Please give a writer harder to put down than Dan Brown

[RCR]

In answer to the original question - authors as unputdownable as Dan Brown:

I recently discovered James Rollins. I finished "Amazonia" in a couple of sittings and now I've started on "Deep Fathom".

"Amazonia" is amazing. It has everything: Special Forces, gunfights, jungle critters, monsters, plagues, love stories, environmentalists, lost tribes, good guys, bad guys ... and the sexiest, evilest badest cruelest woman you could ever dream of!

Why isn't it a movie?

[ahi]

Originally Posted by frui

Being a foreigner may see things differently, right or wrong.
A foreigner might be not so sensitive to the "fact" to which many westerners are so attached.
But, what accounts to the outrageous interest towards his fictions in western countries? Something beyond deception point?
And, dear ahi, you mean you haven't read a single book by Dan Brown? If so, how can you have such a strong attitude toward him?

I am a foreigner myself, Frui. Hungarian, to be precise. And while obviously the cultural differences between myself and anglophones like Dan Brown are far lesser than between Westerners and Easterners in general, there are enough that I can at least conceive what it might be like if the gap was greatly larger.

So I will grant you that your view of him might be different on account of cultural differences, and I would not for a moment suggest that such differences might be wrong.

Would I be correct in assuming that since Western culture and history in general is a more distant concern to you, you are less bothered by inaccuracies of details, and you may not even notice some of them?

In contrast, I guess a lot of Westerners read the book and now and then (some more often than others) come across parts that feel like "the author should've known better". And I think people generally do not like feeling they could've improved upon the author's work.

For a reversal of the situation, perhaps try to imagine a book about an exciting adventure/thriller book with Asian characters taking place in Asian countries... but filled with small, but for those who are familiar with Asian countries and culture, obvious inaccuracies every dozen pages or so.

Chances are such a book could be more easily enjoyed by a Westerner than by you, because you would keep being distracted by the odd little mistakes and strange assumptions made by the writer that you know from your own knowledge and experience to be wrong. Or am I mistaken?

And my strong opinion toward Brown comes from have chosen to trust certain other people's opinion on him, based on their shorter and longer essays and reviews pointing out his perceived failings.

I am likewise disposed toward J. K. Rowling, and she is wildly successful too... so it's not anything personal toward Dan Brown.

- Ahi

[Wario]

Originally Posted by ahi

This thread doesn't seem like the right place for cheap shots at Dan Brown... particularly since the original poster made it clear enough that he knows the author is of controversial repute.

I have not suggested that I think he is a great writer either, but I think I stopped short of empty ridicule.

- Ahi

Good point

I have started to read the 'Discworld' by Terry Pratchett, so far I can't stop reading them. (first book 'Colour of Light' was very hard to read). Just started 'Reaper man'.

Steven kings b

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by ahi

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).

That's a nice way to sum it up. Sir Terry Pratchett excels at all three!

EDIT: Hey Wario! We were thinking of the same thing at the same time! Get Out of My Head!!!

[Moejoe]

If you want a truly great author who knows how to make you turn a page, then may I recommend the greatest crime writer of all time; James M Cain. I'd start with The Postman Always Rings Twice, then follow it up with a dose of Double Indemnity and then get yourself a little Mildred Pierce.

Here's the opening to Double Indemnity:

I drove out to Glendale to put three new truck drivers on a brewery company bond, and then I remembered this renewal over in Hollywoodland. I decided to run over there. That was how I came to this House of Death, that you've been reading about in the papers. It didn't look like a House of Death when I saw it. It was just a Spanish house, like all the rest of them in California, with white walls, red tile roof, and a patio out to one side. It was built cock-eyed. The garage was under the house, the first floor was over that, and the rest of it was spilled up the hill any way they could get it in. You climbed some stone steps to the front door, so I parked the car and went up there. A servant poked her head out. "Is Mr. Nirdlinger in?"

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by RCR

I recently discovered James Rollins. I finished "Amazonia" in a couple of sittings and now I've started on "Deep Fathom".

Deep Fathom was the first Rollins book I read. Have been a fan ever since!

