Joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, and joy is always given, never grasped. God gives gifts and I give thanks and I unwrap the gift given: joy.
Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
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Warning: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is not a book for everyone. There are many intense graphic scenes. Murder, sex, and violence are major themes and foul language is used throughout the book. If you do not feel comfortable with any of these elements, I highly recommend you do not even open the book. Once you start, it will be hard to put down.
I started and stopped reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a few times last summer, mainly because of time constraints. This is a complex novel with several storylines and two main characters, and I wanted to be able to read it in its entirety without too many interruptions. So, when I finished my novel in October 2024, this was the first book I pulled off the shelf.
The story begins with disgraced reporter Mikael Blomkvist. He used unverifiable and untrue sources to slander a large company and its owner. For this, he was prosecuted and found guilty of libel. After the trial, Blomkvist semi-retires to north Sweden at the invitation of the Henrik Vanger, head of the wealthy Vanger family, and is given the opportunity to write Henrik’s autobiography.
But there’s a twist. Blomkvist is asked to try to solve the mystery of sixteen year old Harriet Vanger who disappeared forty years ago. Was she murdered? No body was found. Did she run away? If so, how was it that absolutely no one had seen or heard from her since?
Enter the girl with the dragon tattoo that wraps up her back and around her neck: Lisbeth Salander. Lisbeth specializes in research – but not the kind in libraries with old books. She can dig up anything out of anyone’s past with a few quick strokes on her laptop keyboard. She was originally hired by the Vanger’s lawyer to research Blomkvist, but eventually Blomkvist hires her to research the Vangers, especially Harriett.
What they uncover falls into my Best Plot Twist Ever list. Sorry, I can’t say more.
The author, Stieg Larsson was Swedish and the editor of the magazine Expo. From the introduction: “He died in 2004, shortly after delivering the manuscripts for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and the third novel in the series.” (The third novel is The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.) Other authors have carried Lisbeth Salander’s character into more sequels, but that is a subject for another day.
Did you read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or its sequels? Let me know what you thought of them in the comments below.
“When she locked the door to her compartment, she could feel that for the first time in two days, her adrenaline levels had returned to normal. She opened the compartment window and defied the no-smoking regulations. She stood there sipping at her coffee as the train rolled out of Oslo.”
Steig Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Let me tell you why this quote is so cool. But first, personal context:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was the first novel I read after I finished writing my novel’s first draft. The problem with first drafts is that they are rudimentary and sorely underdeveloped. They say the first draft is for the writer, meaning it is the story the writer wants to tell. The following drafts are for the readers, shaping the story into the complete book it will eventually be.
The quote above is from the end of the second-to-last chapter of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It caught me and gripped me. As soon as I read it, I had to reread it and breathe out a sigh. “That’s so cool!”
Watch this.
Stieg Larsson could have said, “She picked up a cigarette” or “She took a drag from her cigarette.” Both would have been equally as effective at describing what She was doing. And both are equally as boring.
Instead, Larsson used words to paint a picture. We know exactly what she is doing, even though he never even mentioned a cigarette. “She defied the no-smoking regulations.”
Why did this phrase make me so excited? Because it was a clear example to an amateur what a master can do with words alone. Now I can begin editing my novel with this phrase in the back of my mind, and I will look for ways to incorporate this kind of storytelling. Storytelling that shows the picture instead of talking about it.
Can you think of some cool ways to describe things or actions without naming them? Put your imagination to the test in the comments below.
Is that why the Israelites kept recounting their past – to trust God for their future? Remembering is an act of thanksgiving, a way of thanksgiving, this turn of the heart over time’s shoulder to see all the long way His arms have carried… but gratitude is not only the memories of our heart; gratitude is a memory of God’s heart and to thank is to remember God.
Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
In memory, the shape of God’s yesterday-heart emerges and assures of God’s now-heart and reassures of His sure beat tomorrow. And for the first time, I see why the Israelites are covenanted with God to be a people who remember with thanks. It is thanksgiving that shapes a theology of trust and the Israelites bear witness and I see.
In early summer 2024, I was busy writing my pirate novel, and I remembered there is an incredible storm scene in The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. Since I was working on a storm scene of my own, I decided it would be beneficial to reread the book for storm scene ideas. Have you read it?
Thirteen year old Charlotte finds herself to be the only female passenger on a merchant ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The book follows her through her fears, uncertainties, friendships and adventures. There is a mutiny, a storm, and eventually, Charlotte is faced with a decision that could alter the course of her life forever.
True Confessions reads like a cross between a diary and a novel. Before her journey, Charlotte’s father instructed her to write everything down in her journal, and he would read it when she arrived safely home in Providence. He thoroughly disapproves of what she wrote, telling her she must have been making it all up. If I remember correctly, he burns her original journal so she has to write it all down again with a preface that states she is willing to swear that everything therein is true. Hence the name, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.
Avi is a master storyteller. He usually writes young adult fiction, so his stories are colorful and fun and they move at a fast pace so there is rarely a boring page. He covers many genres, but his historical fiction is my favorite. If you enjoy True Confessions, you may also like Crispin: Cross of Lead (a medieval mystery), Poppy (the tail of the mouse who saved the forest), Something Upstairs (a colonial ghost story), Night Journeys (another colonial adventure without ghosts), and Who was that Masked Man Anyway? (a WWII era coming-of-age tale). One of the great things about Avi is that he touches so many genres and types of stories that if you don’t like one of his books, you will probably like another.
Have you read any of Avi’s books? Leave me some suggestions in the comments.
“Words are like stories, don’t you think, Mr. Sweatman? They change as they are passed from mouth to mouth; their meanings stretch or truncate to fit what needs to be said. The Dictionary can’t possibly capture every variation, especially since so many have never been written down -”
Esme to Mr. Sweatman, in The Dictionary of Lost Words, by Pip Williams
“Words change over time, you see. The way they look, the way they sound; sometimes even their meaning changes. They have their own history.”
Da to Esme, in The Dictionary of Lost Words, by Pip Williams
“Never forget that, Esme. Words are our tools of resurrection.”
Aunt Ditte to Esme, in The Dictionary of Lost Words, BY Pip Williams
Assuaged – to pacify, calm, satisfy, or quench
“And always it assuaged me
from the dry bowl of the very far past.”
Mary Oliver, “Mornings at Blackwater“
For years, every morning, I drank
from Blackwater Pond.
It was flavored with oak leaves and also, no doubt,
the feet of ducks.
And always it assuaged me
from the dry bowl of the very far past.
What I want to say is
that the past is the past,
and the present is what your life is,
and you are capable
of choosing what that will be
darling citizen.
So come to the pond,
or the river of your imagination,
or the harbor of your longing,
and put your lips to the world.
And live
your life.
("Mornings at Blackwater", Mary Oliver, printed in Devotions, 2017)