I just finished "The Da Vinci Code" .. My book club picked it

[johnnie]

I was volunteered to be in a book club and they picked that book. We get together tonight to discuss the book and have a lot of drinks. I read quite a lot so it's no big deal.
Anyone here read it? I didn't think it was too bad of a book. It didn't get going until 2/3 of the way through, but some of the history and theories weren't too bad.
OK, now give me some points to discuss tonight.. :).

[Richardo]

1. *urp*

Perhaps I'm not the best one to respond.

That being said, I'm about 2/3rds through with Angels & Demons (page 400, chapter 576) and all I can say is the guy's consistent.

[im10ashus]

2. I have that one on my night stand.

I am going to start it soon. I thought Da Vinci Code was good. A quick read for sure.

[Bunny]

3. HAHAHAHA! I almost advised Johnnie to check in with you!

But I held back because I didn't want to drag you into the middle of anything. I read the book, and I didn't think it was that bad - it's very light beach-type reading, nothing taxing about it. I probably wouldn't bother with any of his other stuff, though.

What cracks me up is that people were debating whether the book was factual or not. Isn't it Fiction?

Forgot to add: on your recommendation, I read my first Carl Hiaasen book - Skinny Dip. It was good!

[johnnie]

5. The story line is fiction

The book that the author got his information from is a book called "Holy Blood, Holy Grail". My father gave it to me to read about a year ago and I haven't yet. I probably will though.
I don't really want to turn this thread into a "religion is bullshit" thread, but the truth is... religion exists and there is a history that goes along with it if you believe in what the religion believes in or not.

[Mutley]

6. he said something to the effect

that some of the details are fact, but the story as a whole is fiction. Who knows what he meant by that, though.

[Bunny]

10. Yeah,, I vaguely remember that now.

Still, it struck me as comical.

[Richardo]

11. I know -- I liked the plot. Very ambitious.

But I just don't find him to be a very good writer. And he has a tin ear for politics and world events:

In Deception Point, the hot-button issue driving the entire country in a presidential election is the continued funding of NASA. WTF?

In Angels and Demons, the death of a Pope is virtually ignored by the world at large until the murderous plot ensues. Compare that to the media coverage the real death of a Pope generated. Reading about the deserted St. Peter's Square during the conclave made me laugh.

And yes, it's about as fictional as you can get.

[johnnie]

14. What was fictional?

The plot or the history of the church?

[Richardo]

16. The plot, and I would not swear to his history of the Church.

There may be nuggets of truth there too.

I did enjoy the discussion of 'phi' however. I felt like I actually learned something there.

[johnnie]

21. Some of the "grail" information was based on another book

As I posted above, I have the book that he got his information from and I think it gets pretty heavy into it. I saw the author of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" and he said that it is all evidence and not fact in his findings.

[tigereye]

18. A friend lent it to me

I couldn't finish it. It was too... slick, too pat, too something. I don't think he is a very good writer, just a very good marketer. Once you've read Ian Pears ( who writes very clever, literate and funny mystery whodunits about art), it's hard to read that kind of stuff.

I know, I'm a snob. A mystery snob! ;)

[northzax]

46. it read like a movie treatment

fun, imaginative, candy. it took me two hours. Angels and Demons and the awful awful Deception Point were only slightly longer.

[johnnie]

17. Did I recommend Hiaasen to you or did Richardo?

I know I had a thread up a while back about his books. He is one of my favorites. It's been a while since that thread, so I'm guessing it was Richardo.

[Richardo]

20. I've read all of Hiaasen, including his non-fiction. He's one of my faves

:thumbsup:

[johnnie]

23. Yeah, he's great

I still crack up at the weed whacker for an arm. He has one hell of a wild imagination.

[Richardo]

27. Read 'Hoot', his book for young adults.

All the Hiaasen, with none of the profanity. Still an enjoyable book and a great ending.

If you know any 10-13 year olds, they might like it too. :)

[Bunny]

33. It was Richardo.

[Richardo]

34. Bunny, the baby Bunnies might enjoy 'Hoot'

See my post above.

