I hate to succumb to the will of the masses, but since pretty much EVERYONE is reading these books, I figured I might as well give them as shot.  Alternately known as "The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo" series, they're part mystery, part procedurals, and they're, well, interesting.  I'm only partway into the second book, and while I won't go so far as to say that I like them, I will say that they have kept me reading, so I guess that's something.  The first two both start off incredibly slowly, but once they get moving, they are pretty gripping.

My biggest complaint right now as that these are books with an agenda.  I greatly prefer fiction to simply be a nice story with interesting characters, and I become annoyed when authors decide they need to infuse fiction with their own politics.  In the case of this series, Steig Larsson wants to beat you over the head with Swedish sexual abuse statistics.  Dear Mr. Larsson, I already know that sexual abuse is a bad thing, and I whole heartedly agree that it should be prevented, stopped, punished, etc, but a little subtely would have gone a long way here.

Once I finish the books, I suppose I'll rent the Swedish films to see how they translated to the screen, but I'm more interested in the David Fincher Hollywood versions that are on the way with Daniel Craig.