about the experiences she went through as a child, we do learn that she has been declared mentally incompetent by the state, a verdict handed down not because of her lack of mental aptitude, but because she refused to cooperate with any psychiatric evaluations. In fact, she's the most gifted computer hacker in Sweden, has a photographic memory, and can process an insane amount of information in a very short amount of time in her job as a free-lance private investigator. As Blomkvist's investigation begins to intensify, he and Salander team up to nail both the Vanger family fiend and the business mogul who trashed Blomkvist's reputation. They are quite the dynamic duo.

At the beginning of each section, Larsson offers a statistic on sexual abuse against women in Sweden. It wasn't until I got 3/4 of the way through the book that I realized the significance of those statistics. Not only is Salander  attacked, but Blomkvist's investigation of the Vanger family leads to some seriously, seriously, disturbing secrets that have been perpetuated for 40+ years.

What threw me for a loop, though, was the double-message the author seemed to give. On one hand, he seemed to glorify--if not deify--sex and promiscuity among the characters in the story; yet, on the other hand, makes a huge statement about abuse against women. I challenging to explain why it bugged me, but it did.

Off to read the next book in the series...I'm hoping it'll shed some more light on Salander's past!

Ally's #13: Erasing Hell by Francis Chan & Preston Sprinkle

Ever since I read Heaven by Randy Alcorn, questions have been rolling around in my head about hell. After purchasing Erasing Hell, I discovered that is was written in response to Rob Bell's book, Love Wins. While I haven't read that book, I still found this one helpful and easy to follow, despite the frequent references to Bell's assertions.

The biggest question I've wrestled with is whether hell is a place of eternal punishment or if it's a place of annihilation. Either way you slice it, hell is hell, but in my heart, non-existance is a more palatable punishment than experiencing pain and suffering for all of eternity. While this book didn't answer my question, it did spend quality time on verses relating to this topic and reminded me that regardless of the outcome, I should be deeply concerned for the fate of others and, as a result, be moved to action.

I really liked the way Chan and Sprinkle (what a fun name!) structured the book. It made sense and flowed well. The first four chapters are spent examining the facts of Scripture and extra-Biblical evidence to show what 1st Century Jews believed about hell, what Jesus taught about it, and what Jesus' followers went on to teach about hell. The final three chapters of the book challenge the reader to look inward at what their own beliefs about hell, what those believes indicate what they believe about God, and how they relate to Him. These chapters also serve as a challenge to really feel the weight of the severity of hell, rather than living a life content in our own "fire insurance."

I don't think I could've handled a super heady book on hell. As I was reading, I didn't feel like anything was over my head, but I didn't sense that the authors watered it down either. Perhaps now I'll pick up Love Wins and see what the fuss was all about.

Ally's #12: When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey

"What we believe about God determines the quality of our marriage."

Most couples, after three months of dating, are still getting to know one another. Jim and I, in contrast, said "I do." A brief engagement meant a condensed version of pre-marital counseling, but what was instilled in us at that time was a perspective of sanctification--of continuing to grow in our understanding of what marriage is supposed to look like and how God wants the gospel to permeate every aspect of how we relate as husband and wife. I don't think I really understood the importance of that perspective and what it meant until sin made an attempt at pushing Jim and I apart.

What I appreciate about this book is that it focuses on the fact that we are sinners, plain and simple. It's not about love languages or meeting each others needs; it's about loving each other by combating sin together. I'm not a perfect being, placed in this marriage for the sake of fixing all the things that are wrong with my husband. I'm a sinner, and unless I recognize the impact my sin has on our relationship and take responsibility for it, I will end up being my husband's enemy instead of the helper God designed me to be (Gen 2:18). Likewise, if I'm not willing to offer grace and forgiveness when my man messes up, we'll grow stagnant and bitter instead of moving forward and deeper in our relationship.

Recently, I've come to realize that I was leaving the gospel out of our marriage almost entirely. I was operating out of fear instead of love and basing my value in works, thinking that if I did everything right, I would earn my husband's love. The flip side of that is if I did anything wrong, I felt I forfeited my right to my husband's love. If that sounds pretty jacked up to you, it's because it is!

The author, Dave Harvey, does a great job of relating Christ's work on the cross back to marriage. He talks about sin, grace, forbearance, forgiveness, and the like, weaving together the gospel and sound theology in with helpful stories, examples, and profound excerpts from other Christian scholars. I don't know about you, but I have to preach the gospel to myself every day, and I STILL forget how repentance, grace, and forgiveness can impact my marriage. If you have similar struggles, than this book is well worth the time and money (it's about 1/2 price on Kindle).