I got a strange message from a friend a few minutes ago:
You wanted to know what my favourite book was? See if you can work out the answer. I'll give you a clue:
Saranac Lake \United
Which book is this?
Edit 1: I just got another message. It looks completely pointless, but it might be a clue. (I hope I haven't made a typo typing this out!)
`$=P0a4&P0U8P0O2B K*P0N:O5B b'9b5!U8a<0U'O5]* Hahaha I'm so meta! Did you figure it out then?
Edit 2: I hadn't really heard anything for a while, so I sent a request for clarification:
I give up. What is your favourite book?
and received the following reply:
23^39 is a high number. Look it up.
Edit 3: Just got another one. I think it's a follow-up to the last one:
High. Meta. Seriously, you haven't got this yet?
Oops; I meant &. You probably figured that out, though.
Edit 4: I think I might be in trouble.
You posted this on Puzzling SE? You were meant to solve it on your own! @Tahel's going about it all wrong, though; you're more likely to find the author in space than in Saranac Lake.
Come on. You don't see anything the tiniest bit strange about Saranac Lake \United? Nothing note-worthy at all? Oh, just look it up already.
And nobody even bothered to solve the coded message in the follow-up! No, that's unfair; if you could solve that highly Alternate/Meta puzzle then you'd already have solved the first clue, and hence found the book.
The second clue is more of a clue to a clue. Or… a meta clue! Haha! This works better than I intended! (Could you really call it a code though? I mean, technically it's a cipher. But it's more of an enciphered encoding of a cipher. I'm sure you can work it out; you're good with this sort of thing.)
And then, a few seconds later:
You're not going to add this to the question too, are you?
Edit 5: I got another confusing message; I think it might be another clue but I'm not sure.
Everyone's wrong so far, but @panda-34's on the right track. Try to solve the second clue, or meta. You're not going to be able to do it by hand, unless you have a big book full of tables full of pictures and writing.