47 replies to this topic

[Bon-san]

The book - any good?

Count me in the camp who found it an enjoyable read. I wouldn't agree with the "facile drivel", "flat characters, horrible developments, a contrived plot..." comments.

The DaVinci Code is not Dostoyevsky. It's a page-turner. And a damn good one IMO.

[Harmsway]

[quote name='Bon-san' date='15 December 2005 - 11:53']The DaVinci Code is not Dostoyevsky.

[Bon-san]

[quote name='Harmsway' date='15 December 2005 - 13:13'][quote name='Bon-san' date='15 December 2005 - 11:53']The DaVinci Code is not Dostoyevsky.

[Mr Malcolm]

At best, it was an okay beach novel. Something you read on vacation in the sun and then forget about afterwards. Hardly worthy of the attention it got.

I would agree with you on that. I ended up reading it last December when my own beach holiday's weather turned nasty. It did keep my out of trouble, and I was intrigued by the basic idea, but other than that...meh.

At least it's not Angels and Demons, which is not only facile drivel, but frankly a detestable piece of ! I should have known better after reading Code!

EDIT: And Tom Hanks really really really annoys me!

Edited by Mr Malcolm, 15 December 2005 - 07:11 PM.

[Jim]

The book - any good?

Count me in the camp who found it an enjoyable read. I wouldn't agree with the "facile drivel", "flat characters, horrible developments, a contrived plot..." comments.

The DaVinci Code is not Dostoyevsky. It's a page-turner. And a damn good one IMO.

It's unutterably squalid. Please believe me.

[Bon-san]

The book - any good?

Count me in the camp who found it an enjoyable read. I wouldn't agree with the "facile drivel", "flat characters, horrible developments, a contrived plot..." comments.

The DaVinci Code is not Dostoyevsky. It's a page-turner. And a damn good one IMO.

It's unutterably squalid. Please believe me.

Oh, ok then. I will.

[Loomis]

Hmmm.... some say it's good, some say it's bad. Eeny, meeny, miny, mo....

Tell you what (and just for fun), Harmsway and/or Jim, suggest me a superior alternative in the beach novel/airport bookstall/great big fat populist bestseller genre. Doesn't have to be about a religious conspiracy, of course (although I ask about "The Da Vinci Code" as the book was a major aspect of a very interesting documentary on the Beeb the other night). Just something that's fun and reasonably worthwhile at the same time as being Not Exactly Literature.

The last such book I read was "The Sum of All Fears"*. Read it on a beach and during a very long bus journey in Vietnam and found it so engrossing that I couldn't even lift my eyes from the pages in order to savour the - frankly amazing - sights around me. That's an unputdownable thriller.

But then I tried to read "The Bear and the Dragon" and thought it was utter rubbish. Which I guess proves that even when you find an author you think you can trust....

Any recommendations? Oh, and a Harry Potter title will be met with an icy stare, if there's such a smilie here.

*The film, though, is dire.

[TortillaFactory]

I was into it while I was reading it, then I put it down and was disgusted with myself. It was one of those morning-after "please tell me we didn't do it!" moments. The ending in particular is dreadful - I might have enjoyed it more if it didn't collapse in on itself like it did.

(The overall feel of the thing reminded me of John Mayer's description of "Alias" when he was guesting on Loveline - "If you've ever seen that show: 'we found the key that opens the box that has the map that leads to the code that...' And it's like, *groans* take me home!")

Interestingly enough, I read it over a year ago, before the movie was announced, and I pictured Paul Bettany as the albino. I think I deserve some credit for that.

[Harmsway]

Tell you what (and just for fun), Harmsway and/or Jim, suggest me a superior alternative in the beach novel/airport bookstall/great big fat populist bestseller genre. Doesn't have to be about a religious conspiracy, of course (although I ask about "The Da Vinci Code" as the book was a major aspect of a very interesting documentary on the Beeb the other night). Just something that's fun and reasonably worthwhile at the same time as being Not Exactly Literature.

The last such book I read was "The Sum of All Fears"*. Read it on a beach and during a very long bus journey in Vietnam and found it so engrossing that I couldn't even lift my eyes from the pages in order to savour the - frankly amazing - sights around me. That's an unputdownable thriller.

THE SUM OF ALL FEARS is a far better novel than DA VINCI CODE. By miles.

And a superior "great big fat populist bestseller genre" novel to DA VINCI CODE? John Grisham's THE TESTAMENT.

[Loomis]

(The overall feel of the thing reminded me of John Mayer's description of "Alias" when he was guesting on Loveline - "If you've ever seen that show: 'we found the key that opens the box that has the map that leads to the code that...' And it's like, *groans* take me home!")

I'm not into books and films that are really just puzzles, which I why I never checked out "Lost". Because once you get to the solution to the riddle(s), where's the repeat entertainment value?

