Millennium trilogy
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
The 4th Book
Millennium Stockholm Map
Maps of Hedeby
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The swedish site:
Stieg Larsson - mannen bakom Lisbeth Salander
We are not in any way affiliated with Stieg Larsson or Stieg Larssons family. This is a unofficial site.
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Swedish info:
För alla som gillar litteratur. Litteraturmagazinet vänder sig till alla som gillar att en god bok, som planerar att läsa Viskleken av Arne Dahl eller Änglamakerskan av Camilla Läckberg
LitteraturMagazinet (in Swedish)
Millennium-trilogy
The Millennium-trilogy consist of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl Who Played With Fire", and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest".
A well prepared debutant
Stieg Larsson began thinking about writing detective novels back in the early 90's, according to co-worker Anna-Lena Lodenius in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Veckans Affärer. He had always been interested in particularly Anglo-Saxon literature and knew the works of Elizabeth George, Minette Walters and Sara Paretsky very well. He knew what ingredients a good detective story should have, and he even reluctantly decided to spice it up with a bit of sex as it would probably please his readers.
A regrettable refusal
As for his work as a journalist, his preparations for the series were thorough. Before he started writing, he had made a detailed synopsis for ten books. He started writing in 1997, and it was not until he had finished the first two books and had the third one under way that he contacted a publisher in the summer of 2003. His first contact was with publisher Piratförlaget, which refused his script twice, perhaps the biggest mistake in Swedish publishing history. Instead, it was the publisher Nordstedts which got the opportunity to sign him in late 2003. With them, Stieg Larsson signed a contract of three books, an exceptional opportunity for an unpublished writer. The publishing rights were also bought by German and Norwegian publisher before it was even published in Sweden. During 2004 Stieg Larsson made minor adjustments to his two finished books and finished the third. When he died in November 2004, it was only a few months before the first book of the Millennium-series was released to the Swedish audience and became an immediate success.
Pippi Longstocking as a source of inspiration
Kenneth Ahlborn, a former colleague of Stieg's at TT, says in an interview with Veckans Affärer that Stieg got the idea for the character Lisbeth Salander after a discussion during a break from work. They were talking about how different characters from children's books would manage and behave if they were alive and grown up. Stieg especially liked the idea about a grown up Pippi Longstocking, a dysfunctional girl, probably with attention deficit disorder who would have had a hard time finding a regular place in the "normal society", and he used part those characteristics when he created lisbeth Salander.
- "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"
- "The Girl Who Played With Fire"
- "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest"
Screen versions of the trilogy
It early became clear that the very popular books would be made in screen versions. In 2008 production began in Sweden, and the three books was shot back-to-back into three movies during the following year. The three movies were given the same names as the books. In the Swedish versions, male actor Michael Nyqvist plays Michael Blomkvist, while Noomi Rapace plays Lisbeth Salander.
Meanwhile the books were a major hit all over the world and it did not take long for Hollywood to see the huge potential in the thrilogy. The legal rights for the novels were set between Columbia Pictures, Stieg Larssons brothers and father and Yellow Bird, the production company behind the swedish films. Production was put on a fast track and the the search to fill the roles started.
In the end Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig were casted as leads playing Lisbeth Salander and Michael Blomkvist.
Read more about the films here
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How I started reading the books was when I had watched the Swedish movies on Netflix. I had been curious about the movie before the movie became really popular, and had started watching it after passing the first movie a few times while I was looking for something to watch. After watching the trilogy a few times, I decided to read the first book, to see how I liked it. So I read the sample of the first book on my Nook color, being hooked onto it right away. As I read it, I understood more of why the characters did what they did, and what else happened during that time, which was a nice insight onto the movie itself. There are a few parts that are really detailed and long, but nevertheless, I loved reading the book. Now I'm on the third book, and like I said, it's a great insight to what the characters motives where during all of the stories.
I just wish Stieg Larsson was alive to see how popular
his books became. And I wish that the series could have continued to the ten books
he had originally wanted, but I'm pleased with how the third movie had ended, and I'm pretty excited to see how the third book ends.
- Nicole, 3 February 2012
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suck a bood book perfecltiy plotted and plannned
- , 3 February 2012
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I first heard of the Millennium trilogy when I was living in Russia, unfortunately I couldn't read Russian. In 2010 I relocated to the UK and arranged for the Hampshire library service to get me all three novels. As I was waiting for my wife to join me I was able to read all three almost continuously over a week. Hooked absolutely in the first few pages, shocked and horrified at the chapter headings. Love female heroines and lisbeth is top of my list.
Checked out Wikipeadia and found out about the film versions and watched those last year. Naomi Race brought my imaginary lisbeth to life and the other characters fulfilled the promise of the novels. The US version was ok but so far away from the novels .................
Now I've got the Millennium TV extended version, I;m so taken that I guess I will have to buy the books and reread them and hope some one, Steg Larsons lady hopefully, wii finish the fourt nove
- Technoterri Gagarin-Rawlings, 2 February 2012
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Sitting at the movies was my first introduction to this intense thriller. I was captivated and wanted more. I bought the 2nd and 3rd millennium and did nothing else but read . Non stop drama loved every page I turned . Wish there was more.
- Paulette, 30 January 2012
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Stumbled upon this website about Steig Larrson. Does this site have an editor?
So many grammatical errors and misspellings! This website is so hard to read. I believe Eva would have done a better job keeping the website up to Steig's standards. What a shame. An article about Steig in Vanity Fair magazine gives a more personal view of this great writer.
- Diana Mc, 26 January 2012
You spelled Stiegs name (first and last)
wrong so maybe you shouldn't throw stones ; )
- buerkle63, 31 January 2012
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I saw the movie "The girl who played with fire". Speechless I have been till it's finished. Fallen in love with Lizbeth in the movie.
And of course, none but Noomi is the only one who could play the girl who played with fire in the real sense.
Hats off to you NOOMI !
- M Alimul Hyder, 24 January 2012
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Seems a shame that the movie people have to scavenge any and every intellectual property they can make a trilogy out of.
That said, I'm a novelist and would be glad to entertain any and all offers 8)
- Alan Schulz, 23 January 2012
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The books and movies will catch you and you'll keep reading (or watching) till the end. You can't stop. And when you're finished, it leaves you sad... I wanted to dig back into that atmosphere and fascinating character of Salander again. So what did I do after reading all 3 books last year, seeing the 3 Scandinavian movies last year, and just having seen the first US version of the movie - to fill in the gap? Well, instead of waiting for the other two US movies I decided to just RE-read the books! Will there ever be another book like this? I doubt it. Magnificent. Why oh why did Stieg have to die....?
- Miranda, 21 January 2012
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One of the best books I have read for ages -The girl with the dragon tattoo. I can't wait to read the other two
- M. Hughes, 17 January 2012
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Older comments
Stieg Larsson
The Movies
ONLY HAD READ THE FIRST,COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN,LOVE IT!!!!
- , 3 February 2012