[frui]

Yes, ahi. I got your point. So I guess Da Vinci Code must be more a international best seller than a domestic one.
Now to put aside "historical facts", I still think Dan Brown has very strong (I should say the strongest) talent to tell a story: the twist and turns, the supprise, the cliff hangers. Other writers use these techniques, too, but none can handle them in such an intelligent (now we have that word, again!) and fresh way as Dan. That's why I am seeking writers who are as competent as Dan in this aspect.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by frui

Yes, ahi. I got your point. So I guess Da Vinci Code must be more a international best seller than a domestic one.
Now to put aside "historical facts", I still think Dan Brown has very strong (I should say the strongest) talent to tell a story: the twist and turns, the supprise, the cliff hangers. Other writers use these techniques, too, but none can handle them in such an intelligent (now we have that word, again!) and fresh way as Dan. That's why I am seeking writers who are as competent as Dan in this aspect.

Surely you jest when you utter the words talent and Dan Brown in the same sentence? Unless you mean talent in the same way as Britney Spears has talent, or how the actor, David Hasselhof, has talent?

[ahi]

Originally Posted by frui

Yes, ahi. I got your point. So I guess Da Vinci Code must be more a international best seller than a domestic one.
Now to put aside "historical facts", I still think Dan Brown has very strong (I should say the strongest) talent to tell a story: the twist and turns, the supprise, the cliff hangers. Other writers use these techniques, too, but none can handle them in such an intelligent (now we have that word, again!) and fresh way as Dan. That's why I am seeking writers who are as competent as Dan in this aspect.

Can I ask, Frui, if you are reading Dan Brown in English or in your own language?

I've found certain authors that I literally cannot force myself to read in English, but really enjoy reading in Hungarian. In such cases, I (kind of have to) assume that somehow the translator managed to make the book even better than the original...

- Ahi

[ahi]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Surely you jest when you utter the words talent and Dan Brown in the same sentence?

Despite all evidence that makes it amply clear that he doesn't, you mean?

- Ahi

[frui]

Hi, RCR. I've read The Doomsday Key and Subterranean by James Rollins. I think it's good, but It's easy to put them down to do other things.

Originally Posted by RCR

In answer to the original question - authors as unputdownable as Dan Brown:

I recently discovered James Rollins. I finished "Amazonia" in a couple of sittings and now I've started on "Deep Fathom".

"Amazonia" is amazing. It has everything: Special Forces, gunfights, jungle critters, monsters, plagues, love stories, environmentalists, lost tribes, good guys, bad guys ... and the sexiest, evilest badest cruelest woman you could ever dream of!

Why isn't it a movie?

[Moejoe]

Stewart Lee says it all

[frui]

I read Da Vinci Code in both English and Chinese.
I like his "easy" English, as if especially meant for foreigners.
The Chinese translation is pretty bad, as most of the translations of popular fictions today in China.

Originally Posted by ahi

Can I ask, Frui, if you are reading Dan Brown in English or in your own language?

I've found certain authors that I literally cannot force myself to read in English, but really enjoy reading in Hungarian. In such cases, I (kind of have to) assume that somehow the translator managed to make the book even better than the original...

- Ahi

[ahi]

Originally Posted by frui

Hi, RCR. I've read The Doomsday Key and Subterranean by James Rollins. I think it's good, but It's easy to put them down to do other things.

Are you interested in older western adventure books too, Frui?

I suspect Allan Folsom is more like (in the good ways) Dan Brown than the below suggestions, but you might enjoy these all the same.

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars Series

The main character (of most of the stories) is a man from Earth that is inexplicably transported to Mars, where he finds seemingly non-stop adventures amidst the number of different peoples of Mars (some gigantic and arguably "barbarian", others more like earth men in appearance and living in martial kingdoms, others still have stranger forms of political organization).

Very action/adventure oriented... and genuinely exciting. Arguably sci-fi/fantasy... a bit of a mix between the two perhaps.

H. Rider Haggard's African Stories

Basically adventures in not yet fully discovered/explored/civilized Africa and its dangers and mysteries back in colonial times. Not the most politically correct books, but if you can get past that, they can also be rather gripping adventures. And there are probably a few dozen novels in this batch... which would keep you reading for a while, if you like them.

- Ahi

[ahi]

Originally Posted by frui

I read Da Vinci Code in both English and Chinese.
I like his "easy" English, as if especially meant for foreigners.
The Chinese translation is pretty bad, as most of the translations of popular fictions today in China.

Unfortunate about the poor quality translations. I suspect though what you see as a benefit (the language being easy or simple) anglophone readers would see as a failing.

I would guess it would be kind of like if a Chinese author seemed to go out of his way to avoid using any characters above and beyond the most common 2000 or so, even when there might have been better way to put things using characters that people with even a moderate education would have had no problem understanding.

Does that make sense?

- Ahi