• definitely not worth buying
• probably not worth reading
• might be useful for beach or other reading where you intend to doze off a lot and don't care about actually remembering anything about the book
• unless, of course, you want to have some sort of credibility in discussing the brouhaha associated with the court case
• in which case, you probably need to put that time and effort into getting a life

quote:

---

Originally posted by the Pookah:
I think you are all judging it like a theological work, you've bought into it, & don't see it for what it is; a fun adventure, like Shangri-La by J. Hilton

---

Where has anyone so far indicated that they have judged it as a theological work? Seems to me the consensus is that everyone read it as some form of Literature Light ("beach book", "trashy novel", etc.) and are merely giving thumbs up or down on that basis.
 

---

Posted by Mousethief (# 953) on :
 
Never read it, never will. It's not a genre I'm terribly interested in, and I have tons of other things I have yet to get to. Hope this doesn't make me a philistine or something.
 

---

Posted by IngoB (# 8700) on :
 
I won't waste my time reading DVC, it would be like watching Paris Hilton movies. But if this actually penetrates popular culture, rather than just being a typical temporary brain failure of modernity, then I may have to buy and read one of the books refuting DVC - for apologetic purposes. The really amazing thing is that anybody gives a damn. Slagging the church, in particular the RCC, still can bring huge monetary rewards. That makes me wonder how "secular" our societies really are. If people are just post-Christian religious apathetics, why do they even care about any of this?
 

---

Posted by Amazing Grace (# 95) on :
 
I was seriously annoyed at the "no paperback", which seemed a blatant money-grab, so I resolved to not spend money on it. I finally read it a year or so ago when it was on the shelf at my local library (the excitement had died down enough that I didn't need to spend $.50 to reserve it).

My take on it is pretty similar to Sine's, actually. It did keep me turning the pages, but I'm easily amused, and wasn't treating it as more than fiction. I'm glad I didn't spend any money on it.

Charlotte
 

---

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :
 
Several friends said it was a "must read" so I did (I'm happy to say one of those friends lent it to me, so I didn't waste my money or add to Dan Brown's bank account). I thought it was poorly written and poorly researched. I didn't like the main characters, so I wasn't in suspense about what would happen to them; I just didn't care. Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to be taking it too seriously -- it's just fiction, and pretty bad fiction at that. There are so many better books, which I wish wuld get the attention that DVC has.
 

---

Posted by josephine (# 3899) on :
 
I read HBHG a long, long time ago, and was sorry I'd wasted the time.

I don't intend to read DVC. There are so many wonderful books I'm trying to get around to reading. DVC isn't one of them.
 

---

Posted by Grits (# 4169) on :
 
I'm actually planning to start it this weekend. I like to be in on the hoopla, and I prefer making my own judgments. I have anticipated reading it for entertainment, like a Harry Potter story or a book by John Grisham -- no more, no less. I'm not enough of a book snob to think everything I read has to be "literary".
 

---

Posted by Joyfulsoul (# 4652) on :
 
Never read it.

I don't go for pop fiction in general.

It's just not my type of book.
 

---

Posted by Custard. (# 5402) on :
 
I did buy a copy and read it, for two simple reasons.

1) It was £3.73 at Tescos
2) I'd been asked enough times if I read it that I figured it would probably help with some useful opportunities to speak about my faith.

What Dan Brown does a lot is tell small, easily verifiable truths that not everyone would have appreciated (e.g. the existence of the Nag Hammandi documents) and then hang big lies on them, which might actually take some effort to check up. But because the small truths checked out, some people then trust him on the big things too.

It's how Angels and Demons worked too (and, being a physicist with a fair knowledge of the history of science and religion, it was far easier to spot where the lies started).
 

---

Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on :
 
General opinion seems to be that DVC is worse-written and less believable than any of the Harry Potter books, which puts it well down my reading list.

Life's too short to read bad books, which is why I've just skimmed through the last 200 pages of Lolita - so, so dull.
 

---

Posted by Mousethief (# 953) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chapelhead:
Life's too short to read bad books,

---

Be careful; you may get called a "book snob".
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
"Harry Potter and the Da Vinci Code", now there's a thought...
 

---

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
I haven't read it at this point, but I remember a number of my Piskie buds got rather gleeful about the prominent position Mary Magdalene got and the rather naughty notion that Jesus might have been (whisper) married.

I've read a few conspiracy essays on the Church of the Magdalene. Soooo 1990s/X-Files, daaarrrlling.
 

---

Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on :
 
I haven't read it - yet - but the Archdeacon mentioned it in his sermon a couple of weeks ago. He said he'd read about half of it, thought it was bunkum and put it away.......but it did raise some interesting thoughts about the humanity of Jesus. What difference (he asked) might it make to our faith if Our Lord had been married to Mary Magdalene?

So, when I trot off to the public library today, I'm going to see if I can find the book.......from what others have said, it doesn't seem to be worth spending money on...

Ian J.
 

---

Posted by Mousethief (# 953) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
What difference (he asked) might it make to our faith if Our Lord had been married to Mary Magdalene?

---

Well it would mean the Ascension was abandonment. Imagine, Jesus Christ, patron saint of deadbeat dads everywhere.
 

---

Posted by Anselmina (# 3032) on :
 
I had no intention of reading it but a parishioner kept talking about it, then eventually lent me it, then kept asking me what I thought of it. It didn't take long to read it and I think the best thing about it was the suspense which made it an easy read. It's a kind of 'made-for-TV-or-film' book imo; rather cliched and two-dimensional. But for what it was I enjoyed it as a light read, while at the same time wondering what all the fuss was about.

I don't read enough fiction or non-work related stuff so it was quite a pleasant undemanding excursion into fairyland for a few hours! BTW, another parishioner, learning that I had read TDVC, then lent me two other Dan Brown books, for holiday reading, which in respect of technique, character development and plot-style were identical. He obviously knows what works for him.
 

---

Posted by Margaret (# 283) on :
 
Like Anselmina I don't read enough fiction, but I secretly adore trashy thrillers with cliffhangers at the end of every chapter, so when I got my hands on (someone else's) copy I lapped it up. It's hilarious as well as quite exciting - how can anyone resist a giant albino monk? I gave up counting the author's howlers and misunderstandings early on (though there's a wonderful gallop through early church history, Dan Brown-style, somewhere round the middle which made me laugh out loud) and just sat back and enjoyed the ride. It's dire, but it's fun if you have the time to read it.
 

---

Posted by cometchaser (# 10353) on :
 
ah what the hell.

I LIKED the Da Vinci Code.

the thesis is crap. so what? I actually say the writing was good. Better than Ian McKellen, whom I couldn't get through (he seem so infatuated with his power of description... blech ).

The DVC was interesting, and fast paced, and a kick. I like history-mysteries. I enjoyed all the silly coding, etc. For that reason I loved Angels and Demons too. I'm a sucker for a secret code.

I went back and read HBHG afterwards and lost interest in the conspiracy theories of it all. but I love a good fast paced book full of mystery and codes.

so sue me.

