*** out of ****
This book was a good break of routine. Cecilia Ahern is an Irish author, and she wrote the book P.S. I Love You, which is now a film. And of course, being Ahern is an Irish author, this book took place in cozy little Dublin, Ireland. Oh, and another place, called Here.
The story revolves around 2 main characters, Sandy Shortt, and Jack Ruttle. Sandy Shortte runs a missing persons agency, after she left the Garda. (The Garda is basically the police force of Ireland.) She has been obsessed with missing items and people ever since the girl who lived across from her in her childhood went missing. Jack Ruttle is a simple guy whose little brother, Donal, had gone missing a year ago. And he can't let that go, and is determined to find him. So their paths cross when Donal contacts Sandy to help find his brother. But things go awry as Sandy herself goes missing. (Kind of funny, the person who finds missing people goes missing) She ends up in a place called Here. It's the place where all missing people and things end up, and the people there have made it into their own little society. There, Sandy finds many of the missing people she had been looking for, and surprises everyone with a some stories from home. But it's not all happy endings there, when Sandy loses her watch, people start thinking there may be a way out of Here, and things get a little wild.
I'd rate A Place Called Here a ***out of ****, because it was a great book, and had a beautiful writing style, but it wasn't perfect. The plot was okay, but for me, Ahern should have extended more on the place Here, because it was much more interesting, and it had a lot of room for creativity. I recommend this book for readers who need a little mystery in their reading.
***1/2 out of ****
Yup, you probably haven't seen this cover in quite a while. For those of you who were living under a rock, (I'm kidding) The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown is the best-selling English language novel of the 21st century, and has been translated into over 44 languages.
The DaVinci Code starts off with the murder of Jacques Saunière, who is the curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. The book then switches to the life of Robert Langdon, who is a professor from Harvard and specializes in ancient symbology. Before Jacques Saunière was murdered, he used the blood from his bullet wound in his abdomen to draw a pentacle and spread himself on the floor to resemble DaVinci's painting, the Vitruvian Man. (The reason he did this was to send a special message, hint, hint) He also used a special marker whose ink can only be seen in black light, to write clues, including a message "Find Robert Langdon." The captain of police, Bezu Fache, believes that Langdon was responsible for the murder, thus bringing him to the murder scene having Langdon think it was to help the police force solve the mysterious message Sauniere had written on the floor. But along comes pretty Sophie Neveu, an agent from the French department of Cyrptology, and she knows what Fache is trying to do. Thus, this is the start of the adventure for Langdon and Neveu, who embark on a mission to try and figure out the truth fueling the battle between the Priory of Sion, a secret organization, and Opus Dei, a Catholic organization. And a thrilling adventure it is!
I DEFINITELY recommend the DaVinci Code for older readers, because there is murder and gory-like parts, but that's not really the point of the story, so the book is still wonderful! I'd rate this book ***1/2 out of ****. It didn't get a perfect score not because it was poorly written, but it was because Dan Brown was aiming this book toward more of an adult audience. So as you know, this is a teen book blog, and this blog is for teens, (but adults and children are welcome as well :)). Not Dan Brown's fault, but the style of writing wasn't for teenagers, but still, an AWESOME book!
