I’m happy to hear this! I re-read The Eight recently and found I’d forgotten all the wise-cracky dialogue, as well as a touch of “poor little me” sexism. Is any of this updated? I loved all the chesspiece and time-travel stuff from the original, though!
If you want to stick with the Mary Magdalene aspect of The DaVinci Code, I liked The Moon Under Her Feet, a fictional account of the marriage of Jesus and Mary who was a servant of the Goddess. Fair warning: it’s feminist and pagan-y and new-agey, but it’s got the religious theme (obviously), and there are good footnotes about where the various themes in the book appear in the Bible.
How about the book that led to accusations saying Brown plagiarised? Holy Blood Holy Grail. Or how about The Da Vinci Legacy. (Honestly when Da Vinci Code came out this is the book I thought everyone was referring to).
For the YA book I’m gonna kick it old school and suggest Blubber or Thirteen as well as the sequel, Fourteen and Holding.
Have a look at The Testament. Van Lustbader is not at his best here, but it is not a bad read.
I’m starting to be a little shocked that there are so many books that answer to the description of like The DaVinci Code. Who knew?
Gosh, I haven’t read Thirteen in years, maybe I should check that out. And I know I never read the sequels.
They go up to Fifteen, actually. I’ve read 3 of them-where Kobie and Gretchen are about 11 or 12 and Gretchen isn’t popular yet, Thirteen (I think this is when Gretchen starts to get popular and Kobie is left behind) and I’m pretty certain I read the one where Gretch and Kobie make peace and Kobie gets her own boyfriend.
I haven’t read *The Fire *yet. I’ll get back to you.
Perhaps The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell? It’s got many of the same elements.
I thought it sucked, but that didn’t seem to bother this person about the DaVinci code, so possibly they won’t mind.
I loathe the Da Vinci Code with the fiery passion of a thousand nuns (I think that came out wrong somehow, considered), but that’s neither here nor there.
I think if somebody enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, I might probably recommend an easier read than Eco. Not necessarily in terms of literary merit, lest somebody accuse me of literary snobbery, but in terms of page-turner vs. head-bender (to use ITR champion’s description). If Eco, I’d go with The Name of the Rose, if that doesn’t work for her as a book, she can always watch the movie later.
That said, for a fluffy but enjoyable read I always recommend the Matthew Shardlake novels Dissolution and Dark Fire, which are “historical” crime novels set in the London of Henry VIII. Mystery & conspiracy theories galore! Plus lawyers, monks and medieval 'splosions, what’s not to love? There are two more books in that series which I haven’t read yet, as I was told they weren’t as good as the first ones.
And, I’d like to second The Shadow of the Wind, which is just a beautiful novel.
I, too, hated The Rule of Four. Ridiculously overhyped.
For the YA book, I recommend Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli. It’s told from the POV of a middle school aged boy, who meets and develops a crush on a very odd and free-spirited girl who doesn’t care what anyone thinks about her. But at one point (I forget why), he expresses that he wishes she was like everyone else. And she becomes like everyone else. Of course, then he misses the old Stargirl.
It’s a sweet book, and one I think boys and girls would enjoy.
My own snobbery makes me wonder if anyone who loved The DaVinci Code would like Eco.
I have - and love - all of those books, except for The Eight, which I’ve never read. Based on that list, though, I’ll pick it up right away.
Agreed. For an alleged page-turner, I thought it was very boring. I managed to finish it, but I doubt I’ll ever read it again and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
For the DaVinci Code lookalike, I nominate Interred With Their Bones, which is pretty much a better written, better historied, Shakespeare-themed DaVinci Code. Lots of intrigue, mystery, history, rushing about hither and yon over the globe, and about the same level of reading difficulty–I know Name of the Rose is quite a slog. I hated the DVC, and I thought this was OK. It’s not great, but you’re not looking for great. What it is, is something a DVC fan would really like a lot.
Oh, and it has a bunch of ‘creative’ violence in it too, a la DVC.
Yes … we’re on the same page (ha, I crack myself up) here, only I couldn’t come up with a way to say it tactfully. But yes, this is exactly what I’m thinking. Some of the suggested books I put on my own list rather than the list of possibilities for the gift for this reason.