Comet
 

---

Posted by Archimandrite (# 3997) on :
 
I read HBHG ages ago, because my grandmother is a credulous old soul, and has the whole set of Templar/Jesus/Merovingian/Black Madonna hackwork. I remember thinking two things at the end:

1. If the Queen really were related to Jesus, as the family tree at the back shows, then you might think there were points in history where that would have been something of a trump card. But on all the geneaolgies drawn up shewing the monarch's descent from Adam, Our Lord would only be there as a sort of famous great-uncle. Why the bother, when you could go straight to the Big Man?

2. All of the aristocratic support they'd enlisted was completely spurious: 'Prince Michael of Albany', (bespectacled Belgian teacher) anyone? Now, I've got a lot of time for disposessed and mediatised nobles, but this lot didn't even reach the dodgy tat 'n' titles realm of the Lazarites.

The whole genre is completely bankrupt, and the extent to which people treat the DVC as, ahem, Gospel is frankly rather off-putting. There was something on BBC4, I think, a little while ago, which featured a 'hardy band' of DVC loyalists, who were introduced to a priest of Opus Dei, a Leonardo da Vinci expert and an architectural historian (at the Rosslyn chapel); they were all firm in their assertion that none of the 'facts' were true, or even in some cases possible, but still this group of numpties persisted in clinging to the 'truth' of the book.

All of the above doesn't make me want to read what is almost universally acknowledged to be a poorly-written potboiler. Can you tell that this subject makes me somewhat testy?
 

---

Posted by Papio. (# 4201) on :
 
My mum read it, and says it is one of the wrost books she has ever read (and she has read a lot, and I mean a lot, of trashy books).

I have recieved similar reports from a close friend, and another site I use voted it worst book ever.

Therefore, I won't read it either.
 

---

Posted by Papio. (# 4201) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mousethief:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chapelhead:
Life's too short to read bad books,

---

Be careful; you may get called a "book snob".

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jack the Lass:
I'll make sure I cadge someone else's copy though. I just can't bring myself to pay for it.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by cometchaser:
ah what the hell.

I LIKED the Da Vinci Code.

the thesis is crap. so what? I actually say the writing was good. Better than Ian McKellen, whom I couldn't get through (he seem so infatuated with his power of description... blech ).

The DVC was interesting, and fast paced, and a kick. I like history-mysteries. I enjoyed all the silly coding, etc. For that reason I loved Angels and Demons too. I'm a sucker for a secret code.

I went back and read HBHG afterwards and lost interest in the conspiracy theories of it all. but I love a good fast paced book full of mystery and codes.

so sue me.

Comet

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mousethief:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
What difference (he asked) might it make to our faith if Our Lord had been married to Mary Magdalene?

---

Well it would mean the Ascension was abandonment. Imagine, Jesus Christ, patron saint of deadbeat dads everywhere.

---

Depends whether 'til death do part' counts if you come back after three days.


TME
 

---

Posted by Freddy (# 365) on :
 
The thing that irritated me was all the church members who became confused after reading it, wanting to form discussion groups to sort it out, and wondering if it pointed out deep, dark, suppressed truths.

Happily, telling them that they were wrong to feel that way seemed to work just fine. Never did read it myself.

I'm sure the movie will be better anyway.
 

---

Posted by Amethyst (# 11068) on :
 
I haven’t read it either, and have no intention to read it, especially after seeing the first few lines quoted in a thread here (can’t remember which), which drove the grammar fascist in me up the wall.

I do remember HBHG, and the various programmes about Rennes-le-Chateau, and would urge any (UK) DVC fans to watch Tony Robinson’s excellent debunking of the whole sorry mess.

Here’s a thought: John 11:5 says ‘Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.’ I am going to start a new conspiracy theory that the little household in Bethany was actually a ménage-a-quatre.
 

---

Posted by Papio. (# 4201) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Freddy:
I'm sure the movie will be better anyway.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Papio.:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Freddy:
I'm sure the movie will be better anyway.

---

99.999999999999% of the time, the movie is an insult to the book and ruins it completely.

---

So true. This is what I mean. Or rather, this is what I am hoping for. Ruining a bad book can sometimes be an improvement.

And if you didn't read the book in the first place you come out smelling like a rose.
 

---

Posted by Tree Bee (# 4033) on :
 
There are 20 copies of the Da Vinci code in the library where I work, and they are never on the shelves, so Mr Brown must be doing something right.
Having said that, as there are so many books and so little time in which to read them, I have no intention of reading it myself.
What annoys me is the number of authors that are jumping on this particular bandwagon, with 'The new Da Vinci Code' plastered on the front cover.
Even the latest Kathy Reichs seemed to be doing this, IMHO, to its detriment.
 

---

Posted by Esmeralda (# 582) on :
 
I have two four-foot long shelves in my bedroom stacked with quality fiction and non-fiction (mostly theology) that I plan to read soon. Why would I want to waste my time reading this load of half-baked crapola?

You may say I should read it to find out if it's really crapola. Fortunately, I have critics and you good people here to tell me that. After all, I don't read porn or racist literature to find out if it's really pornographic or racist!

ETA: PS, as an impoverished writer myself, I would not be able to bring myself to put even more money into the fraudulent pocket of Dan Brown.

[ 01. April 2006, 12:31: Message edited by: Esmeralda ]
 

---

Posted by Custard. (# 5402) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Papio.:
If it is, it will be the very first time the universe has ever, ever, ever witnessed a movie that was as good as the book, let alone better.

Movies are never better than the book. Fact.

99.999999999999% of the time, the movie is an insult to the book and ruins it completely.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by rosamundi:
It might take me a while to find it, mind. If I've still got it, it will be in one of the 25 knee-high stacks of books that adorn my bedroom floor.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Custard.:
Only knee-high?

Knee-high stacks of books are too easy to trip over...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Machine Elf:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mousethief:
Imagine, Jesus Christ, patron saint of deadbeat dads everywhere.

---

Depends whether 'til death do part' counts if you come back after three days.

---

Like that matters to a single mom trying to raise kids.
 

---

Posted by Gort (# 6855) on :
 
I haven't read Da Vinci Code but enjoyed Von Daniken's "Chariots of the Gods". Does that count?
 

---

Posted by Nightlamp (# 266) on :
 
I read the oringinal book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and don't have the time to read the same thing again.
 

---

Posted by the_raptor (# 10533) on :
 
I read it, was mildly entertained, got most of the plot twists before the characters left the Louvre, and was horribly let down by the "climax".

But then again I love conspiracies, the knights templar, and mild mannered heros (Go Giles!). But I thought that Foucault's Pendulum is a much better book in that genre.
 

---

Posted by m.t_tomb (# 3012) on :
 
Never read it; never will.

I put this is a even lower category that the Left Behind series: utter, utter, utter rubbish.

I'm told that reading it could provide me with evangelistic opportuniities. I don't care though: as far as I'm concerned anyone who's prepared to read this codswallop deserves to stay unsaved.
 

