Bookless Monday

In The Valley Of Elah is a film I had not previously heard of, possibly viewed as a 'minor' movie in spite of the top notch casting. Shot in 2007 I can imagine that its message was not universally popular in the America of George W. Bush.

The tone of the film was surprisingly fitting for the first bookless evening after finishing the Millennium trilogy. The barely contained rage at the outcomes when the underlying system is perverted... I found that a common factor in both works.

Having spent three weeks now in the world of Stieg Larsson I feel no compulsion to delivery a summing up of my feelings about his books. It was truly immersive reading and I could have wished that a continuation of this immersion were possible.

And yet... perhaps not. 

I recall a similarly intense reading phase when a colleague suggested that as a Scot I might enjoy the books of Diana Gabaldon. I bought the three available books and read them, fascinated, one after the other although I had had initial misgivings about what seemed to be at the start historical 'chick-lit'.

Not that I wish Ms Gabaldon any ill... but subsequent books in the saga of Jamie and Claire have disappointed. In the most recent volume the author simply neglected to offer any kind of even temporary resolution of important sub-plots. This left me feeling, frankly, cheated.

There will be no Millennium 4. 

"She [Lisbeth Salander] opened the door wide and let him into her life again."

A life which, as fate would have it, the author left it up to his readers to imagine.