The Da Vinci Code
7 journalers for this copy...
An early Christmas present from the office gift exchange. Got it yesterday and have started it.....this will be available for trade or go in a bookbox in February.
I really enjoyed this book - fast paced and many 'twists and turns' - who is really the bad guy and who isn't?
Hubby is reading it now.
Hubby is reading it now.
Clawdette
Drommie1810
duhwitt
AnitaNovel
Morpha
Stickerooni (Canada)
SalDragski (TX)
Vampgirl
Glasgowgirl
Annelis
Hengameh
Drommie1810
duhwitt
AnitaNovel
Morpha
Stickerooni (Canada)
SalDragski (TX)
Vampgirl
Glasgowgirl
Annelis
Hengameh
I recieved this today as part of a bookring. I have a few other books to read before I get to this one but will journal when I am ready to send it on its way.
I am ready to send this on, bookworminfl has asked me to skip over her because she got the book from a friend..guess cuz I took so long to read it...sorry...I have contacted the next reader for her address...will post my thoughts about the book when I am ready to mail it.
I am ready to send this on, bookworminfl has asked me to skip over her because she got the book from a friend..guess cuz I took so long to read it...sorry...I have contacted the next reader for her address...will post my thoughts about the book when I am ready to mail it.
releasing today to drommie1810...when I signed up for this bookring I had no idea what the book was about...I can say that this is the best book I have ever read...I couldn't put it down and am recommending it to everyone. I am a non-practicing Catholic and had no idea that this theory even existed!!! I plan to read up more on it.
Received from Clawdette last night, and finished by lunch today.
I'd give the mystery plot a 9 and the religio-historical theorizing a 6. The story was plotted well, with about four different viewpoints coming together very coherently and entertainingly, though the cliff-hanger approach to most of the chapter ends got a bit heavy-handed toward the end.
As for the rest...granted, probably the main reason I wasn't as blown away by it all as most people seem to have been is that I majored in Religious Studies. I was raised and am still a practicing Catholic (with decided Orthodox leanings), but I also studied Patrology (Catholic Church up to about 600CE), including the various Councils leading up to Nicea and Augustine's promotion of original sin as an excuse for his youthful indiscretions, the influence of pagan mystery cults on early Christian sacraments, and the Gnostic Gospels. So the extent of the revisions done between the historical Jesus and the modern religious Jesus wasn't new news. (My mother, however, had about three crises of faith during the course of this book, having been raised a good, pre-Vatican II Catholic.)
I'm glad that this book seems to be bringing the issue to the front of people's minds, but, as Brown points out more than once, does it matter? Personally, I don't see why the realization that the historical facts might not be exactly what one was lead to believe should cause the average Catholic to become disillusioned with the Church, or question what one believes to be the metaphysical Truth. The facts and the Truth don't have to be the same, as any person of any faith would likely agree, and changing the facts does not at all negate the Truth. Just because the letter of the law is not *exactly* right, whether due to metaphor, allegory, or politically-motivated rewriting of what-have-you, doesn't mean the spirit of the law is invalid.
I enjoyed the treaure-hunt aspect of the plot, though there was one riddle I found a little too obvious. Brown really lays the religious symbolism on thick and tries to shove the idea that Abrahamic and pagan systems are similar down the readers' throat so many times that he might be in danger of crossing a line. It's one thing to put forward a reasonable theory on how one symbol could have evolved into another over a limited time in a limited geographic area, but to make some of the universal generalizations he does with no evidence other than "they look pretty similar" smacks of the sort of armchair anthropology seen in the early development of Religious Studies a la Fraser's The Golden Bough. It's a good try, and it would be really nice if it worked out that neatly, but takes things a little too out of historical and cultural context to be dependable. (Some of the authors he references as back-up during the course of the story are considered perfectly unexceptional and have accepted theories, but they are much less ambitious in their symbolic connect-the-dots than Brown.)
And anyone who would think that particular example of writing in Chapter 71 looks even vaguely like a Semitic language has never studied one.
Two gripes and one philosophical question out of the way, I really did enjoy the book. I was surprised what a quick read it turned out to be, and, having read it, I'm surprised what a big fuss it's caused, but that's merely my background talking. At least now I'll know what people are talking about with this (and can probably drop a topical bombshell or two myself, having spent far too much time actually studying apocryphal scriptures).
PMing duhwitt for address...
I'd give the mystery plot a 9 and the religio-historical theorizing a 6. The story was plotted well, with about four different viewpoints coming together very coherently and entertainingly, though the cliff-hanger approach to most of the chapter ends got a bit heavy-handed toward the end.
As for the rest...granted, probably the main reason I wasn't as blown away by it all as most people seem to have been is that I majored in Religious Studies. I was raised and am still a practicing Catholic (with decided Orthodox leanings), but I also studied Patrology (Catholic Church up to about 600CE), including the various Councils leading up to Nicea and Augustine's promotion of original sin as an excuse for his youthful indiscretions, the influence of pagan mystery cults on early Christian sacraments, and the Gnostic Gospels. So the extent of the revisions done between the historical Jesus and the modern religious Jesus wasn't new news. (My mother, however, had about three crises of faith during the course of this book, having been raised a good, pre-Vatican II Catholic.)
