Yea or Nay: The DaVinci Code.

[thebitterguy]

Okay, I can kinda smell how this will go, but can anyone out there gimme any reasons, good or bad, why I should or shouldn't read that sucker? I mean, really, I've still got Foucault's Pendulum & HBHG in the "to get to" pile, so is this worth the time n' effort?

Help me out here, people!

Comments

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I can't help, haven't read Da Vinci Code yet.

Foucalt's Pendulum I tried reading years ago, can't remember if I finished it or not. Damn old age.

What's HBHG?

[thebitterguy]

Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Oh. Duh.

I'd read Da Vinci Code first, b/c I'm sure HBHG outlines all the theories which'll be revealed as 'surprises' in the novel. Unless you don't mind not being surprised.

[thebitterguy]

After six years of reading Ken Hite, I doubt there'll be much there to surprise me.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Then my thought is along the lines of "why bother?" (With Da Vinci Code)

[granolademonic.livejournal.com]

I tried reading some other damn thing he wrote and it was ridiculous. I could totally envision Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise in the big-budget adaptation. Horrid cheese.

[madmanofprague.livejournal.com]

No. Once you read Foucault's Pendulum, you will laugh ruefully at any other mention of ancient mystic conspiracies.

[skaiser.livejournal.com]

I haven't read it. But I do work in a bookstore! Therefore in my professional opinion stay away. Unless you like books that are written in a very basic style. The prose is boring. Makes the most obvious choices when it comes to language. It really is sort of the literary equivalent of a Jerry Bruckheimer film.

Mmmm, Grendel.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

Serious icon love.

[eviltofu.livejournal.com]

No. Focult's Pendulum is miles ahead of Da Vinci's code.

[princeofcairo.livejournal.com]

Absent a compelling professional reason to read The DaVinci Code, I recommend avoiding it like broccoli-flavored Ebola.

[doghousereilly.livejournal.com]

It is a very dumb piece of work which nonetheless will keep you turning pages, rather like a James Patterson novels but without the awful sex scenes and sadomasochism. It's not horrible, but it's not very good either. If I were you, I'd wait until November and see the movie instead. At least then you can look at Audrey Tautou.

In its defense, if you do read it, you'll never look at The Last Supper the same way again.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Read Pendulum first, for the love of God!

[rdansky.livejournal.com]

I made it six pages into The DaVinci Code before throwing it across the room, and retreating into the safety of a Tim Powers novel.

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

There was a rather good special on History last night about it with Tony Robinson. The thing is total hockum.

The author seems to think that John is Mary Magdalene, because he didn't take into consideration DaVinci's appreciation of pretty young boys.

[nottheterritory.livejournal.com]

Foucault's Pendulum!

It's like a really long, really erudite, really opaque version of _Jose Chung's "It Came From Outer Space"_. It really is on a small corner of one of my shelves along with _Neuromancer_, _Little, Big_ and _Dune_ (and only _Dune_, no children or chapterhourses or heretics or nothin') as one of the most influential books I've ever read.

Holy Blood Holy Grail is fun for it's habit of stringing together bizarre logical leaps with phrases like: 'we came to the unavoidable conclusion that' and 'obviously we could not deny that' etc but it's ultimately pretty silly and gets kind of plodding in the middle.

Besides, _Foucault's Pendulum_ contains a quite funny encapsulation of _Holy Blood Holy Grail_ when one of the main characters accidentally makes up the plot while parodying conspiracy theories then discovers the book actually exists.

[mr-weasel.livejournal.com]

Hmm, looks like "Foucault's Pendulum" may be a fun read. How fluffy is it?

[nottheterritory.livejournal.com]

Ummm - not very - it's actually mind-bendingly dense - there are whole multi-page sections that I didn't understand because I don't read Latin.

No, no - I wish I was kidding - it is Eco after all.

On the other hand, if you've read Gibson, you've mastered the art of reading passages that don't make sense and thinking 'never mind, if it's important, it will be explained later'. As long as you read it with that in mind, you'll get the important bits.

Then, of course, the depth means you can read it over and over again and still pick up new things.

[mr-weasel.livejournal.com]

Ummm - not very - it's actually mind-bendingly dense - there are whole multi-page sections that I didn't understand because I don't read Latin.

No, no - I wish I was kidding - it is Eco after all.


Are his other books good too? I really want to read this now, even though latin sucks at best. Maybe I can find a Latin-English translator on the net.

In any case, I don't mind being challenged by my reading material. It's just that most of the online bookstores made the book look like a "bestseller".

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Justin,

I haven't read "The Da Vinci Code", but I *did* read it's so-called prequel, "Angels and Demons". A&D is a fast paced adventure novel that combined the real world architecture and sculpture of Rome with cutting edge particle physics and modern day terrorism, and blends them together into an interesting story.

In contrast, I've read "Focault's Pendulum" twice now. It's a very dense, but very rewarding read, and Eco ingeniously blends various conspiracy theories into one of his very own. Fascinating, very erudite, and despite being a translation, quite readable.

::Brian::

P.S. Hmm...I should really get a LJ account, if only to post comments to others.

[thebitterguy]

Do you have ANY idea how many people have said that EXACT thign to you on many, many occasions? :)