A Year of Reading

This week saw the launch of the National Year of Reading. 

According to the website, "Nearly half the population struggles without the literacy skills to meet the most basic demands of everyday life and work. There are 46% of Australians who can't read newspapers; follow a recipe; make sense of timetables, or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle." On the face of it, 46 per cent is a staggering number for a sophisticated Western Democracy, until you consider the migrant population.

Government, libraries, media, bookstores, schools and community groups are banding together for events to encourage children to read, and to share their passion for the written word.

Australian author, P.D. Martin blogs about it over on Murderati

The Australian Women Writers website has a twelve month reading and reviewing  challenge

Elizabeth Lhuede steps into controversy on gender bias in the decision-making process of Love2Read's (host of the NYR) "Our Story"shortlist.

Mrs Mac's Library  has a list of events and ideas.

And then there's this: The Joy of Books, an animated sequence on You Tube - a lot of work and a lovely ending.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

I took myself off to see The Girl Who Played With Fire this morning. Yeah, a foreign filum.

Interestingly, a number of critics have said the first film was better; I disagree. I've read the books, and the first, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, was slow and in need of a good editor. The second was action all the way - and so is the film.

I think the problem was that protagonists, Lisabeth Salander and Mikael Blomqvist, don't get together until almost the last scene.

In this second instalment of the Millenium Trilogy, Mikael investigates the deaths of two of his new colleagues who are about to go public with a sex trafficking story that involves highly place people, and Lisabeth tries to clear her name of the murders. The trail leads both to the mysterious Zala, albeit via separate paths.

I only had one problem with the film and that was whomever did the subtitles, missed a few - one critical to the story.

It's not for the faint of heart, either, so if you're squeamish about violence or a gay sex scene, this isn't the movie for you.

I'll be watching the final instalment, though; the makers have done an excellent job on sticking with the book (which made it easier to follow, in spite of the lost subtitles).

Mockingjay

The Hunger Games Trilogy requires a lot of post-reading thought to decide whether you love it or hate it, or even whether it’s an appropriate young adult series or not. I can’t say that about most books I’ve read and I like thought-provoking books. These books are dark, heart-wrenching and brilliant – but I speak from an adult’s perspective, not a young adult.

In Hunger Games Katniss Everdeen plays and wins – at costs known and unknown to her as she becomes the face of rebellion. In Catching Fire, she plays again, but ‘winning’ comes at a different cost, a greater one, when Peeta, her companion in the first Game, is captured by the evil Capitol. And in Mockingjay Katniss is consumed by the machinations of others and her own guilt (whether deserved or not).

This last book has been criticised for its lack of character development, for its disappointing epilogue, for being depressive, for a whole host of reasons. But for me, it was all appropriate. The horror of brutal oppression and war is bad enough for adults, for professional soldiers, but for a teenager? It’s even more tragic. And in this totalitarian world, the terrorizing and torture of the districts is heinous. It is worse for the teenagers who must accept that they will have to kill or be killed and accept the consequences of their actions for the rest of their lives. For Katniss it goes deeper as she is the face of the rebellion, a pawn in the machinations of others, a tool in the pursuit of power.

And Katniss is near destroyed by it all. She is not permitted to enjoy her revenge on those who used and abused her. Worse, she is punished for it, although if she’d spoken up, maybe things would have ended differently.

Katniss is cunning, petulant, impulsive, selfish, obstreperous, frustrating, indecisive and narrow-minded; but she will sacrifice everything for those she loves, she will protect strangers, beguile the enemy and gather allies to the cause. In short, she’s a teenager. She knows she’s not heroic, but she’s portrayed that way and she cannot escape what others are determined she do. Only once does she feel the power she has over others and even as she understands it, it’s taken away and guilt takes its place.

This is not a perfect book. There are events I found unnecessary to story or character development, one event in particular that served no purpose, even as I understood the reasoning behind it. Without that scene, Katniss had a shot at, if not happiness, then contentment as they rebuilt their lives. The issue of presidents Snow and Coin also raises questions. We know Snow is evil, but again, without a particular scene, it didn’t matter to Katniss whether Coin would make a better president, but Coin takes that extra, unnecessary step and Katniss and her family pay for it.

