Please give a writer harder to put down than Dan Brown

[ahi]

Originally Posted by wgrimm

Yeah, Dan Brown is not very impressive. I made the unfortunate mistake of reading the "DaVinci Code," and it was a blatant rip-off of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." Lots of bad writers out there......Nowadays, I tyend not to finish reading the bad books.

Should be noted though that the author of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" was not successful in his lawsuit against Dan Brown.

- Ahi

[Penforhire]

Funny you mention Ken Follett. He made an effort to be melodramatic, to turn up the 'contrast knob' in his vision of a brutal age. I thought the sex and violence were reasonably well done there. Sometimes an author really does just want to shock you.

But to recommend Eco (although the OP did read him)? While I could not put down Focoult's Pendulum myself it was not a light read. He is Dan Brown's antimatter self. Too much prose contrast beyond the superficial secret society similarity to expect a Dan Brown reader to enjoy Eco. However, I admit to the sin of vice-versa (heh, vice that is).

[doreenjoy]

It seems like all suggestions are going to pale in comparison to the incomparable Dan Brown, so I'm done now.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by nohmi2

I would suggest that you try Krieg Larsson,s 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', and 'The Girl who Played with Fire'.
These are the first two of a trilogy. The last one should be out in a few weeks.

The author is "Stieg Larsson". And I agree, they are very readable and re-readable.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

More than Mao's 'Little Red Book' ??

The Harry Potter book had the highest *initial* print run (or so I've been told), not the most total books printed or most books sold. Mao's book was sold in several editions, I believe, not a single edition printed all at once.

[frui]

I bought the kindle edition of "The Day After Tomorrow" today, and I was instantly hooked. That's exactly something I am looking for. Thank you guys, thanks for the wonderful recommendation!
............And the reason I like it so much is not much different with the reason I like Da Vinci Code: an innocent american in Paris, the evil French police, a difficult situation, the simple descriptive language...........
I like no nonsense start like that. Simple and straight actions. At first the plot can be obvious and straight as bare bones, but the writer can add flesh and blood little by little along the actions. And the plot thickens. There are too many writers who just want to introduce you the characters and give you the background or atmosphere in the first 50 pages. That just doesn't go anywhere.
Vitor Hugo used to do it that way, but this is 21st century.

[SpiderMatt]

Originally Posted by HarryT

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.

The original quote is by Dorothy Parker: "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." She was talking about Atlas Shrugged, which I love, personally. The quote fits much better with Dan Brown.

What's harder to put down than Dan Brown? Anything. I put down Dan Brown many, many times before putting him down for the last time in the middle of The Da Vinci Code. I couldn't make it through a single full book by Dan Brown. All the criticisms pointed out by the op are correct. He's a horrible writer, through and through. Give me Melville, give me Hawthorn, give me anyone with a bland story so long as he can write. When did people stop caring about writing as an art form?

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

When did people stop caring about writing as an art form?

With the advent of universal suffrage, and giving the 'masses' discretionary spending money, rather than no more than starvation wages.

That said, I don't think appreciating writing should be about the form (that is to say, I find most lit majors fairly annoying to listen to when they rave about the importance of their 'craft'), as form is ultimately nothing more than a tool that is meant to create an effect. (which is why parodies, even unsubtle ones, can still be effective.)
The difference we're encountering here in appreciation is mostly due to the fact that most people will have low expectations, and actually prefer books that expect little of them, when they want to be 'immersed' in a story. Which is why, f.i., mr. Brown does. When people are already acquainted with more challenging/technically demanding literature, they may or may not call Brown a "guilty pleasure" (an annoying phrase if I've ever seen one) depending on whether or not they could resist his charms..
Once you consistently read more subtle books, where "renowned professor toodlepip" is not being chased through a museum that, you are told, apparently contain expensive paintings, the way in which these facts are imparted to you might progressively seem more and more hackneyed, and you can successfully resist taking up such a work.
This is something that applies equally to film, literature and music (marching band music), btw.

Anyway, the annoying thing, of course, is that there are so many people that the above does not apply to, and that the PR industry has free reign in deciding what to call "amazing literature" in its propaganda campaigns. Their assertion is then taken up by those same readers, who start telling everyone that "this book should not be missed", start trying to socially exclude you ("you think you're too good for") in order to get you to also approve of their taste, and so on. The media then have to pay attention to it (they don't want to alienate their consumer base), and after a while the bloody things become nearly unavoidable.
I'm sure this will in time lead to more social stratification, less interaction between different social classes, etc. (That is, the more people are educated, the fewer intelligent self-/uneducated people will remain in the lower SES, and the more mutual resentment will build up. This will of course not all be due to D. Brown's work.)
But really, I'd prefer it if they put age stickers on all claims of literary fame/worth, i.e., that people would stop making unqualified assertions about literary merit. (This applies equally to claims about books by Brown's ilk and Dostoevsky's)
The only problem being that people would perhaps feel less encouraged to switch, or to straddle middle positions by liking both. Still, considering that you can't really force people to like things, only slowly teach them to appreciate something (or not), I'm sure the above doesn't need to be put into law

[frui]

I can fully understand the "high class"/"low class" conflict in this Dan Brown controversy, being a man used to devour both elite and pulp literature altogether, reading Shakespear and Sheldon at the same time. I do the same in music enjoyment. I like Bach, and I like Richard Clayderman.

