First Post, Last Word on the Da Vinci Code

Seeing previews of the movie version has brought up the spectre of the Da Vinci Code again, and I thought I would share what I thought was absolutely the funniest and most comprehensive trashing of DVC and Dan Brown's other book, Angels & Demons, I have seen to date. It's a thread of comments on the Making Light blog, which is great for the occasional check if you surf the Web *at all*. But first,

Caveats & Disclaimers: No, I haven't read _Code_ myself, so according to my usual standards for criticism, I suppose I haven't got any grounds for comment or even forwarding comment. Nor am I likely to read it in the near future, given the number of other books I *want* to read that are already on my shelves, once I'm back on my thyroid medication and able to concentrate for a couple hours consecutively once again. However, people keep mentioning the darn thing and arguing about it, so I'll share some reasons it's very, *very* low on my list.

1) From even the back cover synopsis, it seems like a rip off of Baigent et. al.'s _Holy Blood, Holy Grail_, of which I was already aware through the RPG-oriented writings of Ken Hite. So, I'd know the whole san greal/sang real twist going in, no real mystery for me (or you, either, now).

2) In the overall genre of conspiracy theory novels, I doubt anything'sgoing to top Umberto Eco's wonderful deconstruction of same from years back, _Foucalt's Pendulum_. Given a choice, I'll probably reread Eco -twice - before bothering with Brown.

3) Every time I hear a new snippet about the Dan Brown books, or public controversy over them, I hear something that makes them seem more... well, dumb. Please understand that I don't mean to say that anybody who *has* read and enjoyed them is dumb, although I might suspect some slight detuning of one's critical faculties while actually reading them. But please understand that this is not intended as a slam on anyone, other than possibly Dan Brown.

That said, here's the link for the discussion thread at Making Light.


Favorite quote:

My personal favorite is when the "renowned curator" is dying, and he's writing all these anagrams in his blood, and WALKING AROUND the museum to leave them all, and then, just as you think he's finally going to expire from shock and blood loss, decides to strip naked and contort himself into yet another "clue." I said to husband, "I just want you to know if I'm ever gut-shot, I'm planning on screaming, "Oww!" and expiring immediately."

That's all, folks,
Scott