These books are filled with metaphors and themes from life and they refuse to shy away from the issues of PTSD, of heroes dying needlessly, of villains escaping true justice, of actions and consequences, and what happens to combat soldiers when the war is over.

The trilogy may be a young adult book, but it deals with very adult concepts and there is no escaping the underlying themes. It is no wonder that this is one of the most talked about books of the year.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

In a dystopian future where the Capitol rules, the twelve impoverished districts are required to send two teenage tributes to the Hunger Games - a fight to the death in an arena of the Gamemaster's making to entertain those living in the Capitol.

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have thwarted the Gamesmaster and won the Hunger Games, much to the displeasure of President Snow. Katniss has found herself as the figurehead of brewing rebellion and Snow wants her to quell the subversion. Katniss, however, inadvertently becomes the touchstone of revolution, sparking more violence.

As punishment, two victor tributes from each district must compete again in the arena as part of the Quarter Quell, the 75th anniversary of the Capitol's triumph over the districts.

Katniss and Peeta survived the Games once against those of a similar age; can they survive against those with more experience and maturity?

Suzanne Collins has done a brilliant job with this trilogy. Katniss and Peeta are written well, with all the impulsiveness, emotional confusion, courage and self-doubt of teenagers. Mistakes are made, consequences are dire, but in this brutal future, hope remains.

Like any teenager on the cusp of adulthood, Katniss gets bent out of shape when she's not told of the plans older, supposedly wiser people have for her. She's justifiably furious in parts, petulant and spiteful in others.

The new arena is a wonderful, frightening construct, designed to kill, maim or send the tributes insane. To Katniss and Peeta, the other tributes are crazy and Katniss learns what true sacrifice is. She is the face of the rebellion, the favourite of the Capitol viewing audience, the enemy of President Snow because of one act of defiance.

She is the Mockingjay and she will learn what that truly means.

Tomorrow, when the war began

I took the teens to see Tomorrow, When The War Began. It’s based on the best selling series by Australian author, John Marsden.

The story revolves around a group of teenagers who go camping in North Queensland for a weekend. When they return home, they find everyone incarcerated at the local showground and that the 'Asian Coalition' has invaded Australia.

This isn't a Disney-esque series or film, it's real, sometimes violent and heart-breaking. There is nothing patronising about the situation or the way the characters react, especially when it comes to moral dilemmas. A lot serious, a lot Australian, it has moments of humour. The film suffers from a bit of newbie acting in parts, but overall it is a brilliant local production, one I hope does well in the overseas market.

Each of the characters will appeal to the teenage crowd - adults don't appear much in this. When they do, the tension ratchets up until you're leaning forward in your seat, wondering what the teens are going to do against armed soldiers.

Tomorrow, When The War Began got the big thumbs up from the kids and me. It's an excellent movie.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

In an oppressive, dystopian American future, the twelve Districts must send two ‘Tributes’, selected by lottery, for the Hunger Games – a brutal competition where the winner is the last one alive. Tributes are between the ages of twelve and eighteen and sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister’s place.

Life for the Everdeens in District 12 is a constant battle against starvation, and Katniss provides food and money through illegal hunting in the woods. She is certain she will die in the Hunger Games – some tributes have trained their entire lives for the Games, are stronger, bigger, smarter than Kat and the District’s second Tribute, baker’s son, Peeta.

Katniss is aware the Games are for the televised entertainment of the decadent Capitol, and the mental torture of the other districts. As the Game continues, she begins to understand that she may have a chance after all.

While this is a Young Adult novel, Hunger Games will capture the imagination of older readers. Suzanne Collins has created a nightmarish future of hard-scrabble survival for the Districts as a reminder of who rules the country of Penam following a rebellion seventy years past. It’s a brutal life for all except the citizens of the Capitol.

Katniss displays all the emotional insecurity of a teenager and has a belligerent determination to do the best she can, even pretending Peeta is the love of her life to ensure the support of ‘sponsors’ who send gifts into the Games. The consequences of which will, I’m sure, be explored in later books.

