Sunday 25 April 2010

Sweden. It's so hot right now.


All of a sudden I seem to be reading nothing but Swedish books.
OMG, where has this country been all my life?*
Maybe it's the long, bleak (but beautiful) winters. The pine forests. I don't know, but suddenly I'm adicted to their flms and books.
First we had John Ajvide Lindqvist showing us what a REAL vampire story should be like- tragic and terrifying- with Let the Right One In.
Then Jan Guillou writing his Templar trilogy and giving us old school Templars and a taste of exactly how hard the old knights were. Which was very.
I'm half-way through reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Saw the film last night. It's a brutal thriller and got me wondering about Lisbeth, the femal protagonist. She's a deeply emotional disturbed young woman and bad things happen to her. She suffers but doesn't allow herself to be a victim. In fact, she becomes Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance. And she gets her revenge.
The story's an elaborate thriller and a horrific one. The monsters are truly monstrous and the evil is very real.
It's the first film in a while that's got really under my skin and if you get the chance, see it.
*I know, next to Finland. Ha ha.

8 comments:

JaneyV said...

I've heard it's brilliant …

…from you I think!

Maria said...

And next to Norway, haha. Stieg Larsson's books have become really popular here as well ;)

SarwatC said...

That's because I have impeccable taste.

SarwatC said...

Oops. Sorry, Maria!
Yes, it's much more next to Norway than Finland. But still next to Finland, even if it's only a little bit.
I should have also mentioned other great literary icons that hail from Sweden, Pippi Longstocking and the Moomins!
Does anyone remember the Moomin telly series back in the 1980's-early 90's? It seriously freaked me out.

john said...

That was a quick blog Sarwat. Are you always straight on it? Yes very good film, good trilogy, but not many coffee machines in this film...strange. I was eating 'Kales Kaviar' on hardbread before I was weened. I noticed Mikael did make some meatballs. You'll be into Wallender next.

SarwatC said...

I know what you mean about the coffee machines. Also strange is the lack of Abba in the film's soundtrack.

Maria said...

Yes, here in Scandinavia Pippi Longstocking and the Moomins are still popular; the kids still watch it. When I was little the Moomins was my favourite TV show :)

The Floating Lush said...

You forgot IKEA in your list of awesome things from Sweden. That one does feature heavily in the Millenium books though. ;)