Need More Book Time!

I've had this perennial problem. Actually, it started the year before I got married, when I moved in with Ken in 1985. Ken loves to watch dramatic television in the evenings. And he loves to have me right there watching with him. Sophie, our golden retriever, lies between us on the sofa. I usually watch one or two shows per evening, shows I like that we've taped, but how I wish that I could block out the tv's distracting noise and read. But I can't. I've tried--I've tried over and over, but I can't focus. I can, if I'm lucky, get the gist of a chapter, but I can't capture all the atmospheric details or the nuances of dialogue. I beg you, if you've ever faced a similar dilemma, how have you handled it? I'm open to all suggestions.

In rereading the first 50-75 pages of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I'd forgotten that there's some fairly dense financial details the reader has to grab onto before proceeding with the juiciness of the plot. I believe I'm past that now, and Holmkvist (sorry, sp.) is headed toward Hedestad, which, I recall, makes for fun reading. So I think I'm out of the woods. In this reading, I want to experience Sweden. I need to google the locations in Stockholm that Larsson writes about, and the various vacation locales that keep popping up. I want to immerse myself in Sweden while reading this book. More on this very soon.