Three Girls, Six Books

Two trilogies (well, one trilogy and one trilogy due to the author's death) that I read this year were similar in that they both featured strong female characters, were written by men and could both be science fiction...sort of.

William Gibson has been working on his latest trilogy (do any of these start out as such?) since 2001, encompassing Pattern Recognition, Spook Country and Zero History.

Stieg Larsson had finished the first three (and, according to various reports, gotten well along a fourth) books of a ten (!) book series before he passed away. Featuring eye-catching covers (which is why I picked up the first, before it became the wonder that it did), they have spawned multiple editions (two or three different hardcover editions, the weird paperback that is between a mass market and a trade, and a "normal" paperback), a trilogy of movies filmed on location and in the native language, and plans for a (no doubt way overblown) Hollywood remake.

Both trilogies feature men in primarily secondary roles and women in the strong primary role (spoiler warning on Gibson). Both feature real-world and more or less present-day settings. Both feature a lot of technology and product placement (I propose a drinking game for each of the trilogies...every time a product is mentioned, take a drink...how long before you are totally drunk?).

Gibson started, ostensibly, as a science fiction writer. Larsson did not. But both trilogies are science fiction.

Seriously, think about it. What is one thing that science fiction is good for? It takes a trend that the author has noticed and puts it in a odd setting (the future, outer space, another dimension) in order to have us take a new look at that trend. Gibson and Larsson did that—but with a real science fictional twist of using our "reality" as the science fiction setting. Both look at our world through the lens of science fiction.

(Yes, yes, Larsson is not a genre writer...well, not a writer of the science fiction genre. But try reading both trilogies mixed in your yearly reading and you'll see what I mean, I believe.)

Six enjoyable reads. The third Gibson will, as with previous books, require one or two more readings for me to fully appreciate it (it seems to be a pattern). Recommended.

William Gibson; Pattern Recognition (Putnam; 2003; ISBN 0-399-14986-4; cover by Benita Raphan).

William Gibson; Spook Country (Putnam; 2007; ISBN 978-0-399-15430-0; cover by Nicole La Roche).

William Gibson; Zero History (Putnam; 2010; ISBN 978-0-399-15682-3; cover by Nicole La Roche).

Stieg Larsson; The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Knopf; 2010; ISBN 978-0-307-26975-1; cover by Reg Mendelsund).

Stieg Larsson; The Girl Who Played With Fire (Knopf; 2010; ISBN 978-0-307-26998-0; cover by Reg Mendelsund).

Stieg Larsson; The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Knopf; 2010; ISBN 978-0-307-26999-7; cover by Reg Mendelsund).

Addendum: And for another look at the Larsson trilogy, try this pastiche.

Addendum: Over 1 million electronic copies? Still thing eBooks are a passing trend?