---

Posted by Barnabas62 (# 9110) on :
 
Preferred "Angels and Demons". When HBHG came out, I read that and did some digging around. Having discovered how unhistorical that was, I had little difficulty in reading TDVC as fiction. Trouble is, it really isn't very good fiction - or very well written. But it does have some narrative drive. I've had some quite good conversations about it, particularly since UK's Channel 4 exploded the nonsense behind the Priory of Sion.

What I guess those us of who are Christian have to face is that loads of folks who aren't Christian are much more comfortable with the notion of a married Jesus who had sex than with an unmarried Jesus who didn't. In this sexualised era, people who don't have sex "must have something wrong with them." Celibacy isn't seen as a sign of spirituality or holiness, but a sign of oddness. That's the hook of plausibility that sinks in, regardless of the unhistorical nonsense supporting it. If you get to talk about the book to folks, that's worth thinking about.
 

---

Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gort:
I haven't read Da Vinci Code but enjoyed Von Daniken's "Chariots of the Gods". Does that count?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
With at least two centuries of well written books,

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by narnie83:
And why does such a lame book get its own board, along with The Bible and Church tradition???!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chapelhead:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gort:
I haven't read Da Vinci Code but enjoyed Von Daniken's "Chariots of the Gods". Does that count?

---

At least CotG had pictures.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Balaam:
If you check out Brown's geographical facts, such as riding on the London Underground from Temple Bar to King's College, when Temple is the nearest Underground station to King's College, you see the accuracy of Brown's research.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by rosamundi:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Custard.:
Only knee-high?

Knee-high stacks of books are too easy to trip over...

---

They're all stacked against the walls.

Deborah

---

I must admit that immediate thought was: "is that all?"
 

---

Posted by _-_-_lucy_-_-_ (# 10465) on :
 
Is it really worth reading?

I have bought the book and know the general storyline but have never got past the first few pages. I will go and see the film when it comes out but only because I will want to argue with people about it .

So does ANYONE think it is worth reading even if it is just for arguments sake?
 

---

Posted by Papio. (# 4201) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by _-_-_lucy_-_-_:
So does ANYONE think it is worth reading even if it is just for arguments sake?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Papio.:

quote:

---

Originally posted by _-_-_lucy_-_-_:
So does ANYONE think it is worth reading even if it is just for arguments sake?

---

Well, Pants and Cometchaser both stated that they enjoyed it.....

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by IngoB:

quote:

---

Originally posted by narnie83:
And why does such a lame book get its own board, along with The Bible and Church tradition???!

---

Because "this board is sponsored by Focus Radio, who are providing a Christian response to the book on their website", I guess.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by alexamenos:
1. Because it's so big - the biggest-selling ever hardback adult fiction title, apparently.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Papio.:

quote:

---

Originally posted by alexamenos:
1. Because it's so big - the biggest-selling ever hardback adult fiction title, apparently.

---

And yet it is still apparently possible to believe that "people aren't stupid". Gosh.

If you are right about how well it has sold, than that is the single most depressing fact I have learned in ages.

---

This comes from the Daily Telegraph, so it must be gospel.

 

---

Posted by Papio. (# 4201) on :
 

 

---

Posted by rosamundi (# 2495) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Papio.:

quote:

---

Originally posted by rosamundi:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Custard.:
Only knee-high?

Knee-high stacks of books are too easy to trip over...

---

They're all stacked against the walls.

Deborah

---

I must admit that immediate thought was: "is that all?"

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by alexamenos:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Papio.:

quote:

---

Originally posted by alexamenos:
1. Because it's so big - the biggest-selling ever hardback adult fiction title, apparently.

---

And yet it is still apparently possible to believe that "people aren't stupid". Gosh.

If you are right about how well it has sold, than that is the single most depressing fact I have learned in ages.

---

This comes from the Daily Telegraph, so it must be gospel.

---

 

---

Posted by Papio. (# 4201) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by rosamundi:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Papio.:

quote:

---

Originally posted by rosamundi:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Custard.:
Only knee-high?

Knee-high stacks of books are too easy to trip over...

---

They're all stacked against the walls.

Deborah

---

I must admit that immediate thought was: "is that all?"

---

Those are the books that aren't in either of the 6 foot bookcases, the boxes under the bed, the four-foot bookcase in the sitting room, the drinks cabinet (I think I'm supposed to keep glasses in there or something), or the eighteen feet of shelving at my parents' house.

The man that's coming round to design my fitted bedroom furniture is going to have a bit of a shock, I think.

Deborah

---

Oh, ok. Fair enough.
 

---

Posted by Anselmina (# 3032) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by _-_-_lucy_-_-_:

So does ANYONE think it is worth reading even if it is just for arguments sake?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by the_raptor:
That has nothing to do with research. That is about plot and pacing. It *is* a novel afterall, and even if all the other rubbish in it were true, the location of underground stations wouldn't matter.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by alexamenos:

quote:

---

Originally posted by IngoB:

quote:

---

Originally posted by narnie83:
And why does such a lame book get its own board, along with The Bible and Church tradition???!

---

Because "this board is sponsored by Focus Radio, who are providing a Christian response to the book on their website", I guess.

---

That would be us, I guess.

Four reasons why we think DVC is worth discussing (in no particular order):

1. Because it's so big - the biggest-selling ever hardback adult fiction title, apparently.

2. Because of DB's claims that it's based on truth and history, i.e. not just fiction

3. Because it presses so many buttons in contemporary culture (e.g. all the Sacred Feminine / goddess stuff; the Church as a conspiracy, etc.)

4. Because so many people take it seriously - perhaps because they don't know much about the Bible or Church history.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Coot:
Haven't read it.

Life is too short to voluntarily read bollocks. There is too much important stuff that I need to read that I'm unable to, that I don't want to spend what little time I have available reading fiction.

Especially fiction critical of my faith tradition, and not critical in a constructive way.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by kempis3:
so it must have something to say for our times.

---

It must?
 

---

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mousethief:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
With at least two centuries of well written books,

---

And that's just the 4th and 5th Centuries CE!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Papio.:
I have to say that I don't understand the whole "I don't want to read fiction" thing.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Barnabas62:
What I guess those us of who are Christian have to face is that loads of folks who aren't Christian are much more comfortable with the notion of a married Jesus who had sex than with an unmarried Jesus who didn't. In this sexualised era, people who don't have sex "must have something wrong with them." Celibacy isn't seen as a sign of spirituality or holiness, but a sign of oddness.

---

Or a sign that you're a child molester! (I guess that goes under oddness.)

Last Xmas Mrs. Eluia gave the book to me. I made her take it back because of all I'd heard about the ahistorical crap he passes off as fact. It wouldn't bother me to read it necessarily, but I can get it from the library. I do not want to subsidize Mr. Brown.
 

---

Posted by saysay (# 6645) on :
 
I’ve read it. It was recommended by a friend with a vague “well, it might help get people thinking about feminine aspects of the divine.” And I was curious and wanted to know what people were talking about.

I found it interesting to try to guess which new-age theory Brown was goiing to try to incorporate next. And I thought it was unintentiously hilarious in some spots.
 

---

Posted by Petrified (# 10667) on :
 
I shall probably try to read it sometime, but only because it has now taken over from Victoria Beckham's biography as the most common book on the shelves of the local charity shop.

