The Da Vinci Code

By Dan Brown

Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard, is called upon to investigate the murder of Jacques Saunière, curator of the Lourve in Paris. In his last moments, with his life draining away, Saunière positions his own dying body in such a manner to give clues pointing to Da Vinci's works. In order to sort out the mystery, many puzzles and brain teasers, many of which are in the art of Da Vinci, must be sorted out. It all seems connected to the search for the Holy Grail. Several story lines run simultaneously through book before coming together in the end.
I was surprised to discover that "The Da Vinci Code" was little more than an action/adventure book. With all the hype surrounding it, I was expecting something much more cerebral. It also seemed somewhat deficient in research. I'm not a religious scholar by any means and even I was aware of some very strong evidence that Mary Magdalene was Jesus's wife that Brown did not use, actually he left out some of the biggest clues. "The Da Vinci Code" isn't a bad or boring read, it merely a fairly basic action story. That and it has a few major plot holes you can drive a truck through. You check out Brown's homepage at www.danbrown.com.

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination

By Helen Fielding

Meet Olivia Joules. She’s a thin attractive freelance fashion journalist who desperately wants to be taken seriously. But her looks and her overactive imagination have kept her firmly in the land of fluff. When sent to cover a face cream launch in Miami, she becomes convinced that an attractive exotic playboy is really an al-Qaeda operative on a terrible mission.
I would love to tell you more about the story line, but that would ruin a rather entertaining read. Part of the fun of this book is trying to figure out if Olivia Joules is right or just a nut.
I don’t dig too many chick lit books. They’re frequently shallow, uninteresting and completely lacking in humor. Although wildly improbable, this book is entertaining, fresh and it does not take itself seriously. Things do become a little odd in the later chapters of the book. Olivia's love interest suddenly starts calling her "Baby" every other paragraph which gets a little embarrasing. And the plot gets a little too absurd, but still enjoyable. It is cross between a romantic comedy and an international spy thriller. It’s a great book to read on vacation.