Bookends/Bibliofile
Published Sunday, August 10, 2003

Lisa Hickey describes her reading habits as "all over the board.'' Hickey, the president of Douglass Screen Printers Inc. and a national board member of the National Association of Women Business Owners, reads a variety of books from historical fiction to religious philosophy.

Hickey recently read the best-selling "The Da Vinci Code'' by Dan Brown.

"I thought it was horrible,'' she said. "It started off very well. It was a very good mystery with clearly a lot of research done into art history. I have a degree in fine arts, that's why I picked it up. But by the time you get in the middle of the book, you find it's basically a religious fantasy thing. It was based on the idea that Mary Magdalene wound up marrying Jesus Christ and they had children and were living in France. That was a little beyond me.''

Hickey said she decided to research the premise and was surprised to find a Web page on the Internet had information that was repeated verbatim in the book.

"I was very disappointed in the lack of imagination,'' she said.
One of Hickey's favorite authors is Margaret George.

"She's written several historical fiction books. I just finished two of hers.''

Hickey said George's "Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles'' was fascinating.

"This book has such a refreshingly objective view point. It was quite interesting to realize what a character she was. I always like to see the other side of things.''

Hickey also read "Mary, Called Magdalene'' penned by George.
"It was relatively good. It wasn't as intense as her others. It had a little slower story and (was) a little shier on fact. Her only reference was the Bible, so there was nothing new there.''