Stieg Larsson: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" ("Men Who Hate Women"); Małgorzata Kalicińska: "Miłość nad rozlewiskiem"

Since I caught a cold, I had to spend some time in bed - with a book, of course - hence the unplanned entry devoted to the books which I indulged in reading precisely because I was ill.

Stieg Larsson's thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the title of the Polish edition translates into Men who Hate Women) is the first book out of his three-volume series titled Millenium. So much has been written about this crime story, which appeared on the Polish book market a few months ago, that there is no need to advertise it any more. The novels have gained huge popularity in Sweden, and the fact was confirmed by the two awards granted to them by the Swedish Academy for Detective Novels. Unfortunately, Stieg Larsson himself died before the publication of his books and could not relish in the success.

Since the novel is an extremely involving crime story, it would be a mistake to summarize the plot, so the following will serve as a sort of introduction encouraging prospective readers to reach for the book immediately: Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared off the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family. There was no corpse, no witnesses, no evidence. But her uncle, Henrik, is convinced that she was murdered by someone from her own deeply dysfunctional Vanger clan. Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomqvist is hired to investigate. A great read! Make sure you have plenty of time when you decide to start reading it because putting away the book (630 pages long) before one gets to the end seems impossible!

A third trip to the familiar magical world of Małgorzata Kalicińska's series was an indulgence which I needed badly as a convalescent;). Just like in the case of Larsson's novel, recommending this book seems redundant since Kalicińska's trilogy has recently been very popular in Poland. I bought the book as a Christmas gift for my sister, but I couldn't help reading it before it landed under the Christmas tree;) And, as always happens with her works, I found Kalicińska's story set in the rustic Mazurian Lake District so absorbing that tearing myself away from the book was almost painful. (Those who have read the first two books in the series probably know what I mean.) The third novel is not different: ok, maybe the author's style is sometimes irritating, maybe her rendition of the few erotic scenes deserves to be called pathetic (as if sex was an embarrassing addition to a fifty-year-old woman's life) but the charm of the country life of the extended family created by her is irresistible. Escapist fiction? - yes, and heartily recommended.