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I became a Dan Brown fan when I finally read Angels and Demons. I’m sad to say that I haven’t read DaVinci Code, but I did think Tom Hanks played Robert Langdon well. With that said, I just recently finished two more of his books. Deception Point and Digital Fortress. Even when I am not totally into the topics, I seem to be pulled in by his addictive writing style. There is something that keeps me coming back, page after page. I’ve seldom felt like I “can’t” put a book down, but all three of Dan Brown’s books that I have read have enstilled that feeling.

In Deception point, there is a political race between a guy by the name of Sexton and the current president(Zach Herney). The race heats up as Sexton involves NASA and has run his campaign around the president spending so much money on NASA and how private companies should be allowed in space. NASA finds a meteorite with alien fossils buried in the Milne ice shelf and calls a bunch of civilian scientists to inspect the rock. What they find keeps you guessing. Oh and the politics are still dirty with sex scandals and money laundering. Don’t worry.

I would recommend it as a weekend book. Once you get into the book you won’t want to put it down. It didn’t take me long, after reading the first few pages next thing I knew I was at the end of the book. I would give it at B+ or a 7.5 on the CB scale.

Digital Fortress was my latest read, a Christmas present from my brother. In Digital Fortress the NSA builds a code cyphering machine that can decrypt any code you throw at it in less than 15 minutes. Everything is running smoothly until the man in charge is tempted with an “unbreakable code” a “digital fortress” if you will. From there, you are taken around the world, people are shot at, people are killed and unlikely suspects are found guilty and not guilty. This one makes you think, can the government really do this?

Again, I would recommend this as a relaxing weekend read, you will feel the need to finish it almost as quickly as Deception Point, but no where near Angels and Demons, or from what I’ve heard, DaVinci Code. A solid 7 on the CB scale.

Next up, NEXT by Michael Crichton

Just finished reading Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants. It was a gift from Matt for Christmas and I’d say “he’s done good.” I’ll share my likes and dislikes (while giving away minimal plot) and then rate it on a Chestbump 10-pt scale. I’ll try to do this for every book I read so in the event you are in the market for a good or different book, you can preview my take on it first.

Water for Elephants is a fictional novel that takes place both during the Great Depression and the 1990s. Jacob Jankowski is the main character, and while he’s in a nursing home ailing from nothing but old age, he flashes back on his whirlwind life on the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth (second to Ringling).

As someone who considers herself “over” circuses, this novel forced me to get caught up in a time when circuses were magical, marvelous, and a main form of entertainment for all social classes. What really intrigued me was the love story between Jacob and Marlena, a “performer,” as well as the love story between Rosie, an elephant, and Jacob.

Jacob sprung himself on the circus train after a family tragedy, and thus brought into the mix a way of coping with death I never would have considered before reading in between Gruen’s words.

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