This is not schizophrenia, and being Dr Jekyll and Hyde is quite a normal case for modern people.

Now I will talk about what is probably not normal in me, and that's the real reason why I give this post here: I grow more and more impatient with the "low class" literature I used to like. I can hardly finish any of them recently. Yesterday I started to read "The Day After Tomorrow". It has a great start. I was happily surprised. But soon it lost momentum as the others. I have to skip a page or two to get myself keep reading.

But the same cannot be said of Dan Brown! I re-read Angels and Demons a couple of days ago. I did not feel the same boredom as I read other pulp fictions. The elite faction here (which is dominant) will of course find this weird, yet the pulp faction must also feel it hard to understand, or even offended.

That's the very reason why I am desperately searching for a Dan Brown clone, now that he is the only pulp fiction writer who can satisfy me, yet he produces one book in 6 years. Give me another Dan Brown, please! I know this is a very low request, yet I now know this is the hardest request.

[D-Style]

George R.R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire series, first book is A Game of Thrones.

Best books I have ever read...

http://www.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-S...2212897&sr=8-1

1,575 reviews and 4.5 stars

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by frui

I can fully understand the "high class"/"low class" conflict in this Dan Brown controversy, being a man used to devour both elite and pulp literature altogether, reading Shakespear and Sheldon at the same time. I do the same in music enjoyment. I like Bach, and I like Richard Clayderman.

This is not schizophrenia, and being Dr Jekyll and Hyde is quite a normal case for modern people.

Now I will talk about what is probably not normal in me, and that's the real reason why I give this post here: I grow more and more impatient with the "low class" literature I used to like. I can hardly finish any of them recently. Yesterday I started to read "The Day After Tomorrow". It has a great start. I was happily surprised. But soon it lost momentum as the others. I have to skip a page or two to get myself keep reading.

But the same cannot be said of Dan Brown! I re-read Angels and Demons a couple of days ago. I did not feel the same boredom as I read other pulp fictions. The elite faction here (which is dominant) will of course find this weird, yet the pulp faction must also feel it hard to understand, or even offended.

That's the very reason why I am desperately searching for a Dan Brown clone, now that he is the only pulp fiction writer who can satisfy me, yet he produces one book in 6 years. Give me another Dan Brown, please! I know this is a very low request, yet I now know this is the hardest request.

Hi frui,

I know he's not a "great writer" by any stretch of the imagination, but I just love Dan Brown's books. Real "page turners"!

Have you read any of Jeffrey Deaver's books? He's an author I find equally compelling, especially his "Lincoln Rhyme" series, the first one of which is "The Bone Collector".

[Over]

I think the only problem with Dan Brown is that he wrote a best seller with religous implications. If you mess with religion, you're messing with a lot of people!

I'm christian and I think most things in his greatest best seller are BS. Yet, it didn't stop me to enjoy the book (although I would have enjoyed it more if the book had been more credible for my level of education in the subject).

Many people are pissed off because of what he wrote and about how many people his message reached and how many people take his book as factual. That's the genesis of most of the hatred for the author: religion and jealousy. Many may point other reasons, but those reasons are just a fugue for their frustation or hatred.

Of course, such a big start in the book publishing world, was the subject of many studies of many academics that also made money selling books with proof that he's wrong. And I wonder how many authors would stand up to that kind of scrutiny (that's the english word?).

I liked both books I've read (A&D and the code). His prose is direct (I hate too much flowery and other pretencious crap, justified with being artistry/literary) and engaging (as rarely most authors are).

That being said, I must agree that it's rare to find another author as engaging as Dan Brown. There are other books I like more, but I don't recall right now a book that I've devoured as fast as his Davinci Code. When it came out, I had a fever but I read the whole book in one night (missed class the next day, me who never missed classes in my times as a student, but I had the excuse that I was feverish, although better in that morning).

[evdberg]

@frui,
Michael Crichton has already been mentioned, and you read already some of his books, but I could really not put aside 'State of Fear' when I was on holiday some months ago.

Another book that caught me by surprise was 'The Alchemist' by Michael Scott. Now I need to get the other books in the series ...

[frui]

I read George R.R. Martin. He is a good one. A colossus in a sense. But no, he is definitely not of the same species as Dan Brown. Even least a Dan Brown clone. His style is pretty thick, heavy, and slow.

Originally Posted by D-Style

George R.R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire series, first book is A Game of Thrones.

Best books I have ever read...

http://www.amazon.com/Game-Thrones-S...2212897&sr=8-1

1,575 reviews and 4.5 stars

[frui]

Hi, HarryT and evdberg! Thanks for the suggestion. I will try your recommendation one by one. I remember thinking about buying a copy of "The State of Fear", but the mixed review in Amazon put me off. I have not heard about the other writers you mentioned.