It will cost 50p and the money goes to charity.
 

---

Posted by PhilA (# 8792) on :
 
I read it and quite enjoyed it as a trashy novel - but that is all it is. Why anyone takes it seriously and actually believes that it is truthful is beyond me.
 

---

Posted by Adeodatus (# 4992) on :
 
I also haven't read beyond the first couple of chapters of the Code. But for anyone who's interested, BBC Radio 4's "Book of the week" this week is excerpts from The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail which *ahem* covers similar territory. You can listen to it online by going here. If you really care that much....
 

---

Posted by PeaceFeet (# 11001) on :
 
This book is a literary version of the tweenybopper boy-band McFly.

Most people that I know who like it keep asking me the question, "What if it WAS true?" as a way of trying to open up a debate. My answer is always going to be "It isn't; go away."

Unfortunately they seem to respond, "Ah, but what if it WAS true???"

I conclude that the pleasure a lot of people derive from it is that they can annoy Christians with it.
 

---

Posted by Thurible (# 3206) on :
 
I was on the train once when every third person (old ladies with their knitting in their laps, be-suited businessmen, students, mums with kids, etc.) appeared to be reading it, so when a friend said he'd finished reading it and I could borrow it if I liked, I did.

It was absolute, utter, mindblowing crap.

It was quite a fun way to while away a couple of hours though - sort of like drinking Lambrusco. A complete waste of time but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

Thurible
 

---

Posted by The Great Gumby (# 10989) on :
 
I haven't read it. I don't want to read it. I have a huge list of books I want to read because they're good, or interesting, and I really don't want to add trash like this just because everyone else has read it, especially if the general opinion is that it's crap.

OTOH, I can't stand it when people complain or criticise something (e.g. Jerry Springer The Opera) they haven't seen/read. If I want to tell people who ask me about it that I think TDVC is a load of bollocks, I've got to have read it first, if only for the sake of consistency. So the question is, do I read it just so I can enjoy talking about how crap it is? At the moment, the lure of proper literature is keeping me on the straight and narrow, but for how long?
 

---

Posted by Pasco (# 388) on :
 
Drinks to the MASSES:

Merchandising Author Supplies ‘Secret Evidence’ Sensationalism

(Money Is No Trouble)
 

---

Posted by Gextvedde (# 11084) on :
 
Probably till you go on holiday and a friend lends it to you. In a moment of weakness you just can't resist it and before you know it, you've wasted two hours. Don't do it Gumby! You'll want that time back!

[ 03. April 2006, 10:59: Message edited by: Gextvedde ]
 

---

Posted by CrookedCucumber (# 10792) on :
 
I would read the book if it were any good as a novel. The fact that it's full of inaccuracies about Christian tradition and Church history wouldn't deter me. After all, it is fiction. I wouldn't be reading it to learn about Jesus.

But is it any good as a novel? Or, perhaps more to the point, is it better as a novel than (say) Terry Pratchett's latest books, which I haven't had an opportunity to read yet?

My feeling is that there are far better books with claims on my time, so I doubt I'll be reading DVC. This is nothing to do with Christianity, and everything to do with the quality of fiction.
 

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Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :
 
It's on my list to read. Right after War & Peace, the entire Left Behind series, Volumes 6 thru 9 of the Journal of Molecular Biology and Five Go To The Beach.

I may skim through the Collected Works of Shakespeare first, as well. If I have time.
 

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Posted by Freelance Monotheist (# 8990) on :
 
I read it after having watched the debunking of it on The Beeb some time ago. My mum had bought or borrowed it and had mentioned that his grasp of grammar, incorrect use of words or making new ones up and the cardboard cutout characters made it appalling and she was right!
I live about an hour away from the Louvre and they actually had a sign up explaining the Priory of Sion thing, that the P and the S on the windows stand for something totally different, can't remember what though, but it's something like the initials of someone who helped build the museum.
I enjoyed the code breaking bits, didn't know about the Fibonacci Sequence and thought the anagrams were fun. Every so often, I'd exclaim "that's not a word!" or "that sentence isn't grammatically correct!" but still kept reading, but I hate leaving a book unfinished, however bad it is.
I most certainly will not be seeing the film, as films are never as good as the book IMHO, and this was a bad book!
 

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Posted by chive (# 208) on :
 
I read it and I repent. Twas utter garbage.
 

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Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
When I discovered that I had met one of the people who appear in it, in real life, I considered reading it for five minutes.
Then I recalled

• my views of that person,
• what I heard reported of it,
• that a lot of that I recall from trashy women's magazines in the 1970s
• the pile of must reads that are already on my bookshelf

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mousethief:

quote:

---

Originally posted by the_raptor:
That has nothing to do with research. That is about plot and pacing. It *is* a novel afterall, and even if all the other rubbish in it were true, the location of underground stations wouldn't matter.

---

Bollocks. Something that is supposed to be set in the real world should match the specs of the real world.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by lazystudent:
I have another gripe. (Bordering on Hellish, probably, but hopefully the right side of the line for this board.) People keep harping on about it being "[only] fiction" - when in fact the way it has been marketed and publicised, not least by Dan Brown himself, has been to more than hint at the possibility that all of it is true. Now granted, readers can make up their own minds, but I think this spin has the potential to be damaging to the Church and give people an altogether skewed impression of Her. That I can do without.

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quote:

---

HOW MUCH OF THIS NOVEL IS TRUE?
The Da Vinci Code is a novel and therefore a work of fiction.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mousethief:
Maybe I'm just weird. When I see a movie about a place I know fairly well (Seattle or Chicago mostly) and they get geographical details wrong, it completely jars me out of "willing suspension of disbelief" mode and has a very corrosive effect on my enjoyment of the movie.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by cometchaser:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mousethief:

quote:

---

Originally posted by the_raptor:
That has nothing to do with research. That is about plot and pacing. It *is* a novel afterall, and even if all the other rubbish in it were true, the location of underground stations wouldn't matter.

---

Bollocks. Something that is supposed to be set in the real world should match the specs of the real world.

---

Mousethief - if this were true, Northern Exposure would have to be bombed off the face of TV-dom. but for some reason, otherwise intelligent people will come to me out of the blue to tell me how much they just LOVED that piece of roaring crap.

I just assume that most fiction is full of falsehoods. doesn't keep me from enjoying the story.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Papio.:
99.999999999999% of the time, the movie is an insult to the book and ruins it completely.

---

Your quote is what I hear a lot of the time. "Why are movies so terrible compared to the books they're taken from?"

Answer? They're completely different art forms. A novel is not a screenplay, not a movie. A novelist can tell you precisely what a character is feeling, thinking or remembering, in addition to describing action and events.

A director can show you what a character is saying or doing. That's it. He's limited by the camera, by time, and by budget. No interior monologues, no lingering over the scent of a lily or 200 words on how a curl of hair lays across a woman's neck.

One of my favorite novels, Cryptonomicon, is almost 1300 pages long. A movie made from that novel--exactly--would be unwatchable! It would take a viewer a week to sit through it. A 300 page novel made into a movie, exactly, would likewise be unwatchably long and no audience could sustain the emotional level needed to enjoy it.

