That Fascinating Tattoo Girl

I finally read The Girl Who Played with Fire.  I'll tell you: after finishing the first book, I really had NO desire whatsoever to read any more, but once I start a series, I try to finish it.  So, I'm finally finishing the series.  I don't understand why Stieg Larsson's series has gotten so much hype.  The only reason I can think of is that it's so popular because of all the weird sex stuff going on in the books.  I'm bored out of my mind with this series.  It takes Larsson FOREVER to get from one scene to the next.  He tries TOO hard to keep things a mystery, but there really and truly is such a thing as TOO MUCH MYSTERY. 

I do admit that Lisbeth Salander is one of the most interesting characters I've read about in recent books, but at the same time, a great character isn't enough to carry a whole story.  I am interested in finding out what happens to Lisbeth, but I really could care less about reading this whole book/series.  This particular book was approximately 630 pages and, sadly, I FELT all 630 pages.

The best books I've ever read are the ones where, regardless of the length, I don't even realize when I turn a page.  Larsson's books are tedious and make me notice each and every turn of the page.  It's WORSE than reading a textbook.  As I said, though, the only saving grace about this series is Lisbeth Salander.  She really is interesting, fascinating, and completely the type of young woman we love to hate--not quite as much as Scarlet O'Hara, but still pretty good.  Lisbeth's story ruins "it" for her; at least Scarlet's story is interesting and kept me anxious to turn to the page for the next thing....and even ended too soon, in spite of the fact that it's almost a thousand pages long!!!!