springdellgirl

Three Things

Number 1


Kameron ran in his All-City Cross Country Meet and did great. It was a freezing cold day but it is so much fun to watch him run. He ran against the all the top fourth grade boys from 34 different elementary schools. He loved it. His coach was so happy with his running this year. (His coach looks just like my cousin Kellen which is hilarious.) Anyway...Kameron finished right in the middle so he was really happy. He's a stressy kid and he was so worried about this meet...that he had to qualify to get to run in...and was worried that he would be last. No worries here. He got a medal; we had a pizza celebration; and he ended his season on a high note. He loves running. I think he has definitely been bitten by the running bug.



Number 2: Book Review

I just finished this book. This is NOT my usual book choice. But because I have a husband who reads every book I recommend and is even confident enough in his studly manhood that he read The Forgotten Garden... AND...came upstairs when book club was at my house last week to help settle the debate of whether or not Nathaniel was actually in love with Eliza or with Rose...I owed it to him to read a book of his choosing.

I began this book with trepidation. The Swedish title of this book is "Men Who Hate Women" not exactly a selling point. It is also a gritty crime novel which I loathe. Throw in a twisted murder mystery set in Sweden being solved by a financial journalist and a emo hacker and I still didn't really want to read it. Also I have had several friends with conflicting feelings about this book; several loved it and several down right hated it.

The first part of the book was a snooze. Mikael Blomkvist has been convicted of libel against a Swedish financial mogul. Lisbeth Salander (the emo hacker) is toiling away as a private investigator who has issues. But...once I got to the Vanger family I was hooked. I really liked Henrick Vanger and his mysterious island. I was totally into trying to figure out what happened to Harriet Vanger and could barely put the book down EXCEPT when I got to the horrible acts that were committed against the women in this book which were horrifying and vile. I probably should have stopped reading but I wanted to know what happened to Harriet. So I kept reading; in bed with a head lamp on into the wee hours of the morning. I couldn't put it down even though I REALLY wanted to at times.

As far as the characters go...they aren't very likeable. Loose morals, shady values, sexual promiscuity abound. Blomkvist- I somewhat liked despite his moral failings. Salander- I disliked the entire time. Don't even get me started on the creepy Vanger family. I did like the setting in Sweden despite not having much background knowledge of the country and it's customs. It made the book more interesting and unique.

This book is not for everyone. There are some dark and disgusting sections of the book. The first part was dull and the last part (where it returns back to Blomkvist vs. Wennerstrom, the corrupt financial mogul) the story held no interest for me. I liked following Blomkvist around as he dug up clues on a 40 year-old cold case...very intriguing...but once the mystery of Harriet was solved I was done. Will I read the other two books in the series? I doubt it.

My rating: Good...but very dark.

Number 3

After our disastrous pumpkin picking outing I felt we needed a pick-me-up. So we made these. The BEST autumn cookies ever. Try them!!