A novelist can compress time and space on the page, he can condense the entire American Civil War to a few lines, or he can expand one moment of that war into hundreds of pages of detail and story. He can leap from the surface of Mars to the Amazon jungle to a McDonalds in Prague in a heartbeat.

Directors cannot. There is a practical limit on the length of movies: 2 hours. (This limit is rarely exceeded, and only by blockbuster movies like LOTR or Titanic (194 mins). Theater owners dislike showing longer movies because doing so reduces the number of times a movie can be shown to paying audiences. Theaters operate on very narrow profit margins as regards ticket prices (which is why a hot dog there costs $6) so they need to "turn" the theaters as often as possible. A 92 minute movie can be shown more times than a 150 minute movie and is likely to generate more revenue, both in tickets and ancillary sales (food, merchandising.)

The movie as insult to the book? Perhaps, but the author of that book sold his rights to the purchaser, and the author knew damn good and well his work would be changed to fit the structural demands of the screen. Contracts spell that out *very* clearly. (If the author was influential enough, he may have been able to demand certain creative standards be kept, but that's rare.) Once a story is sold to XYZ Studios, then XYZ is free to make whatever changes they like--it's now their story. ("Let's lose Mr. Darcy and Olde Englande and shift everything to a stewardess' singles resort on the beach in Maui. Shove in lots of hot girl-on-girl scenes.") The original author, according to Writer's Guild rules, has to be paid for one rewrite to purchaser's standards, and then the purchaser can dispense with his services, which almost always happens. (Writers are almost never on the set, either. Directors tend to be extremely territorial.)

I was shocked and gratefully surprised LOTR was amazingly faithful to the source books, given the constraints of time and budget.
 

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Posted by Sopralto (# 10245) on :
 
I finally read it a couple of weeks ago, after spotting it in the local library. Having read "Angels and Demons" and heard all the hoopla I sort of knew what to expect, but was still disappointed. Not only was the plot completely transparent, but the writing itself was complete schlock. It reminded me of the Hardy Boys books my brothers and I used to read when we were kids. You know, how every chapter ends with a cliff-hanger!!! And the exuberant overuse of exclamation points!!! Give me a break.

I can't really imagine that the movie will be any worse than the book, but I'm probably not going to see it. I figure I put in my time with Mr. Brown and don't want to repeat the experience.

And to add my $.02 to the mini-thread on books and movies, one movie that I think was much better than the book was "The Princess Bride", still one of my favorite movies and a book I didn't enjoy at all.
 

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Posted by Mousethief (# 953) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Grits:
I guess my perspective of all this is how can all of you so disdainfully criticize something you haven't even read? Isn't that one of the things that people on the Ship get flamed for the most -- setting ourselves up as experts on something of which we have no firsthand knowledge?

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Mousethief:
Why does it bother you so if some people have decided not to read it?

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Grits:
It bothers me that they insinuate that anyone who does is an ignoramus.

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quote:

---

I haven't read it, and really really really don't want to. But as I get really wound up when people who haven't seen "Jerry Springer: The Opera" still see fit to comment on why it's so terrible, I think I will get round to reading it just so that I can pontificate from a position of knowledge rather than hearsay.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by RuthW:
You contradict yourself here -- if getting real-life details wrong didn't bother you, you wouldn't refer to "Northern Exposure" as "that piece of roaring crap."

---

quote:

---

Like Mousethief, if details I know about aren't right, I can be thrown right out of the world of the book or movie. Sometimes it doesn't matter very much; in the movie "Speed" the bus would go around a corner and all of a sudden be miles away from where it was a moment ago, which was just kind of amusing.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Barnabas62:
The first page of the book, before the prologue, is headed "Fact".

It contains, amongst other things, the following gems....

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mousethief:
I haven't seen anybody quote a post by somebody who read and enjoyed it and then tell them they were stupid. I should think that "it's a waste of MY time" rather implies that I don't think I'd like it, and nothing about you.

---

Yes, but you have to admit the attitude has been a bit harsher than "I don't think I'd like it." Most of the declarations have been fairly universal in their labeling of it as literary crap -- and this by people who have not even read it!

Trust me -- I am totally prepared to disagree with most everything in it. Some of it actually sounds blasphemous to me, and it makes me angry to think that there may be people who are allowing this book to negatively influence their Christianity. But still... it's just a story, and just as I don't believe in wizards and witches and flying brooms, I might be able to get around that.

I'm sorry. I grew up in the "Fahrenheit 451" era, and I also really have a problem with condemning something just because it doesn't meet my personal code of quality. "One man's trash..."
 

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Posted by Barnabas62 (# 9110) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Grits:

I'm sorry. I grew up in the "Fahrenheit 451" era, and I also really have a problem with condemning something just because it doesn't meet my personal code of quality. "One man's trash..."

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Barnabas62:
Of course you have a point. But please consider another one. Works of fiction which include real people who are still alive - and there are such (e.g Frederick Forsyth's books include sketches of living politicians) - are still subject to control by the laws of libel.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by CrookedCucumber:
So where does he hint that all of it might be true? I've scoured his Web site and I can't find the slightest indication of this. I scoured the publisher's Web site with the same result. Where have you seen it marketed other than as a work of fiction?

---

quote:

---

HOW DID YOU GET ALL THE INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THIS BOOK?
Most of the information is not as "inside" as it seems. The secret described in the novel has been chronicled for centuries, so there are thousands of sources to draw from. In addition, I was surprised how eager historians were to share their expertise with me. One academic told me her enthusiasm for The Da Vinci Code was based in part on her hope that "this ancient mystery would be unveiled to a wider audience."

---

quote:

---

WOULD YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A CONSPIRACY THEORIST?
Hardly. In fact, I'm quite the opposite--more of a skeptic. I see no truth whatsoever in stories of extraterrestrial visitors, crop circles, the Bermuda Triangle, or many of the other "mysteries" that permeate pop culture. However, the secret behind The Da Vinci Code was too well documented and significant for me to dismiss.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Great Gumby:
Here's an example from his website:

quote:

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HOW DID YOU GET ALL THE INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THIS BOOK?
Most of the information is not as "inside" as it seems. The secret described in the novel has been chronicled for centuries, so there are thousands of sources to draw from.

---

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by m.t_tomb:


I'm told that reading it could provide me with evangelistic opportuniities. I don't care though: as far as I'm concerned anyone who's prepared to read this codswallop deserves to stay unsaved.

---

 

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Posted by KenWritez (# 3238) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by cometchaser:
I have people who call me to tell me my work is crap. "I didn't actually hear the story, but a very reliable friend told me you reported blah blah blah."

I have no time for that.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by KenWritez:

quote:

---

Originally posted by cometchaser:
I have people who call me to tell me my work is crap. "I didn't actually hear the story, but a very reliable friend told me you reported blah blah blah."

I have no time for that.

---

If you'll PM me your phone number, I'll be glad to call you with a condensed version of abuse.

