The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
Was I the only one not to get on with this book? The first volume in the Millennium trilogy, this is the story of journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who is hired by industrialist Henrik Vanger to solve the mystery of his niece’s disappearance several years before, under the guise of chronicling the family history. Blomkvist is assisted by the rebellious security specialist Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo. Read more
Different Seasons
by Stephen King
A collection of four novellas: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (which inspired the film The Shawshank Redemption), Apt Pupil (also made into a movie, I believe), The Body (made into the most excellent film Stand By Me), The Breathing Method. Read more
The Comfort of Strangers
by Ian McEwan
At a mere 100 pages, even slower readers like myself can read this in one sitting. A dark tale of an English couple holidaying in a city which is unmistakably Venice, though it is never explicitly stated. McEwan nevertheless captures the mood of the city and the landmarks are instantly recognisable through his vivid description. Read more
FlashForward
by Robert J. Sawyer
The book which inspired the popular TV series FlashForward. The television series, based on the premise that the entire world blacks out at the same time, each individual glimpsing a snapshot of their own futures, really captured my imagination. The book differs in a number of ways, not least in the timescale for the flashforward itself; the leap into the future is a couple of months for the TV series, whereas the visions in the book are some 21 years into the future. Read more
Misery
by Stephen King
This guy knows how to spin a yarn. Although this is the first book I’ve read by Stephen King, I have always loved those stories which have been turned into movies - Carrie,The Shining,Christine,Salem’s Lot - I was inspired to dip into Stephen King having read his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (the only book on creative writing from which I have so far genuinely taken something away), intrigued to read for myself how he puts what he preaches into practice. Read more