Mona Lisa
I'm reading The Da Vinci Code because I want to know what all the fuss is about. Same reason I read The Satanic Verses, back when.
Big deal.
Yes, the story is full of fascinating factual detail, like the fact that if you walk around the perimeter of the Louvre it's three miles. Reading this book will no doubt improve my score next time I play Trivial Pursuit. But it's a novel. You know, fiction.
Not unlike this blog. Lots of true facts and accurate historical detail, around which a story is told. Reminds me of Anne Rice's Memnoch The Devil, — The Da Vinci Code, that is, not Postmodernes Sprachspielen — which is similarly full of accurate historical and Biblical detail, but I guess the Catholic Church didn't freak out so much about that book because, well, when you've got vampires as your main characters it's easier to distinguish the fact from the fiction.
A distinction I've never cared to make, myself. I couldn't care a pack of twigs whether it's real-world-true that Da Vinci named his masterpiece as an anagram of the male and female gods of fertility, or whether it's real-world-true that he never named it at all.
Dan Brown's skill with the written word is one or two levels above those who write Harlequin romances for a living. Make that one. But I'll grant that it's a compelling story and that Brown's genius for scandal has made him a well-deserved rich man.
Still, I'd rather watch any old episode of Alias in which they hunt for Rimbaldi artifacts. Especially tonight's series finale.
Next: California Dreamin' returns with parts X and XI
Big deal.
Yes, the story is full of fascinating factual detail, like the fact that if you walk around the perimeter of the Louvre it's three miles. Reading this book will no doubt improve my score next time I play Trivial Pursuit. But it's a novel. You know, fiction.
Not unlike this blog. Lots of true facts and accurate historical detail, around which a story is told. Reminds me of Anne Rice's Memnoch The Devil, — The Da Vinci Code, that is, not Postmodernes Sprachspielen — which is similarly full of accurate historical and Biblical detail, but I guess the Catholic Church didn't freak out so much about that book because, well, when you've got vampires as your main characters it's easier to distinguish the fact from the fiction.
A distinction I've never cared to make, myself. I couldn't care a pack of twigs whether it's real-world-true that Da Vinci named his masterpiece as an anagram of the male and female gods of fertility, or whether it's real-world-true that he never named it at all.
Dan Brown's skill with the written word is one or two levels above those who write Harlequin romances for a living. Make that one. But I'll grant that it's a compelling story and that Brown's genius for scandal has made him a well-deserved rich man.
Still, I'd rather watch any old episode of Alias in which they hunt for Rimbaldi artifacts. Especially tonight's series finale.
Next: California Dreamin' returns with parts X and XI
2 Comments:
I started it too, but I just didn't get it. Let me know if that's because I'm Jewish or because I have decent taste. Sometimes books and movies with Christian/Catholic themes get me confused on that point.
For example, I was watching Stigmata with some friends and had to ask, "Do I not like this because I'm Jewish or because it sucks?" My friend responded, "Naw. I'm not Jewish and I think it sucks."
It's good to know crappy transcends differences.
My sister dropped off her copy yesterday, and *ouch*, the prologue is puh-hain-ful and the next 20 pages didn't go down much smoother.
I stopped reading and picked up a Modesty Blaise collection of newspaper strips instead. Chances are I'll progress through DaVinci 20 pages at a time... over the next year or so.
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