[Bunny]

36. Thanks - we'll check it out!

:hi:

[Richardo]

37. Plot synopsis follows:

The site of Coconut Cove's future Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House is experiencing a slight problem: survey stakes removed, alligators in the port-a-potties, and painted-over patrol cars. But who's behind the clever vandalism and pranks? New Florida resident Roy Eberhardt isn't aware of these goings-on, but he has often noticed a barefoot boy running down the street faster than anything. His curiosity piqued, Roy starts to inquire around and even follows the boy once, only to be told by Beatrice Leep, a.k.a. Beatrice the Bear, to mind his own business. Despite Beatrice's warning and plenty of bullying from the lunkheaded Dana Matherson, Roy follows the boy, whose name is Mullet Fingers, one day and winds up in the middle of an ecological mission to save a parliament of burrowing owls from being bulldozed.

Full of colorful, well-developed characters, Hoot is a quick-witted adventure that will keep readers hooked. With down-to-earth Roy, dumbfounded Officer Delinko, and construction site manager Curly -- along with other head-shaking morons and uplifting heroes -- the author delivers an appealing cast of characters that keep the plot twisting and turning until the highly charged ending. Another zany trip to the Sunshine State for Hiaasen fans, this rewarding ecological adventure should keep readers young and old hooting with laughter.

[Richardo]

49. Glad you liked Skinny Dip...

Try 'Lucky You'. A great cast of characters, including the stupidest white supremacists EVER. :rofl:

[fudge stripe cookays]

48. How'd I know you'd be the first one to barf on this thread?

:think:

He he. I still haven't touched either one. One of these days my curiosity may get the better of me, but I don't see it happening any time soon.

FSC

[Richardo]

51. I'm just so predictable that way.

How it goin', fsc?

(I haven't forgotten about the getting you the 'things' from the 'place' but I've been up to my in work.)

[fudge stripe cookays]

55. Cool!

"Things" are good, but you gotta eat. And that double shift coming up sounds like a killer!

FSC :hi:

[Shell Beau]

4. I read it and I also read Deception Point.

His books are so unrealistic that it is hard to buy into. The DaVinci Code was interesting (although I don't believe it)for a quick read though.

[johnnie]

9. It was the first book of his I read

I had a major problem with one direction he took in the book. That one point made the whole story look ridiculous. Other than that, it wasn't the worse book I ever read.

[Shell Beau]

13. Certainly not the worst and certainly not his worst. However,

most of his books seem to go the twisted route. Where the killer or whatever is a surprise.

[LisaM]

7. Although I took it with a grain of salt

what I liked about it, and what made it important to me, was that even though I am a Catholic, I had no idea who Opus Dei was, nor did I realize how dangerous they are.

It gave me a little more hope that the Catholic church can swing back to being more progressive now that this group is being forced out of the shadows.

Oh, and one more thing - see if you can codebreak the characters' names! Fun.

[johnnie]

12. Oh..OK

I didn't know anything about a code with the names. I gave the book back, but I'm sure with a little thought I can remember them..LOL.

[WeRQ4U]

8. Good, quick read. I found it really predictable, however.

[Kraklen]

15. I haven't read it myself.

I've constantly and consistently heard that it's bad.

But I'm always unable to tell if that's a legitimate critique, or if they're only saying that because they consider the book to be heretical.

There's a considerable movement out there detracting from the book for that very reason.

[Richardo]

19. Well I'm a Catholic and I don't find it heretical..

...but I still find it a lousy book.

[4_Legs_Good]

25. I'm Catholic too, and I agree with

Richardo, that it's not heretical (or if it is, I don't care), it's just poorly written and not all that novel.

I actually like almost anything that challenges the status quo wrt Christianity and puts things in context, just as long as it does it with the sincere desire to explore. The Brown book reads like an infomercial for "Holy Blood/Holy Grail" and it's just a turn off.

Give me something like "The Last Temptation of Christ" and I'm all over it.

david

[4_Legs_Good]

22. Discuss the DaVinci Last Supper painting

For discussion: Discuss the DaVinci Last Supper painting (pull out an art book) and see how many of the images that Brown says are blatant are blatant to the group. You know the disembodied hand, the chopping gesture, the woman, the dagger, etc.


