Amazon had a notice up the other day from Jeff Bezos regarding this book and he stated: “The book remains so deeply under wraps that we’ve agreed to keep our stockpile under 24-hour guard in its own chain-link enclosure, with two locks requiring two separate people for entry.” I was in a Borders this afternoon and asked if they got tons of copies since they are doing a midnight launch and the clerk motioned behind her where they must have them ready to go for the sales at 12:01.
I got one when it showed up in my Amazon Gold Box for less than it would have been using my B&N coupon and card, but I still need to read the first 2. I picked up the paperbacks earlier this summer, but didn't get to them yet, though the original plan was to be done with them by now. I kind of enjoyed the first movie and have yet to see the 2nd, but I know many people who have read the books and really enjoyed them and said how much better they are than the movies. I read a similar style book earlier this year that I really enjoyed by Steve Berry called The Charlemagne Pursuit.

You wouldn't happen to work at a Chapters, do you?

I loved Digital Fortress, enjoyed Angels and Demons, and hated The DaVinci Code. Hell, the Angels and Demons movie is better than The DaVinci Code one, too (Seriously, I liked the Angels and Demons movie). Not so sure if I would like this new one, though.

Nope. I work at an independent bookstore.

I've got a copy of Inherent Vice sitting here waiting to be read. It sounded interesting when B&N e-mailed me a coupon for it. I looked up the title and ended up ordering it from Amazon for a little less on 8/8. I haven't read any of his other work though, but this one sounded like I might enjoy it.

I wish your bookstore well. I don't know of any independents left around here, though I have fond memories of one I frequented while still in school. A big one maybe an hour north of me closed earlier this year after 82 years in business and sadly I never did make it to their store. I just watched a good documentary on PBS about independents called Paperback Dreams. It is kind of sad how the big chains are crushing the smaller independents. While I do like paying less money, I always got better service when I had an independent to shop at.

I appreciate the kind thoughts. I totally understand why people shop at the big chains, as it's hard to justify spending more money on the same item, especially when the economy is hitting people in the wallet.
That being said, the store I work for actually has a number of outlets in the area and is doing fairly well. We have a pretty loyal customer base, and I find it interesting how many people say they'd rather spend the extra bucks to support an independent than have their money go to a big chain. Plus, we do give good service, the staff knows their books and can usually find several to suggest in any particular genre, and we also have a good selection of sale books available (and 'new' sale titles showing up all the time). So all that helps to keep people shopping there.
Listen to me... I sound like a PR guy! LOL.

Where is your store? How big is it? And more importantly, is there a coffeeshop in the store?

Nah, you just sound like you are a happy employee and if your store was near me, I bet I'd like shopping there. The one independent I shopped at growing up was thankfully the closest bookstore to me, but I still gave them most of my business even when I could get to Waldenbooks easier once I got a license. The description of your store reminds me of that one, they were a very small chain with a couple stores scattered around the state. I wish the store would have been bigger to allow for a better selection, but they weren't much smaller than the Waldenbooks we used to have in the mall. The owner and employees were always extremely helpful and knowledgeable though and would order me whatever I wanted pretty quickly. This was before Barnes & Noble rolled in though, now even our Waldenbooks closed up.

In Canada (British Columbia). It's not big at all (guessing here, but maybe 1000 sq feet of floor space, if that). No coffee shop in the store (too small for that), but there's one across the corridor (the store is in a mall).
Musashi: yeah, I really enjoy working there. It's just part-time hours (my wife makes the bulk of the income and I'm under no real pressure to work at all), so it suits me perfectly. Great co-workers there, and ye gods! the books I get to read now. I can't keep up! lol

never understood the appeal of his books.
tried to read Da vinci code and it felt... cheap and naive. dropped it after 300 pages. :)
only read digital fortress from beginning to end. it was amusing at best. The da vinci code was too fantasy for me while digital fortress managed to be a bit belivable (the whole concept was silly of course but still the characters were interesting)
i doubt ill read lost symbol. another fairy tale about secret societies and world menancing truths :)

I've only read the davinci code. It was weird... the ideas and plot behind the story i found intriguing and i wanted to finish the book to find out what happened. But his writing style is horrendous. I really had to struggle through the dialogue at some points.
He's definitely a clever writer (or at least self publicist). Actually, he rather reminds me of Tom Clancy or Michael Crichton. Each in their own field, they do a good job of weaving plausible and reality based elements into their stories, which somehow makes them much more compelling. As story creators they are all excellent... but as story tellers they are rather lacking. (particularly Brown).
Basically I can't imagine how any of his novels could be fun to read if they didn't include the "hook" that davinci code did. (though it was based mostly on The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail's hook). His other books, i think i'll pass...

[url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000844.html]Well worth a look[/url]