The Da Vinci Code Novel

[PacificOcean]

I enjoyed it.

And I am not a "book person".

It got me and millions others reading, Is that not a good thing?

I will give Foucault's 'Pendulum' a go, but I am guessing it won't be as thrilling or readable if all the cultured people on here are recommending it.

 

[kittyP]

Fair enough, sorry for having a go, but I've met enough intensely annoying, snobby, arrogant types who would think that reading the Da Vinci Code outside of the scope of some post-ironic exercise does mark you as culturally retarded.

So have I, which is why I felt the need to explain why I read it.
Its not something I would normally do.

The fact that this thread exists is proof of that way of thinking.

 

[Termite Man]

I didn't read it after I picked it up chose a page at random and thought the writing was fucking shit . I have no doubt he can write a good story ( although I saw the film and wish I hadn't , the story for that was shit it they probably fucked with the book anyway )

 

[cesare]

I wish I'd written it

As butchers said earlier, it's excellent at what it does. It's an entertaining story, not a work of classic literature.

I enjoyed it, and his others. But I wouldn't even have read them when I was in the mood for Eco.

 

[Termite Man]

http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=304356

 

[D'wards]

http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=304356

I appreciate you taking the time to recommend a book - however, as you prefixed it with a half-hearted insult, you can poke it frankly.

 

[DotCommunist]

I enjoyed it.

And I am not a "book person".

It got me and millions others reading, Is that not a good thing?

I will give Foucault's 'Pendulum' a go, but I am guessing it won't be as thrilling or readable if all the cultured people on here are recommending it.

I'd recommend it and I am far from 'cultured'. I'd recommend Illuminatus! first though, as it's far more trippy-dippy and drug addled.

I am a 'book person' though, in that I read a lot and always have. But it has largely been sci fi and fantasy, so I don't get the key to the super 'culture' club


e2a

my point was you don't have to be a snob to recognize good from bad writing.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Stephen King put Dan Brown's work and "Jokes for the John" on the same level, calling such literature the "intellectual equivalent of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese."

...

Motes. Eyes. Beams.
Greenhouse-based trebuchet action.
Pots racially abusing kettles.

 

[Obnoxiousness]

Motes. Eyes. Beams.
Greenhouse-based trebuchet action.
Pots racially abusing kettles.

LOL

Go to any car-boot sale or charity shop and you'll generally see mountains of Stephen King and Dan Brown novels.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

I enjoyed it. It does what it says on the tin.

 

[geminisnake]

I enjoyed it.

And I am not a "book person".

It got me and millions others reading, Is that not a good thing?

Yep, any book that gets people reading is good imo, but then I read a lot. Not high brow, I like to disappear into a book iykwim.
Can't be bothered with facts, etc. I want to feel like the characters are real. I want to wonder what happens to them after the book stops.

My daughter's ex didn't 'get' reading til he read DVC.

 

[El Jefe]

if you want to read it, read it - nobody's business but your own. if you enjoy, that's cool

but likewise, if people want to slag it off, that's OK too

I think it's shit, obviously

 

[QueenOfGoths]

You'll be lolling to yourself about how fucking bad it is but it's a page turner, I'll give it that.

That is how I felt - thought the writing was shit but felt he took the source material and turned it into an interestingly plotted and page turning novel.

However i didn't think it ewas the truth...unlike a colleague of mine who became obsessed that the story was real!

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

I'd recommend it and I am far from 'cultured'. I'd recommend Illuminatus! first though, as it's far more trippy-dippy and drug addled.

I am a 'book person' though, in that I read a lot and always have. But it has largely been sci fi and fantasy, so I don't get the key to the super 'culture' club


e2a

my point was you don't have to be a snob to recognize good from bad writing.

yep, the illumanti trilogy by robert anton wilson is fantastic stuff, well worth a read.

 

[quimcunx]

Some Italian girls stopped me and stels in the street near Temple station the other day asking for directions to ''The Temple, Da Vinci Code''.

Couldn't help.

 

[Orang Utan]

it was truly dreadful, but compellingly so. he certainly has some kind of knack. short sentences. short chapters. each chapter ends in a mini-cliffhanger. you think to yourself, 'christ, this is appalling. i wonder what happens next?'
there's something admirable about that.

 

[Orang Utan]

Foucault's Pendulum is hard work. Worth it in the end, but that's one big, deep book that.

i wouldn't say so, i found it as compelling as the da vinci code, or as pedants would have it, the leonardo code

 

[butchersapron]

it was truly dreadful, but compellingly so. he certainly has some kind of knack. short sentences. short chapters. each chapter ends in a mini-cliffhanger. you think to yourself, 'christ, this is appalling. i wonder what happens next?'
there's something admirable about that.

I didn't think that. I was enjoying the book, not my own guilt ridden reaction for reading something so basely popular.

 

[Orang Utan]

i didn't feel guilty about reading it. why would i?

 

[butchersapron]

Stop justifying it then. Social pressure,

 

[Orang Utan]

i'm not justifying it

 

[butchersapron]

Ok, you sounded to me like you were going to some pains to

 

[ChrisC]

The Da Vinci Code is one of those books you really enjoy reading at the time. On refection it's rather crap.

 

[D'wards]

Whilst we are talking books, can i please urge ya'll to check out Mark Poirier.

He's one of my favourite authors, but hardly anyone has heard of him. He's like a more delinquent Douglas Coupland.

Naked Pueblo is the best collection of short stories i've ever read.

He stuff is pretty character based, and its funny - one passage had me in tears of laughter - do yourself a favour and try him.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=mark+poirier

 

[Pingu]

dunno about the books (they are normally better than the films imo) but I watched angels and demons last night and thought it was shit. Not just a little shit but a real shit sandwich.

having said this please bear in mind the sort of film i normally enjoy. it contains one or more of the following:

robots
robots fighting
lasers
lots of big explosions
no discernable plot

 

[Termite Man]

I appreciate you taking the time to recommend a book - however, as you prefixed it with a half-hearted insult, you can poke it frankly.

the insult was meant to be a joke

sorry if it missed the target !

 

[D'wards]

the insult was meant to be a joke

sorry if it missed the target !

Ah, awfully sorry about that - i tend to get a bit defensive on U75, as i have been "flamed" (i think the kids call it) in the past - i'll give that a go though, that book - i like good recommendations.

 

[Termite Man]

Ah, awfully sorry about that - i tend to get a bit defensive on U75, as i have been "flamed" (i think the kids call it) in the past - i'll give that a go though, that book - i like good recommendations.

no need to be sorry . It was a shit joke .

 

[D'wards]

Finished this a few days ago - took me about 2 weeks

I enjoyed it, not a great book but a good one. I rarely read plot-driven stuff, so it made a change. Was written like a soap opera really - short chapters with a mild cliffhanger ending, and a slow reveal of the facts to keep you interested.

Fancy something more heavy now - maybe some Dickens (where would i start?) or Crime and Punishment, that i've had around for years, but never started.

 

[quimcunx]

There you go then.