Andrew Katz Blog #4

Reading is one of my favorite things to do when I find myself with free time. I love fiction specifically, as I feel it makes me think outside the box and generally develops skills I can use in the real world. One very impactful book I recently read is called “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by the late Stieg Larsson. At first, I was very skeptical. I heard great reviews about the new movie adaptation, so I went and checked it out. I found my self thoroughly entertained and quite surprised as well, as the story telling was captivating and thought provoking. I was so intrigued I went home and got the book the next day. The first 150 pages were excruciatingly slow and unexciting, however the build up during the middle and the climax were unrivaled by almost any other book I’ve ever read (besides “The Da Vinci Code,” of course).

The way that Stieg developed his characters and set them up with difficult tasks and awkward positions was very fun to read. I found that I was unable to put the book down once I got into the thick of it, and those are the best sorts of books to read. The book is a mystery, and generally one likes to run through the list of possible solutions while reading. However it’s almost impossible to predict the finale of this intricate tale, no matter how certain one may be. And I love that about books. If there’s one thing I cannot stand, it’s a predictable book because that just tells me that this author is pretty uncreative or didn’t really put in the necessary work to entertain the audience. Stieg Larsson went above and beyond expectations in this haunting murder mystery, and the book itself encourages me to think outside the box in my daily life.