---

quote:

---

Oh, and anyone who wants to get a flavour of the novel can read the first 6 chapters here. I was laughing by halfway through the prologue, and gave up completely after 1 chapter, completely defeated by the awful, sub-Archer dialogue and hackneyed narrative. If you're not sure whether to read it or not, try this sample. I'm sure it'll be enough to indicate whether you really want to read the whole thing.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Barnabas62:
I was simply trying to explain why feelings get stirred up. Something which is seen as a defamation of Jesus (who believers proclaim "is alive") provokes a similar reaction to that of people who see their loved ones libelled.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by The Great Gumby
Oh, and anyone who wants to get a flavour of the novel can read the first 6 chapters here. I was laughing by halfway through the prologue, and gave up completely after 1 chapter, completely defeated by the awful, sub-Archer dialogue and hackneyed narrative.

---

quote:

---

So what do we call the cup that Christ drank from at the last supper?

---

The cup that Christ drank from at the last supper.
 

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Posted by Tiffer (# 3073) on :
 
I saw it in the second hand books sale at a church alongside commentaries and Christian paperbacks. I felt this may have been unhelpful marketing on behalf of the Church, and I got a bit annoyed. Was I being smelly?
 

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Posted by chemincreux (# 10635) on :
 
Tiffer. No of course you were not being smelly. But if you're going to buy TDVC and you're not sure if it's worth the money, a church or other charity bookshop is the ideal place to buy it. You might pick up my copy. I reckon the more people read it, think it's rubbish, and take it back to the stall where they bought it, the more good work God will be making of it. There aint no royalties to Dan Brown from the Sue Ryder Home or the Red Cross Shop. Hey! Maybe that's what Jesus meant when he said make friends with unrighteous Mammon or something like that. One day you may need the Sue Ryder hospice more than you need your beautiful principles....
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
I browsed the start of Angels and Demons at the library the other day (all the TDVC's seem to be borrowed). I was completely turned off, and figured that meant I was immune to TDVC's siren call.

No such luck, the link to the start of TDVC posted here makes me want to read it and find out how the puzzle works out!

Then there was a recent book by Beigant at the bookstore last night, complete with, ooooh, TWO sections of glossy colored pictures. I love books with pictures. And a good conspiracy theory that will explain the Truth About Everything.

Too bad I can think of about 90 gazillion non-conspiratorial reasons for the "mysterious" features captioned under the Beigant photos.

I think I will read TDVC if I run across a copy, but it's good to know in advance that most of the so-called "historical" facts in it will be hogswill. (Let alone the interpretations placed on the so-called facts.)

[more "will" than "might"]

[ 12. April 2006, 21:12: Message edited by: Autenrieth Road ]
 

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Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Poppy:
On the other hand I know people who think dolphins are the ascended masters who are communitating from the 14th dimension

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Surfing Madness:
Well I've now read TDVC, and i found it very easy to read. By about half way through i found i was getting sucked in to the what if this is true, mind set. Then it just went a step to far and was so obviously fiction. So on the whole a good unwind type light read, but once you get into so obviously unbelievable. So not a real challenge to my faith.

---

Yes,this was my reaction.....about halfway through I was thinking 'this is very far-fetched....'
I will admit to enjoying it but as a thriller,easy to read fiction - I don't read hard fiction these days, brain cells don't like it! -

 

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Posted by MarkthePunk (# 683) on :
 
Count me among those who won't read it. I don't need to bury my face in excrement to know it's excrement. And, like many others on this thread, I have too many good non-fiction books to read.
 

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Posted by chemincreux (# 10635) on :
 
My wife said not to take it to the Red Cross bookshop yet. She reads things fast, you see, and couldn't work out what all the brouhaha was about. She thinks she ought to read it again, to find out.

I'll show her ++Rowan's sermon, kindly linked on this site. Hope she finds him as much fun as Dan Brown....
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
So now I've read it. In a day, because I couldn't put it down once I started! A light thriller of a certain popular type (Tom Clancy is similar in certain ways). I'm glad I read it, now I know what all the fuss is about, and also I like thinking about the broadly-brushed parts of it and why they attract readership.

I don't know that it's necessarily worse than say Law & Order on TV which incessantly promotes a destructively inaccurate view of the American justice system.

Now to read ++Rowan's sermon and Bart Ehrman's books etc. and deepen my understanding what Christianity and truth really are.
 

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Posted by thetraveller (# 11249) on :
 
Read it. It was quite good fun, but there were some assumptions made in in that were put forward as fact. I never understand what the fuss is about really. Does reading Harry Potter make me want to go out and buy a wand? I think not.

I am now reading "The books the Church Suppressed - Fiction and Truth in The Da Vinci Code". Seems factual, but a bit less easy on the brain as a holiday read.
 

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Posted by AnglicanAvenger (# 11252) on :
 
I read it on Spring Break after initial resistance. It is terribly written (Rule of Four was much better), but anyone who knows my interests in Religion and Medieval History could ask me about it. I felt an obligation to read it, since I have some familiarity with the historical periods and the obvious fallacies, and people ask me strange things.

BTW, I hate the glass pyramid at the Louvre.
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
. I adore the Glass Pyramid! Including (most ingeniously IMHO) the way it makes you (well, me) really look at the Louvre's architecture as well instead of taking it for granted.
 

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Posted by da_musicman (# 1018) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by AnglicanAvenger:
(Rule of Four was much better),

---

Oh No. No.No.No.No. Rule of Four was awful at least Da Vinci Code was pacy.
 

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Posted by angelica37 (# 8478) on :
 
I like the glass pyramid too
I wasn't going to bother reading the DaVinci Code but borrowed it from my brother who reads any old rubbish. I then borrowed and read 'Angels and Demons' 'Deception Point' and 'Digital Fortress' (OK my brother isn't alone)
I think Dan Brown cooks up a reasonable thriller of the holiday reading variety with unconvincing characters in implausible situations and that's it.
 

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Posted by AnglicanAvenger (# 11252) on :
 
So, Authenrieth Road, what you're saying is I should use my distaste for the glass pyramid to heighten my appreciation of the beautiful bits?

And, da_musicman, IMO the DVC wasn't pacy, but incredibly rushed.
 

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Posted by Autenrieth Road (# 10509) on :
 
Well, no. If you don't like the pyramid in and of itself, then you're stuck. .

I guess it helps that intrinsically I don't dislike the Glass Pyramid. So I'm definitely not thinking "yuck, I hate this ugly thing here" when I'm in the courtyard of the Louvre. I do think, "this is startlingly different." But then I think about the ways in which it's different, and then that makes me notice much more what the Louvre's architecture itself is really like, rather than just looking at it and thinking, "ho hum, more fancy stuff." And then I enjoy looking at both together or either separately.

(Speaking in the historical present, thinking back to 1991.)

To obligatorily relate this to The Da Vinci Code, one could apply the same logic and use TDVC to think about what makes bad or pot-boiling or popularly simplistic writing, and then compare it to other writing. I'm not able to put in words the mechanics of how writing works; I wish I could.

