I third or fourth or whatever it is DaVinci Code if you are going to Paris or London and Angels and Demons if you are going to Rome. I read A & D before I went to Rome and wish I had taken notes to see some of the places.

I would recommend one (but I can almost guarantee you'll want more) of the novels by Swedish author Henning Mankell starring Detective Kurt Wallander. They are prime crime literature with a lot of depth.
Wonderful literature with high suspense.
They are the most fun if you read them in the order of their appearance on the market, but you can also get along nicely if you just buy one.
The first is called "Murderers without a face", followed by "Dogs of Riga", "The White Lioness" etc.
I fell for them a couple of years ago, and am now always waiting anxiously for new ones to come around (by now they are continued by a series which stars Detective Kurt Wallander's daughter Linda).
Also any book by Ake Edwardson would be worth having a look at.
Have fun
hsv

I like to read books on the plane that are set in the place where I'm going. Sometimes I don't but am happily surprised. I took the second Bridget Jones book on a Far East trip and was delight to read about Bridget vacationing in Thailand just as I was on the plane there.

One thing I always do is read the first few pages or chapter BEFORE I go on the trip. That way I have an idea about the characters and if, indeed, I like the style of writing. Nothing worse than a long trip and a book you don't like.

The Da Vinci Code is one of the worst novels I have ever read. I work in the art world and this book is full of factual errors about Leonardo Da Vinci and the Louvre. It is also cliched and extremely superficial. The characters are one-dimensional as well and off the mark. Mr. Brown also has no ear for dialogue, especially the idiom of the British aristocracy. Dim as Reading Gaol, if you ask me.

Then I must be an incredibly shallow reader because I am only halfway through the DaVinci Code and enjoying it very much. :-)

I guess it's to each his/her own, but, I can't believe that you depended on people who knows nothing about you to provide reading materials that will "catch your interest".

We were attempting to listen to the Da Vinci Code during a recent really long car trip. Maybe it was the abridgement but the turgid prose and characters just didn't make it. After 2 discs. we (2 literate, well educated readers) couldn't take it any more. We switched to J. Evanovich's Hard Eight and enjoyed it so much. The characters were likable and a lot more fun.

I've never read any Dan Brown before. I really wanted to like the Da Vinci Code.

Dont forget the Travelers Tales Series. There is almost a book for anywhere in the world you might be going. They are full of delightful little short articles some humourous, some spiritual, some whatever, but all good! I always try to match up one of the books w/ my present journey!! Also Pillars of the earth = wonderful!!!! I was sad when I finished it that I had no other wonderful epic to go onto!!!