The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown: There's nothing really new in this book. Heck, the book itself makes that pretty clear. But unlike most of the other places you could find the ideas, this book is really easy to read and presents the information quickly, simply, and in a very engaging way. It's a "popcorn" book, quick to read, light on the facts, with a lot of simple puzzles that make the reader feel smart. The story moves along at a reckless pace with all the events happening in less than a day. Overall, it's not a bad read. Nothing special, but not bad. 
The real spat of publicity from this book comes from the ideas that it advances. As the book itself points out, the concepts it promotes aren't exactly popular within the Catholic Church. In fact, they are outright heresy. When I searched for this book on Amazon.com to link to it, I found a long list of books that form a response. It's actually quite hilarious to read the titles of the books, most of which imply in their titles that The Da Vinci Code isn't the truth and needs to be challenged. Um... it's a work of fiction. Duh. Ok, so the ideas are real, and there are a great many people in the world who believe some or all of them. But the reaction to this book seems almost hysterical in its intensity. Almost as if this book is as threatening as the "secret" it pretends to reveal.
I don't have a problem with the ideas in the book. I think some of them have weight, and some of them are simply ridiculous. And I think the crazed reaction to the book has only propelled it to higher sales, not convinced anyone who might be inclined to believe those ideas that they are false. Of course, any Christian who reads this and suddenly doubts Christianity ought to wonder why they are a Christian in the first place. I can't highly recommend this book, but it's a fun little story.