[Uh-oh, now I've gone and drawn a parallel between TDVC and the Glass Pyramid; which probably works for Anglican Avenger, but not for me cause I think the GP is really clever and TDVC is merely a cheap thriller. Fooey.]

[ 19. April 2006, 18:02: Message edited by: Autenrieth Road ]
 

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Posted by Andromache (# 11287) on :
 
Hmmm. I borrowed TDVC off a French friend, which had two advantages: a) I didn't have to contribute to Dan Brown's takings; and b) I could kid myself that I wasn't wasting my time as I was practising my French. I therefore missed out on the aforementioned bad grammar, which would probably have driven me round the bend.

I pretty much took the view of others on this thread that it's not fair to pontificate on the crapness of something until one has at least an idea of what one is talking about. I also wanted to know what the fuss was about: if so many people are reading it, there must be something in it, right?

How naive I was. It really was dire, not only in terms of its spurious historical basis but also as a piece of fiction. Nonetheless, I did find it passingly amusing for a holiday read and I wouldn't stop anyone else from reading it; neither would I recommend it, however, even for the reason of having more credibility when you explain to gullible people why it has no validity, since you can quite easily get the basic thesis from the many articles that have been published on it. Its enduring popularity does mean that I have to have an answer when people challenge me about it and so I can't dismiss it entirely, but I sure would like to.
 

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Posted by Pearalis (# 9035) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by nicolemrw:
I read it when the reserve list at the library got to be well over 1000, figured I ought to have some idea what my patrons were devouring so eagerly.

---

You jumped the queue?

The bookstore salesperson gushed when I bought it, all "Have you read his others? No? It doesn't matter ..." On exiting the bookstore reading the back cover, a bloke selling icecreams wearing a Cat in The Hat hat (seriously) yelled out to me, "Oh, you've got TDVC". I smiled, quickly shoved the book in its bag and kept walking. Obviously a conversation starter.

Read it over a couple of days, a good, lightweight page-turner. Enjoyed it, not a genre I have read before so it surprised me.

Mum asked to borrow it over 6 months ago. She got some way in but dropped it, citing too many confusing foreign names. I wonder if she found the rude bit. Saw it on the dressing table in the spare room at Christmas. Haven't retrieved it as yet but a good fast and light read for anytime you need an excuse to avoid re-attempting LOTR
 

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Posted by Tumphouse (# 11321) on :
 
The Da Vinci Code is simply a pot boiler, written in the style of thrillers aimed at men, or so I am led to believe. As such it is not great literature. The subject matter made it interesting, to me at least, as I have long been a fan of mad books about the grail etc. I read Angels and Demoms too, out of curiosity, and found it a similarly 'good read', but an attemt to read one of his earlier novels, Deception Point, ended in total boredom, because I had no interest in the subject matter. I am looking forward to his next, featuring the Masons. Should be a hoot!
I am sure all this has alredy been said, but I am new to the discussion group and this is my first posting
 

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Posted by Timothy the Obscure (# 292) on :
 
I actually picked up the book for the first time today (it was in the waiting room when a client was late). I read the first chapter without throwing it across the room, but it was a close thing. I wish DB had submitted it to my college creative writing teacher (RIP)--he'd still be nursing his wounds.
 

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Posted by art dunce (# 9258) on :
 
Ken Writez said:

quote:

---

OK, I read the Foreword and Chapter 1. It's among the worst I've ever read; overwritten, trite, and it cheered me up immensely!

If they'll publish this dreck, my own crappy writing can only shine in comparison.

---

Well put. This was my experience as well. The worst part was when I put it down, all of my non-Christian friends said that it was because I was frightened that it was going to shake my faith.
The albino kept making me think of that awful Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn movie, "Foul Play"...
 

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Posted by Father Gregory (# 310) on :
 
Rome's up to no good. (mutter, mutter). They've been hiding the Truth for millennia (mutter, mutter,); Jesus must have had sex if he was normal, (mutter, mutter).

I think laughter is the most appropriate response. Let's face it ... it's got damn all to do with evidence.
 

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Posted by PeteCanada (# 10422) on :
 
Like others here, I barely got past page 2. But then I read some of his "source materials" about 20 years ago... I thought those were crap then, and they surely are still crap now. Amazing how many people never pick up on the disclaimer on the verso of the title page: This is a work of fiction... or such phrasing.
 

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Posted by in the garden (# 11383) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pânts:

quote:

---

Originally posted by cometchaser:
ah what the hell.

I LIKED the Da Vinci Code.

the thesis is crap. so what? I actually say the writing was good. Better than Ian McKellen, whom I couldn't get through (he seem so infatuated with his power of description... blech ).

The DVC was interesting, and fast paced, and a kick. I like history-mysteries. I enjoyed all the silly coding, etc. For that reason I loved Angels and Demons too. I'm a sucker for a secret code.

I went back and read HBHG afterwards and lost interest in the conspiracy theories of it all. but I love a good fast paced book full of mystery and codes.

so sue me.

Comet

---

Likewise

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by jlg:
That's how SteveTom signed off his OP on the Suppressed Gospels thread.

To be honest, what with the combination of lots of hoopla in the press about the book and the fact that it stayed available only in expensive hardcover up until a couple of days ago, at least here in the US, I never intended to read it either.

In the interim, I did buy a cheap paperback copy of Dan Brown's earlier bookAngels & Demons, which the bookstore clerk assured me was pretty much the same plot outline and perhaps a better read. It definitely fell into the beach book/long airplane trip category, and not an especially wonderful specimen, either. So I had no intention of reading Da Vinci Code.

As it happened, however, a Shipmate offered to pass along his paperback copy, so I did read it.

My verdict:

• definitely not worth buying
• probably not worth reading
• might be useful for beach or other reading where you intend to doze off a lot and don't care about actually remembering anything about the book
• unless, of course, you want to have some sort of credibility in discussing the brouhaha associated with the court case
• in which case, you probably need to put that time and effort into getting a life

YMMV, so let us know whether you read the book, and why or why not, and what you thought of it if you did read it.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by Louise:
Hello 'in the garden'
Welcome to the boards. I'm not totally sure why you're re-posting entire posts from earlier in the thread. It makes things a bit confusing. Are you having problems cutting and pasting the relevant bits into your own posts? I've deleted the double-post, but I'll leave the other ones for now.

We have a practice thread on one of our other boards where you can get some help and advice and try out your posts to see how they look - UBB Practice thread.

best wishes

Louise

Da Vinci Code Board host

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quote:

---

Originally posted by in the garden:
Yes, Louise, oops...having a hard time with the computer over here. Thank you for the advise and help...I'll try to do better next time.(My husband says if I fry one more mother board....)Thank you, Pam

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Hello Pam,
If you click on the little "inverted commas" icon you see at the top right hand side of the post you want to reply to, then that post magically appears correctly-formatted with its code in your posting window. You then just type your message underneath in the same window - as I've done here, hit 'preview post' to check all is well, and then hit 'add reply'.

