Done!

[Aravis]

You have put down the book. Now what are your thoughts?

[pinkozcat]

I'd be interested in people's opinion of the Da Vinci Code. It made No.9 in the list of best books of all time but the opinion at the other book place I visit is that it didn't deserve to be there.

I read it because it was emblazoned across the cover of 'The Templar Revelation' which I was reading.

However, I found it lightweight and a bit contrived.

Interesting thought - does the fact that a book gets to the top of the best seller list generate enough sales to keep it there, regardless of merit?

[Aravis]

Pink, I just checked it out of the library. I had no intention of reading it (I hate things that are overly hyped) and I have also heard from others that it isn't as good as the hype. However my mother read it recently and she really loved it. She doesn't often have time to read anymore and doesn't read a book because it's the craze of the moment. She also isn't one who has bought into the whole theory, as some readers have. She just liked the story and she really wants me to read it. I'll be starting it this weekend most likely. I'll let you know what I think. I'm not looking for any revelations in it, just a story. So perhaps I will enjoy it on that level.

[RobertGraves]

Pinkozcat, I enjoyed the top 10 list on tv last sunday night too but agree that the Da Vinci Code is little more than pulp. In fact, because I read the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (I think that's the title) back in 1994 it had very little suspense for me at all. Here's the whole 100 favourite books as voted by 15 000 Australians:
www.abc.net.au/myfavouritebook/top10/100.htm
I found it odd that the bible was at no. 3 - is that really a 'favourite' book? I guess it must be.

[pinkozcat]

I understand that the Bible is the all-time best seller in the world and when you think about it, it has been translated into many languages, appears in many different versions and has been around for a great many years longer than The Da Vinci Code so I guess that is deserves a place.

Whether it is actually read very often these days is another matter but it is still read in all Christian churches at least once each week and there is one in pretty well every hotel room in the world.

[Aravis]

The first year Humanities college-prep classes at our local high school study the bible as a literary work, rather than as a religious one. I wasn't in that program until my second year so I missed it. I've always thought I would have enjoyed reading and discussing it from that point of view.

[Aravis]

I have finally finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. This was a great book! It was full of wry humor and the ending was sad, wistful and yet hopeful too. I would definitely read Ms. Clarke's future works.

[Aravis]

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown.

Let me begin by saying that I was extremely reluctant to read this book because of all of the nonsensical hype. I would probably have gladly never read it, were it not for the request of my mother that I do so. She, too, did not buy into the hype. She simply thought I might enjoy it.

I did.

It was a fun, light read with a quick pace and an intriguing premise. No, I am not about to run off searching for the Holy Grail and add to the French tourism nightmare that the country has been enduring as a result of this book. It was simply a neat idea. The story itself was often predictable. I came across the odd Plot-Twist-That-Wasn't. But I have to say that I have read a lot worse trash and am glad that I decided to read this one after all. I can see why my mother wanted me to read it: I love a mystery and don't care for organized religion.

Now, on with the next book!

[pinkozcat]

I have just finished reading Pompeii by Robert Harris. It is a fascinating work of fiction written from the point of view of the engineer in charge of the Aqua Augusta and records the days of the the eruption of Vesuvius and the personalities affected at that time.

I think that it was based on an account written by Pliny who witnessed the eruption and eventually died in it. He is one of the main characters in the book and is depicted as dictating his observations right up to the time of his death.

In the light of the tsunami disaster it would seem that God has "tested us" more than once.

I saw a TV documentary on Pompeii last year and it was interesting to read the book as many of the characters appeared in both the book and the documentary.

I have just started reading another of Robert Harris' books - Archangel - which I have been warned is not a pleasant book. I'll let you know ...

I can recommend another of his books - Enigma. Anyone who has read Dan Brown's 'Digital Fortress' will see parallels to Enigma but Enigma is a far better book.

[Aravis]

Peace Like A River by Leif Enger.

Classic story of Good vs. Evil as seen through the eyes of an 11-year-old asthmatic boy, Reuben, and set against the backdrop of North Dakota in 1963. His father Jeremiah is a man of great faith who performs miracles which only Reuben seems to notice. Reuben's older brother Davy, on the other hand, hates the thought of anything or anyone having control over his fate other than himself. When two bullies start terrorizing the family, Davy takes the law into his own hands and commits a controversial murder. When he breaks out of jail, their father packs up Reuben and his younger sister Swede to follow Davy's trail and help him to do the right thing. But Davy has got caught up with someone whose soul is dead and is all the more terrifying for it. To escape him would mean abandoning an innocent young girl, and that Davy cannot do.

This was a sad and touching story of faith, love and family.

Highly recommended.

[RobertGraves]

I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and enjoyed it thoroughly. I would guess, from the ending of the novel, that there will be a sequel.

Here are a couple of short stories by the author:

www.jonathanstrange.com/copy.asp?s=4&id=13

www.bloomsbury.com/ezine/Articles/Articles.asp?ezine%5Farticle%5Fid=1179

[RobertGraves]

Q What’s next for you? What’s next for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell?

SC The next book will be set in the same world and will probably start a few years after Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell finishes. I feel very much at home in the early nineteenth century and am not inclined to leave it. I doubt that the new book will be a sequel in the strictest sense. There are new characters to be introduced, though probably some old friends will appear too. I’d like to move down the social scale a bit. Strange and Norrell were both rich, with pots of money and big estates. Some of the characters in the second book have to struggle a bit harder to keep body and soul together. I expect there’ll be more about John Uskglass, the Raven King, and about how magic develops in England.

[demgoddess]

I have been wanting to read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but it is always checked out of our library. And, since I just had to put down a gigantic security deposit for my move in August, my bank account doesn't think I should be buying any books right now. In the meantime, it's good to know Robert and Aravis enjoyed it...I'll keep it on my "to read" list and let you know if I ever get the chance to read it!

[Aravis]

Thanks for the update Robert; I did wonder. Now I'll be watching out for it.

[pinkozcat]

I've just finished reading a travel book with a difference. It is called Molvania and it was written by the team which writes the Lonely Planet series of travel books; this one is from the Jet Lag travel series.

It is a very funny expose of an imaginary country somewhere in the Balkans written in the format of the Lonely Planet travel books.

There is a sequel called Phaic Tan about a country somewhere in Asia and I am just about to start reading it, hoping that it will be as good as the first.

The books are published in Australia and I don't know if they are available overseas but for a bit of comic relief they are worth reading.