Bob, you frequently rant about and severely berate the TSA on a regular basis, following your logic, are to we to assume you have were once the head of airport security in some country?

Pellegrina, Sat there a couple of months! Wow. When I got on the wait list at the library (18 months ago?) I was number 54! I'm with you. If something makes people pick up a book, who might not otherwise read (and then they pick up another afterwards) it's a good thing.

Yes, I agree with grasshopper and pellegina. Reading ANYTHING, is better than not reading at all! My motto concerning differant tastes, is "that's why they make vanilla & chocolate"! Or whatever floats your boat...or cranks your tractor! Imagine if we ALL liked the same thing...how boring!

Marilyn: Welcome back! (Whither did you travel?)

I suppose "Bel Canto" may have been inspired initially by the events in Peru, but, if things happened actually in Peru as they do in this novel, then those were really weird events!

"Bel Canto" - for me - is a mood book. It's the author's ability to evoke certain moods within the reader. Don't read the reviews. Just savor the book. In this respect, it's somewhat like the Suskind book, "Perfume". I am not describing it very well. You will just have to read it.

The prose is beautiful, which is what makes it such a fine read.

For sheer techno-virtuosity with the English language, I would recommend Arundhati Roy's "The God of Small Things". She is able ot do "acrobatic" things with English that I have seldom found in other authors.

Well, having finished "Bel Canto" I'm somewhat in a quandary as to what to read next:

"Humboldt's Cosmos, Alexander von Humboldt and the Latin American Journey that Changed the Way we See the World"

or "Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Living to Tell the Tale"

or "Eragon" ("One Boy, One Dragon, A world of Adventure&quot

What would you recommend?

Judyrem: agree completely! "One man's meat is another man's poison".

I have now finished three of Dan Brown's books and will soon go on to the fourth.

I was in New England and NY. Nothing worthy of a trip report, I'm afraid.

I'm not familiar with the 3 books you have stacked up on the runway, but if you liked The God of Small Things you may also like The Moor's Last Sigh, by Salman Rushdie. He does some wonderful acrobatics with the English language as well.

I'm sorry, Elaine but YOU are the person who described this whole thing as "elitist musings" so please don't act surprised that is has "declined" to a "snob vs. slob" dichotomy.

It is nothing more than a difference of opinion that some posters evidently feel compelled to attach various "labels" to. Apparently there are lot more fiction and trash writers RIGHT HERE than we ever could have imagined.

Bob Brown's idea that you should be a published author to criticise (or even trash?) a book is nonsense. Anyone who reads books is qualified to assess and criticise them.

I'm with Elaine. The book was based on some intriguing ideas (all published back in the 80's by Baigent, Lee & Lincoln), but failed in translating these ideas into the fast-paced thriller it aspired to be. In making this judgement I am comparing it the fast-paced thrillers of Robert Ludlum.

Incidentally, Tbilke, the edition I read did acknowledge Holy Blood Holy Grail, and I question your assertion that it is "debunked". Far from it in fact, if the flood of later confirming and supporting works is any indicator.

To the poster (can't find the posting now) who thought these ideas trashed Christianity, I disagree. All it does is open up the possibility of new and intriguing histories for some of Christianities key founders.

Marilyn, you're right about John Le Carre. Must be something about being a spy, but few writers today can get so inside the minds of his characters to make them as real and "human" as Le Carre does. And isn't it hard to 'judge' his characters? None are straight down the line black & white. Even the bad ones earn our empathy. That's what I call a writer.

Count me in on the side who liked reading Da Vinci Code. I, my husband, my son, my daughter and son-in-law enjoyed reading it and had many discussions regarding this fictional story. I can't think of another book our whole family read and discussed. A good product of reading.

cd, thank you Mrs Brown.

Twoflower, please check the NYTimes article The Da Vinci Con (Feb. 22, 2004) for a complete description of the "pseudohistory" of HBHG and a "flood" of expert accounts debunking to underlying so-called facts (you can catch some of these expert accounts on French TV, but they're rather longwinded, which doesn't fit with the sound bite, short attention span world of most American TV).
Excerpt from NYT:
"Plantard's hoax was debunked by a series of (as yet untranslated) French books and a 1996 BBC documentary, but
curiously enough, this set of shocking revelations hasn'tproved as popular as the fantasia of ''Holy Blood, Holy
Grail,'' or, for that matter, as ''The Da Vinci Code.'' Theonly thing more powerful than a worldwide conspiracy, it seems, is our desire to believe in one."

And I just checked my copy of the Da Vinci Code and sure enough, NO credit given to Holy Blood Holy Grail. (P.S. it's BTilke, not tbilke)

easytraveler,

My book group read "Paris 1919" this month; only half of the group of 12 finished it, but those of us who did thought it a fine book. Not as easy a read as "No Ordinary Time," but certainly worth the effort.

I haven't read the books, but this article sounds like it might be interesting to those who did:

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3803316

I have no interest in the book or religion and haven't even read this thread .
But I came across this website on soc.history.ancient and thought it might be of interest http://www.envoymagazine.com/planete...inci-Part1.htm Regards, Walter

After cruising throught the many many posts I can only conclude that it was a good book and did it's job within the "literary" circles of Fodor's. Let's face it, trash or not, it appears most everyone read it (didn't they?), As such it must not be a bad read if it has exceited this much comment and passion......of course The Adventures if Dr Seuss might do the same.....

By the by, it can be purchased at he Virgin store at Carousel du Louvre, just steps from the inverted pyramid....sort of amusing....