Comments on: 2009’s Bestselling Books

By: Jenny

Jenny — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:33:47 +0000

My review of the first of the Larsson books addressed the question of feminism (more specifically violence against women.) It was the main reason I won’t read more; the prose was workmanlike enough.

By: Simon (Savidge Reads)

Simon (Savidge Reads) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:23:32 +0000

Dan Brown is no suprise and I cant really slag him off for it either, that man writes great plots just a shame about the rest of it hahaha. I have shockingly read 8 of these and 4 of them in the last year how suprising. Am a little shocked Wolf Hall wasnt there.

By: Reg Keeland

Reg Keeland — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:37:47 +0000

Take a look at this interview with Eva Gabrielsson on the fem-or-not-fem question:

http://www.fmwf.com/taxonomy/lifestyle/2010/01/the-girl-who-didnt-inherit-a-fortune-widow-of-bestselling-swedish-author-stieg-larsson-has-not-seen-a-penny-of-his-20m/

Perhaps a trilogy should be judged by the denouement in book 3 rather than what the bad guys do in book 1.

By: anothercookiecrumbles

anothercookiecrumbles — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:46:22 +0000

Ugh. That’s a terrible start to the list. Dan Brown? Really? And, Twilight taking the next four spots. As well as the 19th? What’s that about?

I attempted reading the first Twilight book, and almost wept with sheer frustration. As for Dan Brown: wouldn’t go near his book, even if it was the only surviving book on the planet.

I’ve read the Stieg Larssons, which I did enjoy – the writing wasn’t great, but the plot was well developed, and it was an out and out pageturner.

Didn’t really enjoy Time Traveler’s Wife, The Other Hand, or Suspicions of Mr. Whicher (I know I’m in the minority here, so…), but did get entertained by White Tiger. Secret Scripture was worth a read as well, despite the cliched ending.

Sorry, but looking at that list does depress me somewhat. What happened to books like Simon Mawer’s The Glass Room, or Samantha Harvey’s The Wilderness? How about Coetzee’s Summertime? Maybe The Thing Around Your Neck (I haven’t read it, but it does sound quite good) or The Help (again, not read it, but do want to)? I don’t know…

By: Anna van Gelderen

Anna van Gelderen — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:54:28 +0000

I recently read Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I have to agree with the assessment of The F Word that “these nods to feminism are not enough to compensate for the book’s graphic and gratuitous violence against women, which is just as gross as anything in Patterson’s novels.” Which is why I won’t be reading the rest of the trilogy.