mav - I too enjoyed this book quite a bit. In fact, my whole household (at least the 4 adults) has read and enjoyed it. My housemate made the interesting observation that the protagonist is not really very likeable, but one is still very compelled to follow her progress through the story.

Although I did enjoy it, I also felt that the excerpt you gave, which appears at the very beginning, was the best single part of the book.

As to my contribution to this thread - although it's not fiction, I'd like to put in a plug for the book I'm reading. Its info:

The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
by Simon Singh
Anchor Books, 1999
ISBN 0 385 49532 3

I've always had an interest in cryptography, as it seems to call on its practitioners to invent new languages and decrypt new languages invented by others. Singh covers very early codes, such as those used by Julius Caesar, goes on through the role of codes and codebreaking in the death of Mary, Queen of Scots, covers the complexities of the WWII German Enigma codes with great clarity, and (although I haven't finished the book) promises to cover modern computer encryption technology. He talks about the personalities involved in this field as well as the intricacies of creating and breaking codes. There's even a long, fascinating digression into the decypherment of hieroglyphics and Linear B, which I'm in the middle of now.

For those that find code-making and -breaking intriguing and are interested in a good broad survey that helps one understand an issue that is, perforce, a tricky one, this is a great find. I echo an excerpt from the Seattle Weekly's review "A good read that, bless it, makes the reader feel a bit smarter when it's done."

[/effusive promotion]

p.s. I had to share that Ænigma proposed, for the B in Linear B, Babbage, who is credited with first breaking the very difficult Vigenére cypher, as well as inventing a little toy known as the Difference Engine, first precursor to the cursed machine you're staring at right now. Perhaps Ænigma knows more than we think?