The characters are well-crafted, the world-building is excellent and the political system disturbingly real.

It’s a rare book that will keep me up to wee hours. It’s even rarer for me to keep thinking about a novel. This is a masterpiece that wrenches an emotional response from the reader. The ethical and moral dilemmas Kat faces are heart-stopping.

Suzanne Collins is an author to watch. This is a book I recommend to anyone.

Dream Called Time by S.L. Viehl

This is the final book in the long-running series about the bio-construct, Dr Cherijo Torin.

Cherijo is shocked to discover she is missing five years of her life to an alternate personality, the aggressive, knife-wielding Akkabarran, Jarn. Worse, she is heartbroken that her husband, Duncan Reever, loved Jarn, not her and that daughter Marel mourns the loss of Jarn.

What’s a bio-construct to do but leave love behind and jaunt to a Rift in space that catapults her and the crew back a few million years?

Then everything she thought she knew about her father, Maggie and the black crystal changes.

This book is action-packed from the first page. I might even say ‘manic’ as the end of the series closes in. Cherijo is slowly regaining her memories of the fateful day she disappeared and why Jarn appeared. She’s also dealing with the rejection of Duncan, the distance of her daughter and Xonea’s obsession with her. The rift ship and intriguing crystal also needs resolution and when Maggie turns up to warn her not to go on the mission, Cherijo tells her where to go.

Cherijo turns to medicine when her private life falls into a heap – an alter-formed Hsktskt, PyrsVar who wants to return to Hsktskt form, presents a unique challenge to her.

Throughout the series, Cherijo has been physically and mentally tortured – how much can an immortal bear without going mad? Quite a bit, although a lot of the pain is through memories and realisations, of putting the complete story together.

I dislike Reever, since he is the cause for the majority of Cherijo’s anguish. He’s had plenty of time to learn human emotion, and he turns into an SOB in this book, too, but I guess you don’t get to choose whom you love. His one redeeming feature is that he stood by her, but even that was for selfish reasons.

The ending was appropriate and tied up all the threads: who her father is, who Maggie is, the secret of the black crystal and how to get rid of it.

The book keeps moving, with carefully laid clues, and after nine books of adventure, emotional distress and physical torment, Cherijo deserves the peace she finds.

I doubt Ms Viehl is finished with the Stardoc universe, it's too well formed and has the most interesting characters.

This is most definitely a re-readable series and worthwhile for anyone who enjoys medical science fiction.

Hyperbole and a Half

My new and favourite place to visit for a smile, a chuckle, a laugh-out-loud moment, or an OMG! cack-fest that will stay with me for the rest of the day. Yeah, sure I was working - doing research in fact - when I found it, although the 'how' and history that led me to the page currently escapes me...

Hyperbole and a Half, written by Allie Brosh, has some meaningful comics that illustrate cautionary tales in humorous ways. It's a blogspot that is, unfortunately, addictive.

Check out Bicycle for a post everyone must be familiar with from their childhood. Anyone who has a dog or a cat will cackle at Dog - not all pets are brilliant and clever and trainable, some you just have to love because... well, just because.

Then there's How A Fish Almost Destroyed My Childhood. I'll stop now. You should go and read them.

I need to get back to work now and stop stuffing about. The minutiae ain't gonna write itself, you know.

The Killing Place aka Ice Cold

I don't get the change in titles; one is as good as the other and it makes it a little confusing. But... anyway.

I finished Tess Gerritsen's The Killing Place last night. The blurb:

In Wyoming for a medical conference, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles joins a group of friends on a spur-of-the-moment ski trip. But when their SUV stalls on a snow-choked mountain road, they’re stranded with no help in sight.

As night falls, the group seeks refuge from the blizzard in the remote village of Kingdom Come, where twelve eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. Something terrible has happened in Kingdom Come: Meals sit untouched on tables, cars are still parked in garages. The town’s previous residents seem to have vanished into thin air, but footprints in the snow betray the presence of someone who still lurks in the cold darkness — someone who is watching Maura and her friends.

Days later, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura’s charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow. As horrifying revelations come to light, Jane closes in on an enemy both powerful and merciless—and the chilling truth about Maura’s fate.

