The other day I finished The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and yesterday I finished The Girl Who Played With Fire. Both were great books.  

The Elegance of the Hedgehog wasn't really what I was expecting. Then again, I'm not sure exactly what I did expect. In any case, it mixed together the tales of a precocious 12-year old girl and a middle-aged concierge working to preserve a facade of simplicity. It was fun and the characters were generally likable. Those are really my main things when it comes to books. Do I enjoy reading them, and do I like the characters? In The Elegance of the Hedgehog, you like the characters you're supposed to like, and dislike the characters you're supposed to dislike. It's pretty straightforward, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The Girl Who Played With Fire met the expectations I set based on my impression of the first book in the series. It was intriguing and, at times, surprising. Once again, I would begin reading and eventually look over at the clock and realize it was 3 in the morning. All the same, I still found it difficult to put it down. Once you get into The Girl Who Played With Fire, it's hard to stop. You simply want to know what's going to happen. I will say, I found the ending a bit abrupt. I'm left with a feeling of "OK... but now what?" Since there's another book to go, maybe I'll find out.

Now I've moved on to The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Vanity Fair, and The Bell Jar. I'll update when I have more to say about them.

On an entirely different note, I did a little experiment today and ended up with a delicious smoothie: frozen raspberries, 1 small apple (w/ skin for the antioxidants!), and a splash of limeade. Yum!


And now back to watching the Tony awards (I taped it)!