I was on the phone with a patron who was placing a hold on one of Carol O'Connell's Kathy Mallory books, and the conversation turned -- as it will -- to Stieg Larsson.
Me: Yeah, you know, I'm halfway through the audio of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo right now, and I'm surprised at how good it is.
Patron: Because if it's that popular, how can it be that good?
Me: Well... YEAH. And Lisabeth Salander is reminding me a little bit of Kathy Mallory, in that borderline-sociopath-sort-of-way.
Patron: Well, you'll get to know more and more about her as it goes on, and why she is the way she is...
Me: Oh, I didn't mean that in a BAD way!
Patron: <HUGE, HUGE PAUSE before breaking into big, big laughs -- the kind of laughs that made me very sure that he won't let me live that one down for a while>
In my defense, I related that conversation to a different patron (who's read both series), and he TOTALLY agreed with me.
Well if I'd known THAT comparison could be made, I would have picked up the Larsson ages ago. Sad how I judge a book by it's bestsellerlyness.
Posted by: Diana | 26 May 2010 at 11:48 AM
Oh, I completely agree about the similarity between Mallory and Salander, too.
Posted by: Trisha | 26 May 2010 at 06:29 PM
Lisbeth reminds me a lot of Smilla in Smilla's Sense of Snow. I love love love that book. (Fun fact: the two translators are married to each other. And my mom went to high school with Tiina.)
Posted by: Floatinglush.wordpress.com | 27 May 2010 at 10:42 PM
Love both series - perhaps because of the sociopath characteristic. I was sad to finish the last Larrson.
Cindy
Posted by: Cindy | 09 June 2010 at 09:10 PM