The Millennium Trilogy

…which consists of: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

I’ve been putting off this write-up because I finished these books several weeks ago but I wanted to devote proper attention to this post. And I’m still going to be extremely vague. It was really, really fabulous. The trilogy was one of the most engaging, most stimulating plots I’ve read in a while. It really has something for everyone: gender studies, state of the art technology (not to mention technology namedropping), social criticism, media as an actor, mystery, and tons of sex. Really, the male protagonist sleeps with literally every main female character in the trilogy.

Nevertheless, highly highly highly recommended!

The Penelopiad

I can always count on Margaret Atwood to write something completely crazy and yet somehow profound.  The Penelopiad tells the story of the Odyssey, but from the point of view of Penelope and the twelve maids whom Telemachus killed for suspected disloyalty.

My favourite parts are when Penelope rants about Helen (as in “of Troy”) because she was actually a total bitch and completely full of herself.  It’s nice to see women being all catty even thousands of years ago.

The World According to Garp

How come I never read this before?!  John Irving is absolutely brilliant.  The book was depressing and hopeful, amusing and disastrous.  It starts out with Jenny Fields, a nurse who intentionally impregnates herself by raping a terminal patient.  She names the boy Garp, and Jenny raises him on her own.

As Garp grows up, he encounters death and sexuality and everything that all adolescents suffer through, except his life is full of drama and insanity and chaos.  I swear, there was not a moment where I felt like “Yawn, I could see that coming.” I definitely enjoyed reading it and was genuinely surprised and anxious as the events unfolded.  Wonderfully written.