The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

I've kind of half watched the film a few years ago, which means that I've probably started watching it and then not been thrilled so wandered off and done something else or I've fallen asleep! I had massively high hopes for this based on how much I'd enjoyed Angels and Demons and whilst it was good, it could not reach the heady heights provided by DB's first book due to its wonderful setting, intriguing plot and non-stop intrigue.

Set mostly in Paris, but towards the end switching to London and Scotland it is again religion-based, again based on the hero Robert Langdon, but this time with a different beautiful female sidekick. Insted of trying to save the Vatican, Langdon finds himself in the search for the Holy Grail which will confound religious teachings. Again, it is a story of codes and puzzles, and how they are solved using a series of historical clues.

Overall, a good effort and very enjoyable. If I'd read this before A&D then I think I would have thought it fab but after it, then it just did n't quite hit the mark. I'm not sure I'll be able to find the motivation to read Brown's latest offering, The Lost Symbol. Having looked through it in the supermarket it seemed to be completely about the codes and puzzles and someone who has read it suggested the same, without my prompting. Back to Harlan Coben for me!

The Shadow in the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This was the first book I read this year. A lady I dated for a while thought it was the best book she'd ever read. We were n't together long, but that's not because of her taste in fiction.

It is undoubtedly a good book. The novel tells about the experiences of a young boy named Daniel living in Barcelona, who one day innocently comes across a book called 'The Shadow of the Wind'. After enjoying the book, he is puzzled as to why nobody, even those knowlegable in literature, seem to know anything about the novel's mysterious author - Julian Carax. It is his curiosity to discover more about the life of Julian that sets him on the path to a thrilling but equally dangerous adventure.

The characters are good and the story is good. The scenes are well described and the Barcelona setting was interesting too. For me the highlight was the character of Fermin Romero de Torres, who is hilarious. It was a page tuner, but I could put it down :-)