In this next Rizzoli and Isles book, you can feel the merciless cold of deep winter, sense the threat to the stranded group from the shadows without knowing why and sympathise with Maura at being stuck with this group of group of people who are almost determined to be unhappy:

Handsome Doug Comley, the pathologist Maura meets up with, is a man who lives life to the limit, never believing things could go wrong; his daughter Grace, is a manipulative, pouting teenager who uses her parents' divorce as a stick to get her own way; Arlo, the food critic, perpetually hungry and his girlfriend, Elaine, who wants to have an affair with Doug and who can't make her own decisions.

In the throes of a personal crisis, Maura agrees to go on a ski-trip with this group, trusting Doug, even when she has doubts. She is the outsider, and the others agree with Doug to their peril.

Maura is presumed dead, but faithful friend Jane Rizzoli isn't so sure - even on the flimsiest of clues; Daniel, the cause of so much unhappiness and joy for Maura, resolutely secludes himself to grieve. I thought him a coward with his indecision over the relationship and the absolute conviction that Maura was dead.

And so the hunt for Maura is on. A religious cult, a boy in the icy wilderness, unfriendly locals, an empty village with dead pets, blood stains and eerie silence, all conspire to give the reader a bit of a chill (pun intended) as the story moves towards an inevitable and deadly confrontation.

The characters are well drawn, the situation realistic as Maura understands rescue ain't coming soon. The tension increases with every page as decisions are made that have consequences - good and bad.

Fans of the series will be entertained by this new book, but I was left with a few, unanswered questions. There are also some 'tells' about some of the victims, rather than 'shows', and I wanted the show, the proof. The confrontation with the cult's religious leader was a little strange, too, with a 'why did they do that?' thought.

In the end, Maura is changed, both physically and emotionally. How will she deal with it all? I guess we'll have to wait for the next book.

The Search

It's taken me a little more than a week, but I finished Nora Robert's The Search.

It could be the timing, the inability to read nice, large chunks, or a number of other reasons, but... I didn't like the hero, Simon Doyle, and the dog training reminded me of the loss of Saxon, my own pooch. But mostly it was Simon.

I despise men who think it's up to them to make the decisions for the little woman - no matter how independent she is, or able to make her own damn decisions - because he knows what's best. No. On so many levels, no. I'd probably kick him to the curb before the relationship had a chance to evolve; and he didn't evolve as a character.

The 'this is my house, you're just living here' isn't a good sign for the future, even as he 'allows' Fiona to clean his house. I found him quite obnoxious about it, and a hundred other little things.

On the positive side, the story lines of canine rescue and Fiona's surviving a serial killer is well researched and interesting. The dogs are great and training techniques valuable to anyone who has a destructo-dog or canine-the-destroyer type. The villains are villains with no redeeming features - I had to wince at the wiping of everything on the mobile phone - brutal and, well, serial-killer-like.

The final confrontation between Fiona and the man who wants her dead is brief and lacks emotional punch; and while she and Simon go after the killer - Fiona, because she needs to end it, Simon because he wants vengeance and to protect Fiona - her only satisfaction is the villain is caught. Simon got the better deal. (Shoulda set the hounds on 'im.)

The Search meets expectations, but doesn't exceed it - there are better Noras, like High Noon and Blue Smoke.

Dreamveil

Rowan Dietrich grew up on the streets. Now she's out to start anew, find a job - and keep her identity as a Kyndred secret, as well as her ability to "dreamveil" herself into the object of others' desires.

But Rowan isn't using her gift when world-class chef Jean-Marc Dansant is stricken by her beauty and strength. And when dark secrets from her past threaten her new life and love, Rowan realizes she can't run forever...

This is the second Kyndred novel, an off-shoot of the successful Darkyn series. In Dreamveil, Rowan Dietrich arrives in New York, passing through on her way to a new job, a new life in Boston following the events in Shadowlight. Things go awry when she crashes outside of Jean-Marc Dansant’s restaurant. Jean-Marc patches her up, and insists she stay, that he’ll give her a job and an apartment. Rowan agrees, but only for a while. Readers of Shadowlight will know of Rowan’s almost casual talent in the kitchen and her reasons for leaving Atlanta.