Something like "Lost" strikes me as the sort of show you're kind of wishing away as you watch it ("C'mon, let's get to the next episode, and the next, and then finally the reason we're watching this in the first place, the last episode!"). By contrast, something like "The Sopranos" (my favourite US show) constitutes plenty of self-contained episodes that can be watched and enjoyed over and over, since they're not all based around a Staggering Final Revelation punchline.

As for Grisham, I loved "The Firm", quite liked "The Pelican Brief", and didn't think all that much of "The Street Lawyer". Haven't read any of his other books, but may well check out "The Testament".

[spynovelfan]

Based on your post above, Loomis, you'd hate THE DA VINCI CODE. It's essentially a shaggy dog story, and the suspense come almost entirely of the Now we must find A, okay we've got it, where is B, perhaps it's over at C, let's get there quick variety. It's so simple, but it does work for about half of the book, by which point you don't care, are laughing at the characters, have solved all the terribly difficult puzzles they're taking pages to get to, and so on. At least I was. I'm glad I read it, though - it did teach me something about mass-market thrillers.

For superior and exciting beach reading, I'd recommend:

Anything in the Quiller series by Adam Hall: www.quiller.net for a list of the books. Hands down the most exciting series of spy novels ever written.

Anything by an Austrian writer called Johannes Mario Simmel, especially THE CAIN CONSPIRACY, THE CAESAR CODE, I CONFESS, THE BERLIN CONNECTION. Those aren't the original titles - they were translated and repackaged in the 70s to appeal to the Ludlum market. This guy has sold trillions of books in the German-speaking world.

SEVENTEEN MOMENTS OF SPRING, also called THE HIMMLER PLOY, by Julian Semenov (sometimes spelled Semyonov). Russia's answer to Bond. Again, has sold trillions - the TV series from it is still so popular that the streets of Moscow tend to be deserted when it's on.

ROGUE MALE by Geoffrey Household. Still exciting now, even though it was written in 1939. You know that scene where Owen hunts Bourne at some farmhouse at the end of the BOURNE IDENTITY? This book is like that, only 1300 times better.

For starters. All are probably out of print (though easily found online - try abebooks.com), but what they all have in common is that they're very well-written but will have you reading them until dawn.

[Loomis]

Thanks, spy. Anything more modern, though?

Looking forward to the new Hannibal Lecter.

[spynovelfan]

Modern?

I don't really read modern spy thrillers much, but there's a thread on all this somewhere. 'Non-Bond spy fiction' or something. There are some suggestions in there. The John Rain series seems to come well recommended. Oh, and anythign by Martin Cruz Smith.

[Gabe Vieira]

Tell you what (and just for fun), Harmsway and/or Jim, suggest me a superior alternative in the beach novel/airport bookstall/great big fat populist bestseller genre. Doesn't have to be about a religious conspiracy, of course (although I ask about "The Da Vinci Code" as the book was a major aspect of a very interesting documentary on the Beeb the other night). Just something that's fun and reasonably worthwhile at the same time as being Not Exactly Literature.

The last such book I read was "The Sum of All Fears"*. Read it on a beach and during a very long bus journey in Vietnam and found it so engrossing that I couldn't even lift my eyes from the pages in order to savour the - frankly amazing - sights around me. That's an unputdownable thriller.

THE SUM OF ALL FEARS is a far better novel than DA VINCI CODE. By miles.

I tried to read The Da Vinci Code by word of a good friend, but I never actually finnished it. I didn't think that it was awful, but I just didn't really like it. Now, The Sum of all Fears is a great book. Clancy is a modern classic. His level of detail is just absurd and amazing. I haven't read it in a long time, but I remember Clancy devoting an entire chapter to explaining how a nuclear bomb explodes, right down to nano-seconds. Amazing.

And Harmsway, please correct me if that wasn't an entire chapter of the book, but I'm pretty sure that it was.

[Lazenby880]

The book: Utter hogwash with a sheer atrociousness that knows no boundaries. Ludicrous plot, cardboard characters and plodding prose; little things like pacing worried Mr Brown not. Pretty offensive too. Quite possibly the least demanding novel I have ever had the misfortune of reading. Truly, truly awful.

As for the film, given the nature of the material on which it is based my hopes are not high.

Edited by Lazenby880, 16 December 2005 - 05:44 PM.

[Mr Malcolm]

As for the film, given the nature of the material on which it is based my hopes are not high.

To be fair, there have been plenty good films based on trashy books. Jaws is a prime example, but there's also Dr. Strangelove, Die Hard, and even Goldfinger! ((Just kidding with that last one!)

So with that in mind, the film might work out alright. You just never know!

[Four Aces]

Good airplane reading. I found it to be entertaining tripe

4A

[Obiwan]

Its an ok book. I liked Angels and Demons alot more it kept me guessing. Plus I read that one first. I recomend it but its obivious who the villian is.