PMS is a bitch

[elementalhero]

I am about to say three words. Before I say them, you should know this has nothing to do with the actual content of the The Girl Who ____ books, because I never wish to read them, based purely on the awful pain and suffering I have endured on their stupid account. I am sure there are many people who enjoy them.

That said, those three words are:

FUCK STIEG LARSSON.

Screw his stupid books which have become stupidly popular in a stupidly short amount of time. Screw the awful-grade paper they are printed on, which jams the machines and slices my fingers into mincemeat. Screw his stupid relatives, who have pushed his unpublished manuscripts into being published because his will stipulated that they'd get all his assets which includes any future book royalties. Screw their obnoxious naming convention that makes their titles obnoxious to say whenever we glance at the schedule and moan, "shitfuck, we're doing The Girl Who Clusterfucked the Mass-Market Paperback Industry again." And screw his boring, tasteless, paper-dry writing style, which I had to stare at for a whole week about a month ago while I was trapped on the automation line, hating my life and waiting to die from some sort of tragic foot-pain-related condition.




...That was building up inside me for a while. Sorry.

Comments

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

"shitfuck, we're doing The Girl Who Clusterfucked the Mass-Market Paperback Industry again."

Oh, sweetie, I ♥ you.

And screw his boring, tasteless, paper-dry writing style,

I don't know about tasteless, but it's certainly paper-dry.

[okroginator.livejournal.com]

By "tasteless," I meant not "classless" but "bland/boring/like food that has no taste." Probably not good word choice there :/a

Do you think maybe the writing style thing is entirely his fault, or the fact that these books are being translated out of Swedish? I made the comment about it before looking him up and realizing that the books were not originally written in English. On the other hand, I've seen books with beautiful prose that was translated out of its original language (see also: Cornelia Funke).

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Do you think maybe the writing style thing is entirely his fault, or the fact that these books are being translated out of Swedish?

I definitely think his writing style is successfully being translated given that a.) reading it reminds me of reading a Dan Brown book, whose titles shared a similar popularity and b.) he was a journalist and his narrative style matches up nicely with the voice expected in most newspapers and serious magazines.

[okroginator.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. I read Dan Brown a long time ago, but lately I have become pickier and picker about the writing style in the books I read, and straight master narrative no longer excites me. I think that's why I ended up hating my Journalism classes so much (aside from the fact that I hated my teacher in senior year) - the type of writing that journalists are meant to employ is just not my style or taste (though I know it should be bland and flavorless because a journalist's job is to report without bias, and emphatic, colorful words carry subconscious bias no matter how you use them).

Most solely plot-driven novels (like run-of-the-mill thrillers and whodunits) employ a pretty journalistic writing style because the author places more importance on the plot (the narrative) rather than the characters. I tend to prefer character-driven books anymore, but when I find a good thriller that's also written creatively with characters I care about, it's like striking gold.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I tend to prefer character-driven books anymore, but when I find a good thriller that's also written creatively with characters I care about, it's like striking gold.

That's true, although I have to admit, I have a level of affection for the Dan Brown/Steig Larson thrillers. First, I DO appreciate them as the masters of plot they are, and secondly because they are often able to create vivid characters. (I don't think it's any coincidence that half the blurbs you'll read on the back of The Girl With books is about Lisbet.)

Also, the complete series arrived today and I thought you deserved a personal thank-you.

[okroginator.livejournal.com]

D'aww ♥