Rowan is drawn to Jean-Marc, to his mastery of French cuisine, but then... she meets Sean Meriden, her nasty, aggressive, and oh, so attractive neighbour. Her confusion is complete. How can she have the misfortune to go from one doomed relationship into double the trouble?

Both Meriden and Dansant are equally compelled and compelling: Meriden, a roughly-spoken, irritable snarler with a clever, bad boy attitude and Dansant, who uses food to seduce, soft spoken intelligence to woo – how does a woman chose between two men who attract her for different reasons?

This is a worthy sequel to Shadowlight with Rowan’s talent more a background to her human foibles – until the dreamveil shows her the truth of her relationship with Sean and Jean-Marc. The clues abound and carefully constructed, woven seamlessly into the story until the climax.

Even the villains of the piece are well crafted: not wholly evil and with their own reasons for wanting particular outcomes; although those outcomes mean the end for Rowan. The final confrontation is pure Viehl as Rowan comes face to face with her past in an effort to keep her future.

The main characters from Shadowlight make a cameo but critical appearance. While not important toDreamveil, it provokes questions for the story arc and increases the tension.

I really enjoyed this book and loved the solution to Rowan’s relationship issues. Another resolution I didn’t see coming – and should have. I liked the focus on the relationships rather than the awesome talent. The dreamveil has it's place, but not until Rowan decides it's time and uses it for herself, not others. This is definitely one for re-reading.

Frostfire, the third in the series is out early next year and fans are treated to a taste at the end of Dreamveil.

How goes Hugo?

I've been consuming the Hugo Nominees: the short stories, novellas, novelettes, novels and the John W. Campbell nominees: From the Ice Age to a billion years into the future; aliens and Victorian-era sleuths; stories of luck and tales of fate; gods and demons; genetic manipulation and hidden personalities; paranormal and supernatural; complex quantum time-spatial theories and inevitable linear events. Oh, and 'wow' to 'wtf?'.

I would like to know how they were nominated, what the process is. I also have to come up with a method to make my decisions. Do I go with what I like, or with how clever a story is; whether I'm intrigued with the story or admire the uniqueness? Do I vote for how easy a story is to read, or my understanding of the science and how it knits into the work? How about whether the words evoke an emotional response or whether I find myself thinking about the story for a while? Then there's the style, the grammar and intent of the work. Do I consider all of the above?

Voting ends on Saturday and I'm up to the big prize: the novels. Only a couple more to go. My decisions on the other categories is still pending while I work out how to make the final vote.

And now, back to the novels.

Magic Burns

Mmm... just what I like: a book with consequences.

Okay, yes I'm a couple behind, but the availability of the books I want to read at my local book stores are... Buckley's and none.

Anyway. Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniel series is a very good read. The second, Magic Burns continues on from Magic Bites in a world where magic and tech comes in waves. Set in a crumbling Atlanta, a magic flare is coming and that can't be good. The blurb:

When Kate sets out to retrieve a set of stolen maps for the Pack, Atlanta’s paramilitary clan of shapeshifters, she quickly realizes much more at stake. The stolen maps are only the opening gambit in an epic tug-of-war between two gods hoping for rebirth. And if Kate can’t stop the cataclysmic showdown, the city may not survive…

One of the great aspects of this book is the slow unfolding of Kate's past through errors of judgement and one epic battle; we don't get it all, but it raises the reader's suspicions.

Kate's not without her flaws. Her wise-assery always gets her into trouble, especially with Curran, the Beast Lord of the Pack - and we see just how strong he is - again, raising suspicions that all is not as it seems. We also get a peek into why she keeps herself apart from everyone, and how she feels about that.

The Celtic research is marvellous. Without a single info-dump, the reader learns myths and legends that are blending naturally into the story and, again, has consequences for everyone.

Action aplenty, cans of ass-whoop opened all over the place and the growing emotional connections Kate has with various characters creates an interesting, if tragic protagonist.

