da vinci code
 

One last thought from those of us who dwell where the air is less refined. Maybe the movie will be great, maybe not. My concern is that once again people will have the option of viewing a movie instead of reading the book. I guess you can tell I'm a literacy advocate. If people are to make their own informed choices about anything--being able to read is pretty crucial. Too many people don't even know what a preposition is, let alone whether it's dangling or not. Anyhow, just a thought from the great unwashed hordes.

I prefer to dangle my participles. :-)

Ah, but you seem to not realize that most of those people who will choose to watch the movie <b><i>instead of</i></b> reading the book would have still never read the book even if the movie were not made.

You can't force people to read, no matter how important you think it is. :)

as long as we're engaging in elitist musings here, I have to say that, having read the book myself, the reading of it was not for me a particularly literary experience. Literacy perhaps, in the sense of actually reading the words, but not literature in any sense. Whether or not there were any dangling prepositions was the least of its problems imo. You can tell perhaps I didn't like the book--maybe this is one case where I will think the film is an improvement.

Ah, bless you, Elaine! My wife and I are happy to know that we aren't the only ones who found little literary merit--or enjoyment--in the book!

I second Howard and Elaine. I will go as far as to call this &quot;book&quot; trash. What a waste of time and paper.

Okay, I'll also come out of the closet - I didn't much care for the book.

Calling it trash really is a form of arrant pedantry. If it was trash, millions of copies would not have sold!

As said elsewhere, Dan Brown (no relation) is crying all the way to the bank to deposit his royalty checks.

Let me suggest that unless you have published a book, don't criticize.

I doubt if most of you could even crack the print list.

Actually I'm rather surprised that the elitist snobs that responded in a previous thread don't support the book since it's message is that Christianity is basically a hoax. I would have expected them to approve of anything that irritates those of us out here in &quot;Jesusland&quot;. Once I heard about the book's theme, I decided I had no interest in reading what I consider blasphemy.

Joining the group of Fodorites who don't like the book means crowding into a very large closet!

I'll come out of the closet of people who enjoyed the book (along with seemingly everyone I saw on an airplane for months). I thought it was good fun and my daughters and I used it as a spinoff for our London trip, looking for the Temple Church (very well hidden I might add) and specific tombs in Westminster Abbey.

It was hardly research for the trip but it was a nice commonality for us on our quickie visit that trip.

Bob, come on, you know trash sells in america. Just since a bunch of folks buy something that doesn't automatically mean it has great merit.

And isn't it a tad much to say you can't criticize a book unless you are a published author?

Isn't there some pretty vast ground between &quot;trash&quot; and &quot;has great merit&quot;. I don't think anyone, including Dan Brown, would claim that <u>Da Vinci Code</u> is a great piece of literary work.

It's a novel - plain and simple. You can enjoy it or not, and it doesn't really matter to anyone. Those who do enjoy it see it as simply a fun adventure novel for the most part.

I've never met anyone who claimed it was a historically accurate religious text, or that it was a literary masterpiece. Some people seem to have to live only in the land of extremes.

For the record, I didn't say it was trash or great literature, only that I didn't much care for it. I do think paperback book prices are extreme these days.

&quot;Jesusland&quot;, Zeus? Is that some sort of theme park? The mind boggles.

Reference to &quot;elitist snobs&quot; reminds me of the old Russian joke about KGB agents having to go around in threes - one who could read, one who could write and the third to keep an eye on the two dangerous intellectuals.

Agree completely. Very few would classify it as timeless prose but many have found it a pretty good read. I dare say that the ability to keep one (or millions) turning the pages is a lucrative talent.

I thought the book was a waste of my reading time--so did my husband. It was as if DB wrote it by numbers, with the idea of selling movie rights as quickly as possible. I also didn't like the fact that SO much of the book was based on the (debunked) stuff in Holy Blood, Holy Grail)--but HBHG was not credited, at least not in the edition we read. Not exactly plagiarism, but not exactly original thinking and research--and not exactly the example an educator should set. Also, a lot of the stuff listed as &quot;fact&quot; was anything but.
Bob Brown, why can't people criticize a book if they haven't written one (although I have)? Bob, have you ever criticized a car? If so, I assume you have developed and brought to market your own top selling automobile--that's the standard you want others to follow. Have you never criticized a movie or TV show without having produced your own award winning, widely viewed film or series?
There is a lot of money making crap out there--the National Enquirer, Barbara Cartland novels, most reality TV shows. Just because something makes money doesn't mean its creators are somehow above criticism.

I couldn't agree more with the premise that sales figures directly correlate with quality. After all, Britney Spears has a much better voice than Renee Fleming, the National Enquirer is infinitely better journalism than the Economist, and Rod McEuen's poems put just about everybody else's to shame.

Incidentally, I resolve never to criticize the president until I have been the head of state of a major nation.

Well, I enjoyed the book AND I thought it was absolute trash. How's that?

I'm rather fond of alternative history, but I do prefer whatever I read be well written. Alas, the world is not perfect.

Mr. Brown can laugh all the way to the bank, but that doesn't make him a decent writer. DVC is a textbook example of cardboard characters, uninspired prose, and every cheap trick there is for maintaining suspense. I think the movie has a good chance of being better than the book -- how could it be worse?

For suspense, intrigue, and top level writing, read John LeCarre, especially the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy series. Now there's a pleasure. (The BBC mini-series starring Alec Guiness as Smiley has to be one of the best visual adaptations ever done as well.)

And Bob Brown, it is a time-honored tradition of critics that they cannot necessarily do what it is that they critique. Why should we be different from the pros?

...and I guess we should never criticize book critics until we have been one.

As usual, what starts out as a mild criticism or mild personal opinion (advocating reading--where will it end?!)somehow declines to a snob vs slob dichotomy. Not necessary folks.
This extremism thing doesn't work out well, in conversation, in literary critism, in politics, or in life.