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As with exercise regimens and New Year’s resolutions, summer reading lists are those kind of goals that, despite the best of intentions, never seem to get finished. Still, I’m pretty jazzed about the amount of reading I’ve managed on the subway and at lunch, and I forgive myself for not getting to the rest of the list – I had two trilogies to attend to!

I realize that I never expressed my post-reading feelings about some of these titles, so here’s a round up of the books I promised I’d read, and actually did!

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo AND The Girl Who Played With Fire – Stieg Larsson /

Murder mysteries aren’t exactly my thing, but I can see why this trilogy has so much buzz. If you can get through the first 250+ pages of exposition and keep up with the host of Swedish names, Larsson’s first book is a truly engrossing thriller, and the sequel takes it right on par from there.

I’m not sure why Dragon Tattoo, and especially detective/journalist/man-about-town Mikael Blomkvist, would be considered feminist in the least, as pointed out by The Rejectionist in this deliciously seething review. Blomkvist is exactly the man who male fiction writers like to fantasize they are (see Robert Langdon), and he spends way too much time being a lady-magnet in tweed to actually be a believable character. Salander, on the other hand, may be seriously screwy, but at least she is interesting.

I also agree that reading or watching highly disturbing scenes of rape and torture is not my idea of a good time (really, I only watch Law and Order SVU for Chris Meloni and Ice-T). I could stomach parts of the no-holds-barred Swedish film with the sound off, and reading those gruesome scenes left me needing some Glee songs and a cupcake.

That being said, take Stieg Larsson’s trilogy for what it is – crime fiction – not some icon of feminist literature. Maybe, like me, you don’t only read characters who hold to real-life moral standards (if that’s the case, knock yourself out with Left Behind, please). Get lost in Larsson’s cold, cold Scandinavian underworld… then come up for air and find something happy to do.

This Is Where I Leave You - Jonathan Tropper /

Several months after hearing Tropper speak and praising the cover design, I finally, finally read This Is Where I Leave You… and found a voice that I wasn’t exactly prepared for. Sure, the dark comedic elements were impeccably timed, as expected. But Tropper’s protagonist, Judd Foxman, also left me with a perspective on the middle-aged male

I caught a bit of The Seeker: The Dark is Rising on TV last night after Valeska and I watched Atonement. I only saw a few minutes and most of the time it was on I was explaining to Valeska why the movie is nothing at all like the books. It seemed like such a bland, generic movie, I couldn't get into it at all. But at least that led to me recommending the books for her nephew.

Oh and yes Atonement was good but Keira Knightley drives me nuts. I feel like her acting consists of straining her neck and gulping down air. Too bad too, because she always has these great roles. Though maybe she could have made a good Bella since she's so good at looking distressed. Oh well.

I just finished The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I loved it even though I felt like a lot of the characters, especially the teens, were too good to be true. I feel like the story could have easily been a really depressing one and I think that that might have even been easier to write. But I'm glad that it wasn't.

So what to read next? I have a huge to-read list and yet I can't seem to decide on anything these days. I'm contemplating The Southern Vampire Mysteries since I've been loving the TV show True Blood so much. But I hear the books are very different from the show, so maybe not?

Hey, I'm pretty sure I've seen every episode multiple times. But this is just sort of disturbing.

I mean wasn't the fact that these women were no longer in their twenties the drive behind the show? Eh, I guess not?

I'm still planning on renting the movie.

Chuck Palahniuk's book Choke has been made into a movie and it comes out Sep. 26th. I've read all of Palahniuk's books except, oddly enough, for Fight Club (but I did see the movie) and though I like them well enough, I find it easy to tire of the whole transcendence through the grotesque. But Choke is one of my favorites. It has one of the funniest, sickest scenes I've ever read. A scene which I really hope they didn't cut out in the movie, but I'm guessing they probably did.

Starting on January 13, PBS's Masterpiece Theatre will broadcast all six of Jane Austen novels, including four new adaptations and a biopic!

I'm a bit facinated by the way Jane Austen flares in popularity every few years, usually because of some new movie based on her work. Back in the highschool days, I remember being inspired to to read Emma after watching Clueless.

On Saturday, I was able to hear Stephenie Meyer speak at the gorgeous Library at Academy Square. Now that I have devoured both of her published books, I have time to type up my notes.

-Stephenie Meyer believes that writers should be disqualified from public speaking because they are crazy, sleep-deprived people who make faces and hear voices.

-Everyone she meets wants to write a book, except her husband.

-Be a writer, not an author. If writing isn't the good part, quit now. Letting people read what goes on in your head is scary. BUT, if you really love your characters, you'll want to share them with the world.

-Get an agent because people in Manhattan don't speak English. She was a mom of 3 who had absolutely never published anything in her life, when she started to query agents. She received a few rejections...just because someone tells you NO, doesn't mean they're right. Sometimes a book doesn't fit neatly into a certain genre. This makes it harder to place, but it also makes the book special, different, unexpected.

-CONTRACTS=LONG TIME, NO PAY.

-EDITING=AGONY/ECSTASY (but mostly agony.) Editing letters made her cry. They started extremely complimentary, but then proceeded to tell her everything she should change. She had to fight hard for her characters. Editors didn't like Bella's mom. They suggested that maybe she should die. They were also convinced that sex sells (and had the stats to prove it), but Stephenie Meyer refused to have any type of sex scenes in her books. That's just who she is. An author must learn when to listen to herself and when to take the advice of editors.

-It's hard to get your way until your a New York Times bestselling author, then suddenly everyone thinks you're brilliant.

-She received a note that said, "It's so great to have a book I can let my mother read."

-Write your book so YOU can't put it down. Don't spoil the writing by worrying about the readers or publishers.

-You must distance yourself from decisions you can't control, like the look of your book cover.

-While growing up, Stephenie Meyer loved to read huge books, the fatter, the better.

-She loves characters like Lois Lane/Bella. How does a normal person look at life when surrounded by superhero supermodels?

-Book Three, Eclipse, will be released in August. She is working on Book Four, which is tentatively called Breaking Dawn.

-She tried to write a chick-lit once, but she got bored with it. "Humans are not enough for me," she said.

-Meyer doesn't like dark, goth, or scary books/movies. She had never read a vampire book or seen a vampire movie. She enjoyed writing action scenes, however. Her books are inspired more by her love of superheroes than monsters.

-Before submitting a story for the first time, make it as good as you possibly can.

-Stephenie Meyer's current favorite books: Enthusiasmby Polly Shulman and The Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld.

-Her books are loosely tied to classics. Twilight=Pride and Prejudice, New Moon=Shakespaere, Eclipse=Wuthering Heights (although she doesn't like WH because it's too sad.)