The Andrews aren't above killing off characters or changing them in fundamental ways as a consequence of their own - or another's - actions. The villains are dangerous and ambitious, the heroes are equally dangerous have their own ambitions. Two sides of the same coin and yet, not black and white.

Watch the characters struggle with what they want and how much they're willing to sacrifice to achieve the goal. For Kate Daniels, her goal is as much of a mysterious to her as it is to us. What is it going to cost if her secret is revealed?

Rain Lashed

As I mentioned yesterday, Lynn Viehl has posted a freebie e-book, Rain Lashed in conjunction with the release of Kyndred 2 Dreamveil.

Rain Lashed is about Angela Witt, Jessa Bellamy's technical supervisor and fellow Kyndred, and takes place just before Jessa's disappearance - read Shadowlight to find out what happens - and involves Caleb Douglas, another senior staff member at Phoenix Inc., a staff consultancy firm.

The two have a 'formal' relationship that hides their true feelings as they individually believe the other is not for them: Angela because of her talent and deep insecurities that Caleb wouldn't look twice at her; Caleb because he can't give Angela everything he thinks she deserves. So they keep to the formal, circling each other, tempting each other and resisting each other.

Then Caleb attempts to force an answer to a work question and Angela's answer is very personal...

The novella begins with the death of Angela's mother and Ruth Witt's shocking betrayal of her daughter - there's an especially hot place for Ruth - and Angela's odd meeting with Jessa.

This is a clever addition to the Kyndred series, from a non-Kyndred view. Caleb and Angela have suspicions about Jessa's nature and I'll be interested to see if the pair have future involvement in the series. No spoilers about what Angela thinks of her strange... ness.

Fans of Lynn Viehl won't be disappointed. This is a story which expands on the personal issue of abandonment of the Kyndred as small children and the effect it has on one woman who knows nothing of her origins.

And it's free. For those who haven't read Shadowlight, this is an excellent introduction into a world that parallels Darkyn, but has it's own conflicts.

Storm From The Shadows

I've got a crick in my neck which is somewhat painful. Must be from reading David Weber's Storm From The Shadows.

This one thousand page tome takes place in conjunction with At All Costs and Torch of Freedom (which I haven't read yet, since it's still in hardback). The spiel:

Rear Admiral Michelle Henke was commanding one of the ships in a force led by Honor Harrington in an all-out space battle. The odds were against the Star Kingdom forces, and they had to run. But Michelle's ship was crippled, and had to be destroyed to prevent superior Manticoran technology from falling into Havenite hands, and she and her surviving crew were taken prisoner. Much to her surprise, she was repatriated to Manticore, carrying a request for a summit conference between the leaders of the two sides which might end the war. But a condition of her return was that she gave her parole not to fight against the forces of the Republic of Haven until she had been officially exchanged for a Havenite prisoner of war, so she was given a command far away from the war's battle lines. What she didn't realize was that she would find herself on a collision course, not with a hostile government, but with the interstellar syndicate of criminals known as Manpower. And Manpower had its own plans for eliminating Manticore as a possible threat to its lucrative slave trade - deadly plans which remain hidden in the shadows.

Now then. This actually sounds more exciting than it is. That's not to say the book doesn't build into a military confrontation with explosions and stuff, it's more that the book deals with political machinations and 'what ifs'. It's also not a book people should read without having read the series.

My biggest bug-bear with the book is how much could have, and should have been edited out. There is way too much reiteration of events and conversations and motivations. And for those people who have to wait for paperbacks, there was a bit of 'what the...?' for me.

Having three strands to a series is not good for me, and I do love this series, I'm just not all that interested in politics (hah!) even as those politics are integral to the series.

I could also replace one character with another and they sound the same. Woe. Is there such a thing as too many characters? This is a galaxy-wide, epic space opera and the thought of an author (or two: Eric Flint co-writes the Crown of Slaves, Torch of Freedom part) coming up with individual voices for hundreds of characters - even secondary characters - must be a daunting task. But now, we have the vast Solarian League involved.

Weber has done an excellent job of compartmentalizing the various star nations and the characters within with their various 'must have this type of personality'. However, this deep into the series, I don't think we need the justifications or the endless infodumps of the who, the how and the why for technology or a character's attitude - we can, mostly, take it as given; especially after so many books.

