09-03-2009, 09:00 AM | #1 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 59
Karma: 1340
Join Date: Aug 2009
Device: kindle dx
|
Please give a writer harder to put down than Dan Brown
I know, I know, he is crap, everybody with a taste says.
His characters are flat. His language is bland. His world view is shallow. His plot is absurd. He is greatly flawed. But he has an absolute power to absorb you from the very beginning to the very end, even in his weakest opus like "Deception Point". I read all genres of thrillers, from Tom Clancy, through Kathy Reichs, to John Grisham. Every one of them has some shining points, but you will feel bored most of the time. No one has the talent of Dan Brown to catch you tight in every page. So I believe there are two factions of writers. One faction includes Dan Brown alone. The other faction has all the other writers. I am not paranoid. I am not a die hard fan of Dan Brown. I just want some books I cannot put down. I just find this humble request harder and harder to fulfil. Now, my learned fellow readers, educate me, correct me, please! Add someone I don't know to the Dan Brown faction I mentioned above. I'd be overjoyed if I knew he was not alone. Thank you. Last edited by frui; 09-11-2009 at 11:06 PM. |
09-03-2009, 09:03 AM | #2 |
Wizard
Posts: 4,395
Karma: 1358132
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: UK
Device: Palm TX, CyBook Gen3
|
I'd suggest Thomas Harris of 'Silence of the Lambs' fame.
|
Advert | |
|
09-03-2009, 09:08 AM | #3 |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
To paraphrase someone I forget: Dan Brown is not an author whose books should be casually laid aside; they should be thrown with great force.
|
09-03-2009, 09:11 AM | #4 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 59
Karma: 1340
Join Date: Aug 2009
Device: kindle dx
|
|
09-03-2009, 09:12 AM | #5 | |
Banned
Posts: 5,100
Karma: 72193
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: South of the Border
Device: Coffin
|
Quote:
This is a sentence written by Dan Brown: The famous man looked at the red cup. The next time someone says to me "But we need the publishing industry to filter out the crap, to make sure we have quality. Books aren't just released without editing and proofreading, don't you know?" Well, the next time I hear someone say that, all I'm going to say is: DAN BROWN. And that will be answer enough. |
|
Advert | |
|
09-03-2009, 09:22 AM | #6 | |
Connoisseur
Posts: 59
Karma: 1340
Join Date: Aug 2009
Device: kindle dx
|
Hi, Moejoe!
Curiously, what's wrong with the sentence "The famous man looked at the red cup." I have very little sense of the English language, since I am Chinese. Quote:
|
|
09-03-2009, 09:23 AM | #7 |
Wizard
Posts: 4,395
Karma: 1358132
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: UK
Device: Palm TX, CyBook Gen3
|
As someone who is half way through 'The Turn of the Screw'; I would just like to say that Dan Brown is a better writer than Henry James (imho).
This is HJ in full flow: "It produced in me, this figure, in the clear twilight, I remember, two distinct gasps of emotion, which were, sharply, the shock of my first and that of my second surprise. My second was a violent perception of the mistake of my first: the man who met my eyes was not the person I had precipitately supposed." Last edited by Sparrow; 09-03-2009 at 09:26 AM. |
09-03-2009, 09:24 AM | #8 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 59
Karma: 1340
Join Date: Aug 2009
Device: kindle dx
|
And I agree with you that he is no literary giant. He is nothing compared with James Joyce and Steinbeck. But he can give us fun, simple and straigh. Don't you think that's also a manifestation of talent?
|
09-03-2009, 09:31 AM | #9 | |
Wizard
Posts: 1,790
Karma: 507333
Join Date: May 2009
Device: none
|
Quote:
On the first page, in the first paragraph, the main character has a chance encounter with the man that murdered his father back when he was a child... and the story just gets more and more exciting from there! - Ahi |
|
09-03-2009, 09:33 AM | #10 | ||
Wizard
Posts: 1,790
Karma: 507333
Join Date: May 2009
Device: none
|
Quote:
Quote:
A good book should be 1) interesting enough to compel the reader to continue reading, 2) plainly enough written that the reader understands, and ideally 3) elegantly/cleverly enough phrased so as to provide what I would describe as "a literary experience"... a sort of "delight at clever words and lovely and pleasantly varied expressions". It seems to me Dan Brown delivers well enough in 1) and 2), and is widely despised for neither being good nor giving a damn about 3). I'm sometimes told "EVERYBODY HAS THEIR OWN PREFERENCES". Maybe there's something to it, even when it's not about disliking PDF. - Ahi Last edited by ahi; 09-03-2009 at 09:41 AM. |
||
09-03-2009, 09:34 AM | #11 |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 74,033
Karma: 129333114
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
W. E. B. Griffin is an author who's books are hard to put down. And they are good too.
|
09-03-2009, 09:37 AM | #12 | |
Connoisseur
Posts: 59
Karma: 1340
Join Date: Aug 2009
Device: kindle dx
|
Thank you ahi, I will give it a try.
Quote:
|
|
09-03-2009, 09:38 AM | #13 |
Junior Member
Posts: 1
Karma: 10
Join Date: Sep 2009
Device: KINDLE DX
|
Stephen King? lol.....水区群众前来围观
|
09-03-2009, 09:44 AM | #14 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,790
Karma: 507333
Join Date: May 2009
Device: none
|
是否有本书的英文或中文翻译水区群众前来围观
... sorry. I mean English or Hungarian. Last edited by ahi; 09-03-2009 at 09:47 AM. |
09-03-2009, 09:44 AM | #15 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 59
Karma: 1340
Join Date: Aug 2009
Device: kindle dx
|
I like page turners, but I hate James Patterson.
I am not seeking class and taste in thrillers, but I hate all-round rip off. I think it's not without a reason Mr Dan Brown took 6 years to write "The Lost Symbol". He is a serious guy in that. He is a professional. He has respect for fine craftmanship. Last edited by frui; 09-03-2009 at 09:53 AM. |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Hands up if you got Dan Brown for Christmas! | AprilHare | Lounge | 16 | 12-31-2009 02:24 PM |
Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol | PieOPah | Lounge | 57 | 09-23-2009 05:56 AM |
Where is Dan Brown? | KindleMan | Reading Recommendations | 67 | 05-01-2009 03:09 PM |
Dan Brown Books | saw9000 | Reading Recommendations | 12 | 04-07-2004 08:33 AM |