Great to hear from you again.  The bond of love is difficult to break.  And I do think there was love (some kind of love) between Lisbeth and Blomkvist–from the very beginning.  You can’t go through what they went through and not have some shared feelings of closeness–hard as that may be to believe.

From the very beginning, Lisbeth (in my mind, anyway) has always stood on her own.  Courage-wise, intelligence-wise, she has always been a rung or two above Blomkvist.  She needs no defense or justification.  She’s exceptional (but she would be the last to admit this). 

I laughed (I really did) at your Hollywood cute/ feet nailing  juxtaposition.  You are very funny.    

I have not seen the latest Harry Potter movie, nor have I read the Hunger Games.  Right now I’m in the middle of Ron Chernow’s epic biography, Washington–A life.  

I plan to see Cowboys and Aliens this weekend.

Best,

Chris

You are spooky. Or at the very least, quite well-read. Having the knock at the door is an obvious choice, now, looking back on it, because no readers would want Lisbeth to stay away from that cad Blomkvist forever; U.S.A. readers would definitely want them back together somehow, even just as friends (or as a trusty crime-fighting duo). But as I was reading the last book, I was OK with them not finding one another again, probably because I have this basic disdain for Blomkvist and I want Lisbeth to stand on her own. I also truly was surprised, because I expected that the non-disney-ified Swede Larsson would go for the eurotrash ending: “It is fate. Life is hard. It is misery and death.” and not go for the Hollywood cute denouement. I think the Hollywood cute is hilarious next to nailing feet into floors and other snuff like that (<– wasn't a typo). 
Still waiting on the US film. This crap takes forever, apparently. I am satiated for now by the last installment of Harry Potter. IMAX 3D is the only way to view those movies, I'm convinced. The Larsson movies? I'll probably only be able to stand watching them on my DS. I shut my eyes during the Swedish versions… but again, they are all comfy with the misery and death. Hollywood will make it look so fake that we'll all be waiting eagerly for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version to come out.

Thanks on the fancy-schmancy compliment. My graphics were done by Rick Wolff. You can find him here: http://rickwolff.com/

Great to see you, Chris. I enjoyed this conversation.

Are you reading The Hunger Games trilogy? It's YA but it's pretty mesmerizing. I'm on the last of the 3 books. 

-PC

Has it really been a year since I completed the reading of Hornet’s Nest?  I was scrolling down my Favorites and came across the Purple Car address.  Thought I’d look things up to see how everybody was doing.  (Like the new fancy graphics–nice!)

Well.  The final book was as good as the others although things moved a bit slowly while Lizsbeth remained in the hospital.  The ending at the brickworks yard was as fine as any graphic novel I have read recently, and I think that’s one of the things that make Larsson so appealing; his ability to shake things up–genre-wise.  It’s like they say, know the rules of writing, then break them (should you wish).

Curiously, did you happen  to note the very end of the story when Blomkvist comes to visit Salander, at her apartment?  Talk about prophetic.  (Scroll down and see my entry from about a year ago).

Best,

Chris

The fight scenes in the next book and the last book are as unbelievable. More
gripping, though, I have to say.

That being said, I didn’t suspect Martin at all. Did you?

Peace!
-PurpleCar
http://www.purplecar.net/