Have a go on our friendly practice thread and you'll soon get the hang of it.

cheers
Louise

DVC Host
 

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Posted by in the garden (# 11383) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Louise:

quote:

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Originally posted by in the garden:
Yes, Louise, oops...having a hard time with the computer over here. Thank you for the advise and help...I'll try to do better next time.(My husband says if I fry one more mother board....)Thank you, Pam

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Hello Pam,
If you click on the little "inverted commas" icon you see at the top right hand side of the post you want to reply to, then that post magically appears correctly-formatted with its code in your posting window. You then just type your message underneath in the same window - as I've done here, hit 'preview post' to check all is well, and then hit 'add reply'.

Have a go on our friendly practice thread and you'll soon get the hang of it.

cheers
Louise

DVC Host

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By Georgia, I think she's got it!!!! Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks, you're a peach! Yiippee! Pam
 

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Posted by in the garden (# 11383) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by saysay:
I’ve read it. It was recommended by a friend with a vague “well, it might help get people thinking about feminine aspects of the divine.” And I was curious and wanted to know what people were talking about.

I found it interesting to try to guess which new-age theory Brown was goiing to try to incorporate next. And I thought it was unintentiously hilarious in some spots.

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quote:

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Originally posted by in the garden:

quote:

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Originally posted by saysay:
I’ve read it. It was recommended by a friend with a vague “well, it might help get people thinking about feminine aspects of the divine.” And I was curious and wanted to know what people were talking about.

I found it interesting to try to guess which new-age theory Brown was goiing to try to incorporate next. And I thought it was unintentiously hilarious in some spots.

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This is something that interested me greatly in the book, and I'm glad you mentioned it. Historically, women have really taken a beating..no pun. I recently read that in a literal translation of the original text that Mary wasn't a floozy,

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quote:

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Originally posted by PeteCanada:
Amazing how many people never pick up on the disclaimer on the verso of the title page: This is a work of fiction... or such phrasing.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Grits:

quote:

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Originally posted by PeteCanada:
Amazing how many people never pick up on the disclaimer on the verso of the title page: This is a work of fiction... or such phrasing.

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I feel like that's all at issue here. If you read it as just another novel (albeit, far from a really well writen one), it's palatable, and the "conspiracy" is fun and intriguing. As for people who are reading it as some kind of theological revelation, well, they deserve whatever they get.

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So true.

Except that I have suffer whenever some new congregation member reads it and thinks it has an important message that needs to be discussed with me. Usually at length, as I, having never read it, explain why it is unlikely that the church could manage a conspiracy to hide the fact that Mary and Jesus were married with living descendants for over two millenia.
 

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Posted by Ian Climacus (# 944) on :
 
Haven't read it. Might borrow it from the library.


Those in the US who have Symantec products might be able to see the movie for free though: I just received an e-mailing telling me if I buy one of their products I get two free tickets. Valid in the US only.
 

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Posted by thetraveller (# 11249) on :
 
Hi all. Have now read "The books the Church Suppressed" I thought it would be quite boring originally, but it turned out to be quite good and informative, all be it from a biased view point. For those who don't want to go back 2 pages, I thought that TDVC was Ok, a good adventure romp if you like, but wanted to get perspective on the so called "history". The problem for me is that books that take history and information out of context like TDVC tend to be more exciting to read than ones that stick to the facts.

[ 13. May 2006, 14:02: Message edited by: thetraveller ]
 

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Posted by Qoheleth. (# 9265) on :
 

• 1 - I have not read it.
• 2 - Channel 4 had a re-run of this tonight.
• 3 - I will not read it.

(but I've got to do a column for the Parish Rag about it )

Q.
 

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Posted by Tumphouse (# 11321) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Qoheleth.:

• 1 - I have not read it.
• 2 - Channel 4 had a re-run of this tonight.
• 3 - I will not read it.

(but I've got to do a column for the Parish Rag about it )

Q.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Qoheleth.:

• 1 - I have not read it.
• 2 - Channel 4 had a re-run of this tonight.
• 3 - I will not read it.

(but I've got to do a column for the Parish Rag about it )

Q.

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quote:

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Originally posted by PeteCanada:
Amazing how many people never pick up on the disclaimer on the verso of the title page: This is a work of fiction... or such phrasing.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Tumphouse:
'Preacher', how can you claim your screen name, that of a wise thinker, and not bother to read something which leads to lots of discussion with people who know you are a Christian and want a Christian opinion, but an informed one

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• Because I've been asked to provide something
• Because the copy deadline doesn't give me time to do primary research
• Because I use trustworthy secondary sources
• Because I have only 500 words
• Because I don't want to make DB any richer
• Because I'm not writing a full review
• Because it isn't (yet) a "subject of so much interest" in the circles I move in
• Because you make an unsupported assumption that the DVC "leads to lots of discussion with people who know {I am} a Christian and want a Christian opinion, but an informed one"

If the level of interest warrants it, I shall certainly read the book and/or see the film.

Q.

in list mode
 

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Posted by ladyinred (# 10688) on :
 
Read the bit on the website and it is pretty dire. Nonetheless I do feel a strange kind of 'rubber-necking at an accident' need to read the rest of it.

My main observation (apart from the shocking dialogue) - it's Paris, Jim, but not as we know it. If he's staying at the Ritz (Place Vendôme), to get to the Louvre should be about a two-minute drive down the rue de Rivoli. Apparently it's a fair old fly through the Parisian night, with the police speeding as well (like that'd ever happen). Whatever route did they take?

I also had to titter about religion in France being a birth right that you display to everyone. Is this some strange parallel France that I know not of????

Dame en Rouge x
 

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Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :
 
This is a rehashing of several of my posts from previous DVC threads. Apologies for any editing mistakes.

SPOILERS
.
.
.
.
.


Well, to start off:

I loved this book. It was very well-written, it was fun, it had historical mysteries, archaeology, adventure, spirituality, romance, character depth, and puzzles!

I think my favorite character was Silas, oddly enough. That poor man was really trying to do the Right Thing--but he was so abused and used that he really couldn't. I was so glad he found peace at the last.

I don't know whether the ideas in the book are true, but I don't think they're absolutely impossible or implausible.

If I may suggest:

If you do read the book, put aside everything you've heard about it. Just get into the story.

I'd heard some intriguing mentions of it on the radio, and got on the library's waiting list. By the time I got the book, I'd totally forgotten what it was about--and having just waded through "Foucault's Pendulum", I wasn't sure I wanted to read *anything*. But I jumped in, and really enjoyed the book.

You don't have to believe any of the ideas to enjoy the story. Heck, you can root for characters who don't believe the ideas!

If you truly can't tolerate questions, then don't read the book. But if you can...enjoy!


To which a shipmate replied:

quote:

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See, now right there that sounds like a great book review! (You should consider writing the inside of the dust-cover.)

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quote:

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Originally posted by artichoke:
Hi there, I was recommended by one of your other posters to pop on here and share a response which I have written to The Da Vinci Code. I'm sure you're swamped with resources, but maybe you'd like it...

Da Vinci Response PDF

There will also be a talk online on the media page soon, but all of the material and more is covered in the document, so that's probably the better resource to check out.

Hope you find it helpful!

Liam

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