Couldn’t put it down

Friday, 6th August, 2010

Well, I’m surprised I can even remember the password to get into this, it has been that long.

I got an Amazon voucher for my birthday in May from my brother, and I used it about a month ago to buy a few books. I bought a book on iPhone development (I fully intend to make a fortune with my iPhone app that I’ve yet to a) have an idea for; and b) write.)

I also bought the Millennium trilogy, which consists of the following books:

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played With Fire
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest

I read the first couple of chapters of the first book in the trilogy about a week after it arrived (I had spent the previous week reading the iPhone book, planning my fortune) and then I was too busy with work and life in general to go back to it. So it sat for maybe about another three weeks on the shelf in my bedroom.

Last Saturday, I woke up, and didn’t really feel like getting out of bed. So I thought I’d pick up the book again. I couldn’t really remember what I’d already read in the first couple of chapters, so I started right at the beginning again. I read those same chapters, and then another couple.

I eventually got out of bed, did the usual showering etc, and made breakfast. I didn’t have plans for that Saturday, so after I’d eaten, I sat in the armchair at my window with a mug of tea, and opened the book again. I’m not 100% sure, but I think it was at least two hours before I put that book down again. And that was only because I had to pee.

I pretty much spent the rest of that weekend reading the first book of the trilogy. By late Sunday night, I’d read most of it, but as I was working on Monday, I eventually succumbed to sleep. Not returning from work until after 7pm on the Monday, I made (and ate) dinner, watched some TV, and then went to bed, and read the remainder of the book. I’m not sure I’ve read a book of over 500 pages in such a short time ever before. I literally could not put that book down over the weekend.

When I am reading a book that I am really enjoying, I actually tend to read it in short bursts: maybe a chapter at a time. The reason being that I don’t want the story to finish. Like most enjoyable things in life, I don’t want them to end. But, I’d bought all three of the books in the Millennium series, and each book is thicker than the last, so I knew that what lay ahead was even more reading, and so I was content to speed through the first book in confidence that really it wasn’t going to end at page 538; rather, it was only going to lead into page 1 of 569 of the next book, and thereafter page 1 of whatever of the next book. Upshot is, there was plenty more reading to come in this trilogy, and so I let myself enjoy the book knowing it wasn’t “the end”.

I’m not going to do a book review on that book, and I certainly can’t review the trilogy as I’m only about a third of the way through the second book at the moment (which incidentally is also fantastic so far), but I will recommend that you read it. It’s an excellent book, one of the best I think I’ve ever enjoyed.

Right, I’m off to bed. To read, funnily enough.

6

Aug

Couldn’t put it down

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