Regardless of my nitpickery - and I could go on - the book neatly ends with a suitably ominous scenario. And for those who know their military history and can see the parallels in the story, a suitably clever solution.

Storm From The Shadows is out now from Baen; Mission of Honor is available as an E-ARC and will be published in hardback (damn their eyes) in July.

Män som hatar kvinnor... finally

Män som hatar kvinnor - Men Who Hate Women - was retitled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for the English version.

The true title reflects the movie and the book, the second is a glimpse of art on counter-culture Goth and computer hacker, Lisabeth Salander.

I read the book and thought it a little slow. The story got bogged down in extraneous descriptions and minutiae of lead character Mikael Blomkvist's day. Thankfully, all that's been cut out of the movie and distilled down to its essential parts.

The spiel: Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, ruthless computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history.

The makers of the film have done an excellent job. The book has complex plots all weaved together to form a fascinating story arc. The film touches on these aspects and sets up the next movie The Girl Who Played With Fire with brief glimpses. However, those who haven't read Stieg Larsson's trilogy might be a little dismayed at some of the near miraculous resolutions. For example, the instant decryption of an important clue by Salander. She has a photographic memory, but that is only touched on in the film. I'm guessing the film makers assumed the majority of Scandinavia read the books.

Some of the scenes are brutal. The film does not shy away from the sexual violence that's integral to the story line. On the big screen, it's confronting. (I wonder how Hollywood is going to deal with it? The U.S. version is in development and due for release in 2012.) Salander is certainly ruthless in dealing with violence perpetrated against her.

The original title, Men Who Hate Women, should have been kept; the current title reflects nothing more than a curiosity. Throughout the books and the film, thoughtless and deliberate violence against women is explored. Blomkvist is almost a peaceful raft floating in the sea of blood and brutality, a refuge for Salander. That doesn't mean she needs a man to save her - her revenge is as nasty as the crime committed against her! She'll get justice her own way.

I would suggest reading the book before seeing the film for a better understanding. It's the first book-to-film I've appreciated in a long, long time.

Dragons Ahoy!

How To Train Your Dragon was a lot of fun - even in a theatre full of kids, and the popcorn delayed.

The artwork was beautiful, especially on the dragons. I imagine there were varieties no-one thought of. Toothless, the Nightfury, bears a striking resemblance to Stitch (from the Disney film Lilo & Stitch) and an oversized, winged axolotl; the other dragons are equally spectacular... well, you'll have to see the film.

The Vikings are suitably big, rugged and bloodthirsty - except, of course, for our hero, Hiccup, who is thin, weedy and very unViking-like. He's an inventor and consistently gets himself into trouble whenever the dragons attack. This time, his invention downs a Nightfury that he befriends and trains. Misunderstandings, deceit, suspicion and an epic battle follow.

The flying scenes are better than Avatar and the final battle, man, I was so impressed by the CGI. The fire, the water, the movement of the flesh under dragon skin!

For me, the chatting children, the shushing of the adults, the crunch of popcorn consumed and slurping of soft drink all faded away under the visual beauty of the film. That might be just me, but I love kids' movies; they can present complex issues in a simple way.

Oh, and I saw the shorts for the next Shrek movie. I'm just gonna hafta see it!

Clash of the Movies

I took myself off to see Clash of the Titans yesterday. I have vague memories of the Harry Hamlin version on television, along with other Ray Harryhausen movies like Sinbad.

Clash of the Titans won't win any awards, but it's great for 90 minutes or so of focusing on eye candy. The special effects are great but the storyline is only loosely related to the real Perseus legend. But... no matter.

I loved the Djinn, all shining, crystal blue gaze and bark-textured faces; so cool and lends to the mythology of the piece. The fight scene with the scorpions was frenetic and the sneaky Medusa was, well, sneaky; kind of reminded me of Angelina Jolie in Beowulf.

Liam Neeson was all shiny and a little bit perplexed as Zeus, Ralph Fiennes suitable evil (and channelling Voldemort, I think) as the smoky, dark Hades - not as sinister as he could have been, but the bad guy nonetheless.

