The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

This is the third book in the Robert Langdon series by Dan Brown. I had read The DaVinci Code first and then followed it up with the first book, Angels and Demons. Angels and Demons was a slower book than DaVinci Code but not too much. It's been awhile but The Lost Symbol seemed almost as fast paced as The DaVinci Code. It only took about 2 days to read.

This book is set in Washington DC and incorporates the legends and symbols of the Masons and how the founders of the country fit into the Masonic history. It also covers some pretty groovy science, Noetic Science.

As always, Dan Brown did a great job combining ancient myth, legend and mysticism with modern reality and science.

From what I can tell, the provable science of Noetics in the book is a bit further along than reality. Although, my research regarding Noetics has been pretty cursory at this point.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced but kept my brain moving with a variety of story lines going at once as well as hitting on ancient beliefs of many kinds and modern science and "reality." I recommend this to anyone looking for a quick, easy and fun read.

Into The Beautiful North

Into the Beautiful North - Luis Alberto Urrea

This was a fun book, an entertaining read and, once I actually had time to sit and read, it went fast.

Most of the book is dialog so it reads fast. Some of the dialog is Spanish and if you don't speak Spanish and want to look up the words, it could slow you down a bit. Mostly, you can get away with not worrying about it because the rest of the dialog and text explains enough that you get the idea of what was said.

This is a story of a young woman and her friends in a small, rural coastal village in Sinaloa, Mexico. One day the woman realizes that, not only did her father leave to go north, so did every other man in town. Soon, drug dealers have figured this out as well and decide to move into this territory. After watching the movie, The Magnificent Seven, the woman decides she must go north into the US and get her father and 6 other men to come back and rescue the town from the drug dealers and help revitalize and populate the town as well.

Our heroine and her friends venture north to Tijuana having many adventures and questioning their logic and purpose all the while. Once at the border, they must figure out how to survive and then figure out how to cross the border.

They find their seven warriors and many more. They also learn much about themselves as people and as Mexicans. It is an interesting view of America from the perspective of a Mexican who just wants to go back to Mexico.

I highly recommend this book. It would be a great vacation book. It is a new book and not yet available in paperback so look for it at a book exchange or Costco or get it from the library.

Beneath a Marble Sky

Beneath a Marble Sky - a love story by John Shors

This was a picturesque and engaging novel. It is a historical novel surrounding the building of the Taj Mahal and the lives of a few people (some real, some fictional) that were involved.

John Shors did quite a bit of research regarding the building of the Taj Mahal as well as the political history and the life scenarios in 17th century Hindustan (currently India in large part as well as parts of Pakistan). Using text as well as paintings he was able to craft an incredibly descriptive story of life as the Emperor's daughter. The story is told from her voice and he does a good job speaking in the female voice. At no time during my reading did I think, "well, this is just what a man would think that a woman would think, say or do at this point."

I very much enjoyed reading about the history of the region with the wars between the different tribes and religions. It seems little has changed in that realm in the hundreds of years that have passed. The author took some artistic liberties with regards to his love story of Jahanara, the daughter of Shah Jahan and the voice of the story. In the book her relationship with her brother, Aurangzeb, is venomous. In reality, however, it seems that it was a cool and politic relationship but they did make amends in later life unlike in the novel. Also, it appears that she never married and had no children.

In the novel much is made of how power-hungry and blood thirsty Aurangzeb was. It seems that this was an apt description in large part. He was not the benevolent and loved ruler that his father had been. He did have his older brother executed and did kill his other brothers in battle to gain the throne. He was also an extremely devout Muslim who ruled against music in order to cause the Hindus to be unable to perform religious worship as music was integral in their worship. It seems many Hindu temples were destroyed under his rule. He strongly encouraged all under his rule to abide by or convert to Islam and follow the rule of Islam strictly.

The love stories told within the novel are well crafted and believe-able. They brought a richness to the telling of the story that would not have existed had the story been told from a strictly historical standpoint. The building of the Taj Mahal is a love story that is true and it was a wonderful aspect of the book but the fictional love stories help carry the book beyond the Taj Mahal and help complete the history of the time.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in historical novels or anyone just looking for a light and enjoyable read.