Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol

[kennyc]

I digitally checked it out from the local library. I've got 21 days to read it.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Crowl

A lot of independent bookshops in the uk ended up doing that with other books too such as the last harry potter due to how low the supermarket prices were.

I ended up buying it, I'd just finished the series I was reading and under $10 seemed like a bargain.

They can't do that here. There is a protected book price. No matter where you buy, there is a minimum price which you may not go below.

As ebooks aren't books, there is no minimum price for that but I doubt you'll see them in supermarkets any time soon

[SHOECHICK]

Finished it last night. Preferred A & D and the DC but still a pretty good read.

[neilmarr]

PRS-505 handled the images well, too, Jaxx. Just a pity the words are so crap. This is, perhaps, the worst attempt at a thriller I've read for as long as I care to remember. Flat as a fluke. N

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

But, what the heck; as a pro fiction editor, I must admit to admiring the way Dan Brown goes about the task of being a reliable, jobbing author. High literature? Of course not. A solid and thrilling read ... more than certainly!

Did you admire him before _The DaVinci Code_ became an enormous best seller?

I heard fairly reliable rumors that his US publisher was about to drop him from contract, as sales of his previous books were underwhelming.

Of course, the success of The DaVinci Code made him a darling of the industry, and I've no doubt the new book will do well. There are always arguably bad books on the best seller lists because they are seen as "good reads" by those who buy them.
______
Dennis

[krisk]

bleh. certainly the worst of his books. kind of like warmed over french fries

[DixieGal]

... pokes head in door, says, "The Lost Symbol is a big ol' puffy red question mark," then runs on down the hall....

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Did you admire him before _The DaVinci Code_ became an enormous best seller?

I heard fairly reliable rumors that his US publisher was about to drop him from contract, as sales of his previous books were underwhelming.

Of course, the success of The DaVinci Code made him a darling of the industry, and I've no doubt the new book will do well. There are always arguably bad books on the best seller lists because they are seen as "good reads" by those who buy them.
______
Dennis

Actually, I read the Da Vince Code because I liked the title of the book... I had never heard of Dan Brown or any hype about it. A lot of books I read I get because I like the title or cover... And as I've always had a fascination with the Renaissance, Middle Ages, actually anything before 1900, titles like that will attract me.

[krisk]

the DaVinci code was indeed decent. nothing like this latest offering

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Actually, I read the Da Vince Code because I liked the title of the book... I had never heard of Dan Brown or any hype about it. A lot of books I read I get because I like the title or cover... And as I've always had a fascination with the Renaissance, Middle Ages, actually anything before 1900, titles like that will attract me.

Okay, you liked the title. Having read it, did you like the book?
______
Dennis

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Actually, I read the Da Vince Code because I liked the title of the book... I had never heard of Dan Brown or any hype about it. A lot of books I read I get because I like the title or cover... And as I've always had a fascination with the Renaissance, Middle Ages, actually anything before 1900, titles like that will attract me.

I did the same (says the doggie, somewhat embarrassed). And I enjoyed and hated it before doing either was particularly in fashion yet.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Okay, you liked the title. Having read it, did you like the book?
______
Dennis

It was a nice little story to read. Nothing fancy, it didn't live up to the title in that respect. But yes, I did like it. I also liked Angels and Demons. The same, nothing fancy, but a nice little read in between more challenging books.


(but I loath the Dutch translation of the name: The Bernini Mystery, especially when I saw the original cover of the book)

[spear]

I read the DaVince Code at the beginning of its popularity but before the public outcries of heresy and plagarism. Usually I don't read "manly thrillers" (if you can classify it that way, even though I grew up reading Doc Savage), but all of the volunteers at my park were reading it and passing it around, so I finally bought it on sale. During a tropical storm, after closing up the park, I lazed around and read it cover to cover. Now I am a fast reader, but with Brown's unusual use of two to three page chapters, the pages really seem to fly. Of course it probably helped that I had already read "holy Grail, Holy Blood" in college (love reading weird stuff, secretly always wanting to believe it, whatever stuff is being offered, but I am too much of a realist, and always wind up WTF? and tearing up flimsy evidence offered), so I was already familiar with the backstory as such. After I finished it, thought "that was interesting", then sold it on ebay. When then church types (yes I am a lapsed Catholic) started flipping out, I laughed so hard, I mean come on...its fiction! But it helped him sell books so more power to him.

Afterwards I read Angels and Demons for the heck of it. I felt it was the better of the two books, mixing symbolic deaths with reenaissance sculpture and architecture, to me it was more original and faster paced....if only he could of left out the whole anti-matter stuff, again WTF? Anyway finished the book and sold it on ebay.

As a curator, I obviously think most of his stuff is hugely off base. It both tickles me and saddens me at the same time that people get so worked up his stuff. But then again I refuse to see "historicaly" based movies because I will end up shouting at the screen stuff like: "that type of weapon didn't exist yet, and couldn't they have hidden the zippers better?"

To wind up, I think of Brown's work kind of along the lines of the pulp novels (except he wouldn't of survived being a pulp writer, they had to crank those stories out fast). You can like the works or hate the works it doesn't even matter. The fact that people feel that they have to constantly analyze or criticize his books have created more publicity and money for him than anything else could have done and he's laughing to the bank. I don't love him, I don't hate him, I'm just amazed at the amount of time and energy over the uproar (which now I am also guilty of).

Denise

[neilmarr]

***Did you admire him before _The DaVinci Code_ became an enormous best seller?***

Yup, Dennis. I'd read all his other books, and his *Da Vinci* grabbed me because I've long been interested in the various Christ bloodline legends and church history and intrigue. He always turned in a decent enough job, and his strict formula sold. This time, though, he's fallen flat on his face. I suspect very little editorial intervention was allowed ... though the result cries out for total revision. The book reads like a very poor and rough first draft. N

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by spear

As a curator, I obviously think most of his stuff is hugely off base. It both tickles me and saddens me at the same time that people get so worked up his stuff. But then again I refuse to see "historicaly" based movies because I will end up shouting at the screen stuff like: "that type of weapon didn't exist yet, and couldn't they have hidden the zippers better?"

Have you ever read River God by Wilbur Smith?

Some questions asked about that book on fora are like this:

I recently read Wilbur Smith's book River God. He's apparently a fiction writer, although he claims that this book was based on the scrolls of Taita her slave. These scrolls were allegedly found in her tomb in January of 1988 by Dr. Duraid ibn al Simma of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities. <snip>
Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I've been dying to know how much of the book is really true since I read it. Thanks!

He writes brilliantly (at least, I think so) and he finishes it with a reference to above mentioned.

For me, if a writer writes something about a historic event and people half-believe (or completely believe) what that author has written, even if it's not true, I think that author has done well in that respect.