I only have one question about the movie: why did Perseus have a marine haircut, when everyone else had long flowing locks?

Will I buy the DVD? Hmm... probably; I love these kinds of movies. I don't watch 'real life' films, I get enough real life in... real life. I like escapism - although I will make an exception for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Today, I'm off to watch How to Train Your Dragon - probably with a bunch of kids. I love popcorn films, too.

Fantasy in Death

I love a good locked door mystery and J.D. Robb's Fantasy in Death delivers.

Long time friends Bart, Cill, Var and Benny are on the verge of releasing a state-of-art holo-game. Bart tests the game in the isolation and secured holo-room of his locked apartment and is killed. There are no clues. No weapon, no evidence of an intruder, no witnesses, nothing.

This is the crime super-cop, Lt. Eve Dallas, investigates with a little help from husband, Roarke. His input is more as a consultant and assists Feeney off screen. Eve struggles to understand e-tech, as always, but it is because she doesn't understand the environment that she can think of the unusual solution. I had my own suspects, but didn't truly settle on one until late in the book. Canny readers will pick up on the pivotal moment.

Fans of J.D. Robb will be excused for thinking this book is familiar with a particular scenario in the first of the series, Naked in Death, I know it rang a bell with me - but when you consider the two-year time frame, it's not such a leap.

I would have given the book five stars, except for the laziness of the copy-editor. This English version has unfortunate carriage returns in the middle of sentences, words that need spaces in between and comma issues. There are also problems with 'voice'. At one stage, I couldn't tell who was speaking, Roarke or Eve. Roarke doesn't have the speech patterns from previous books and the concept of 'friendship' is a bit belaboured.

Overall - if you can ignore the copy-edit problems - the story is a great read and fans will be satisfied.

Wisdom of ages

Here it is, the middle of January, and the overnight temperature dropped to a few degrees above zero.

Plenty of family time this past weekend, like the weekend before. We live less than a hundred metres from the beach so in Summer, peeps come for the sun. More rellos are popping up this weekend too.

Plus I've been busily editing... it's all go...

But, I've been watching a program called Elders. The introduction says it all:

"We live in a society that worships youth. On television, in magazines, in advertisements and on billboards, what sells and what is sold to us is youth. But in some cultures it is the elders of the community who are valued and whose wisdom is sought. In this series we are going to seek out six prominent elders of our tribe, each over the age of 65 to see what life has taught them. Welcome to the elders."

We've heard from Alan Alda, Sir David Attenborough and Bob Hawke (didn't watch that one - I don't like him at all).

Last night, Andrew Denton spoke with the incomparable Helen Thomas. What a fascinating woman.

A lot of people outside of the U.S. probably don't know who she is, but would probably remember the old lady, hunched over, in the front row of White House Press Briefings, grilling whoever is at the podium.

It's sometimes magical to watch. Helen will ask the same question, in ten different ways; and be given the same answer... in ten different ways. What is astonishing is the respect and accord given to Ms Thomas. I've never heard a speaker treat her with impatience or condescension - even as some commentators do.

At age 89, she's still working, still as wily as a fox and still asking the awkward questions. Ms Thomas is a journalists journalist - and age has not wearied her. What she says in the interview is sometimes pointed:

ANDREW DENTON: The old saying that that power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely. Do you believe that’s true?

HELEN THOMAS: Yeah. I think it can. I’ve seen people men go into the Oval Office with some trepidation. In a couple of days they think they’re President and they think that’s all powerful and people worship at their shrine and every wish is a command, no yeah I think very corrupting.

ANDREW DENTON: Who have you seen most changed by that office?

HELEN THOMAS: This man. I think he thinks he’s President and he’s led us into a very b-big quagmire morass.

It was an excellent interview and I wanted to hear more. Half an hour isn't nearly long enough to listen to all the fascinating things that happen in our eminent seniors' lives. Maybe if more young people paid attention to the older generations, things would be much more happier, if not livelier.

So next week, we get to hear from Dame Elisabeth Murdoch. Rupie's mum. He's 78; Elisabeth is 100. Should be interesting.