Dan Brown is a poor writer, IMO at least. It was just like a High School student wrote it or something. The conspiracy angle was interesting, and the pseudo history was fun, but all in all I thought it was pretty weak. Plus if I read "The sacred feminine" one more time I would have vomited all over the book. It's like Mel Gibson in Braveheart. Yeah, yeah, "freedom" we get it - can we move on now?

If you like this kind of thing, though, I suggest "Focault's Pendulum", which was much better and the first page had more literary merit (seriously - the first page is beautifully written!) than all of the Brown book.

david

[johnnie]

29. I don't read much of this type of thing.

I read a bit of fiction once in a while, but not much.
I thought it was pretty slow as I said, until about two-thirds of the way through it. Then he had a major flaw in the story line (in my opinion) and it made the rest of the story pretty bland.

[4_Legs_Good]

32. What was the major flaw?

Curious! :)

david

[johnnie]

41. Well *Possible spoiler*

To try to not give it away.. The main "killer" went through all of that and then instead of getting the code and THEN bringing out the gun, he brought out the gun and thought they would help him break the code. Do you get that?

[4_Legs_Good]

42. Heh heh heh good point

:)

[no name no slogan]

24. .

[Shell Beau]

26. Why does it have to be baby Jesus? What

about the adult Jesus?

[Richardo]

28. The adult Jesus would just sigh heavily.

...and roll his eyes --> :eyes:

:)

[no name no slogan]

31. Adult Jesus is too busy saving

:D

[RethugAssKicker]

30. I read all of Dan Browns books

The Da Vinci code was good, but I thought Angels & Demons was even better... Didn't care too much for Deception point though.

[Shell Beau]

35. Deception Point was utterly ridiculous.

I know this is fiction, but the stuff in that book was so unrealistic it was absurd.

[Richardo]

40. What? Like *you* couldn't ride a calving iceberg into the sea

and be rescued by a fortunately-placed submarine?

[Shell Beau]

44. Yeah and I also would get flown in a

top secret jet and then get past all kinds of top secret security while I am being watched and trying to be killed by a Delta force. And then when I am dying on an iceburg, I start sending an SOS signal to a submarine that I know must be in the Arctic near me while I was researching a meteor that has been strategically placed deep within an iceburg. Very possible! :P

[Lilyhoney]

47. I recently watched the movie The Endurance.

And theese guys rode an iceberg til it melted. But the submarine,I will give you that.

[CitrusLib]

45. I agree.

Angels and Demons was far and away the best of the 4. I'd put DaVinci Code next, distantly followed by Deception Point and Digital Fortress. Wasn't a fan of those two books. He should stick to religious iconography, LOL.

[Love Bug]

38. I agree -- Angels and Demons is better

Deception Point - feh.

I loaned Angels and Demons to a friend who is a lapsed Cathoic with "issues" and she said she was rooting for the bad guy! (Without giving too much away, the bad guy is threatening to blow up the Vatican)

[Shell Beau]

39. Well in the book they make the Catholics the bad guys as well.

[Lilyhoney]

43. I loved all of Dan Brown's books. n/t

[Nikia]

50. I thought that it was alright

It kept me entertained. I am interested in religion and history anyway so I thought that part was cool.
The book wasn't deep or anything. I didn't have an emotional experience from reading it like I have other books.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

52. The best part about The DaVinci Code

is the hilarious rantings of the Christian right about how the book is anti-religion.

The worst part about the book is that Ron Howard is making the movie.

I only read it to see what the hype was before Howard's movie came out. Overall, to describe the book in one sentence when asked, I called it a second rate Indiana Jones adventure with some entertaining fiction about the history of Christianity.

[6000eliot]

53. He sure did a lot of research

And he worked a lot of disparate art history and ideas into the story and integrated them in a plausible way. The story is a pretty standard potboiler, and it ends too cute by half. But it was a quick read for an afternoon.

[terrya]

54. It was...relentlessly mediocre.

I'm sorry...but what was the big deal about this book? It was entertaining...but, hell,, it's still on the Nrw York Times Best Seller List after, what...a year? It's an ok read...but, come on, it's not the greatest book of fiction ever written.

Some points? Some guy tries to solve a puzzle that involves Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

[Maddy McCall]

56. Ask if they saw "National Treasure"

Ask if they thought there were many parallels between National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code.