Fuck me, that was good.

I'm not going to apologise for being absent for a few days, because I've spent that time being extremely productive: I've read the entire "The Girl..." series by Steig Larsson.  And fuck me, was it good.

I haven't read any reviews of the series deliberately, because I don't give a shit what other people think about it.  To me, those three books are some of the best literature to have been published in the last few years, and I think it's a Michael Jackson-esque tragedy that the author died before he could create anything else.  (By Michael Jackson-esque, I mean that they both died too young, but also that they probably died in their prime - before they could produce anything crap.)

Lisbeth Salander is one of the most well-written and outstandingly brilliant female characters I've ever come across.  I simply couldn't stop turning pages whenever she was active in the plot, and I've lost a fair bit of sleep because of it.  She's just so... so... feminist!  Ballsy isn't a very feminist term - I suppose it ought to be some reference to ovaries or breasts, but that seems a bit weird - but she really is ballsy.  The girl has guts, and I admire Larsson so much for being a male writer who has caught the mood of young ballsy women everywhere.  She stands up for herself, but when the world is out to destroy her (or the entire Swedish government, whatever), she just bides her time, takes the abuse, and stores away information to use against them in the future.  She's a complete legend.

I loved Mikael Blomkvist too, but not nearly as passionately.  He's smart, but he just couldn't have done anything without Salander.

I watched the film of the first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I felt that Salander wasn't nearly as skinny, ass-kicking, or downright weird as she is in the book.  I realise that you cannot possibly ever translate an entire novel comfortably to the silver screen (look at Harry Potter, for God's sake), but they could definitely have done more with Salander.  I know The Girl Who Played With Fire is currently in cinemas, but I think they ought to ask me to direct the third movie: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest.  I'd do a cracking job.

I want to know what happened to Camille though.  Maybe if they don't ask me to direct a movie I could write a fourth book instead, and we'd find out what happened to her.  Now there's an idea...