I'm glad that this book seems to be bringing the issue to the front of people's minds, but, as Brown points out more than once, does it matter? Personally, I don't see why the realization that the historical facts might not be exactly what one was lead to believe should cause the average Catholic to become disillusioned with the Church, or question what one believes to be the metaphysical Truth. The facts and the Truth don't have to be the same, as any person of any faith would likely agree, and changing the facts does not at all negate the Truth. Just because the letter of the law is not *exactly* right, whether due to metaphor, allegory, or politically-motivated rewriting of what-have-you, doesn't mean the spirit of the law is invalid.
I enjoyed the treaure-hunt aspect of the plot, though there was one riddle I found a little too obvious. Brown really lays the religious symbolism on thick and tries to shove the idea that Abrahamic and pagan systems are similar down the readers' throat so many times that he might be in danger of crossing a line. It's one thing to put forward a reasonable theory on how one symbol could have evolved into another over a limited time in a limited geographic area, but to make some of the universal generalizations he does with no evidence other than "they look pretty similar" smacks of the sort of armchair anthropology seen in the early development of Religious Studies a la Fraser's The Golden Bough. It's a good try, and it would be really nice if it worked out that neatly, but takes things a little too out of historical and cultural context to be dependable. (Some of the authors he references as back-up during the course of the story are considered perfectly unexceptional and have accepted theories, but they are much less ambitious in their symbolic connect-the-dots than Brown.)
And anyone who would think that particular example of writing in Chapter 71 looks even vaguely like a Semitic language has never studied one.
Two gripes and one philosophical question out of the way, I really did enjoy the book. I was surprised what a quick read it turned out to be, and, having read it, I'm surprised what a big fuss it's caused, but that's merely my background talking. At least now I'll know what people are talking about with this (and can probably drop a topical bombshell or two myself, having spent far too much time actually studying apocryphal scriptures).
PMing duhwitt for address...
Mailed out to duhwitt today. Enjoy!
Received as part of the bookring - can't wait to read it! Thanks for offering this up!
This was truly a great book for me. I'm not usually into mystery/intrigue type books, but I might have to give them a try again. Thanks!
Releasing tomorrow morning at the post-office to Anita-Novel - who should be excpecting her own new arrival shortly!
Releasing tomorrow morning at the post-office to Anita-Novel - who should be excpecting her own new arrival shortly!
This book was "caught" via mail on 4/21/04. All other books on my reading table have been shifted to keep this ray moving. I am only 40 pages into The DaVinci Code and completely absorbed. I will read as quickly as I can and get this book on to the next person. I am due to have a child any minute so my progress could be derailed by a week while in the hospital. This book is good enough to take my mind off indigestion and general pregnancy discomfort--and I haven't said that about many books in the last few months. Thank you for sharing with me.
Holy cats did I eat this book alive. It made me think, kept me interested and really was a thriller. Totally took me out of my physical discomforts and on the whole is a book I would recommend to anyone.
I really appreciate the insight offered by Drommie1810. I don't have any religious study background so am of the opinion that anything I would offer about the book along those lines would sound like a watered down version of Droomie's entry. I most agreed with and appreciated that Drommie pointed out how little this book has to do with faith. It was an interesting read and as a person with family involved in the Catholic church I didn't have any moments of upset or crisis. This certainly isn't a book that I would have picked up on my own--so many books have back flaps that rage about a "compulsive page turner" or that thus and so is the author to break the mold on the genre of thriller--and so many of them just leave me cold. This book really lit my fire and I am so glad to have included in this ray.
I have contacted Morpha who has given me the address to which this book will be welcome. Man is Morpha lucky to have such a hot read on the top of her TBR stack. I have the book ready to mail off on Monday 4/26.
I did receive a PM asking me to remove one of the readers in the ray who had already received the book as a gift--I wrote down the name of the BXer to be removed and promptly lost the post it. If anyone recalls who asked to be removed from the ray would you kindly pop me another PM and I will make the change on the roster adhered to the inner portion of the book.
I really appreciate the insight offered by Drommie1810. I don't have any religious study background so am of the opinion that anything I would offer about the book along those lines would sound like a watered down version of Droomie's entry. I most agreed with and appreciated that Drommie pointed out how little this book has to do with faith. It was an interesting read and as a person with family involved in the Catholic church I didn't have any moments of upset or crisis. This certainly isn't a book that I would have picked up on my own--so many books have back flaps that rage about a "compulsive page turner" or that thus and so is the author to break the mold on the genre of thriller--and so many of them just leave me cold. This book really lit my fire and I am so glad to have included in this ray.
I have contacted Morpha who has given me the address to which this book will be welcome. Man is Morpha lucky to have such a hot read on the top of her TBR stack. I have the book ready to mail off on Monday 4/26.
I did receive a PM asking me to remove one of the readers in the ray who had already received the book as a gift--I wrote down the name of the BXer to be removed and promptly lost the post it. If anyone recalls who asked to be removed from the ray would you kindly pop me another PM and I will make the change on the roster adhered to the inner portion of the book.
Just arrived today from AnitaNovel. Thanks! Can't wait to read it!
Finished the book today, sending off to SalDragski as Stickerooni has bowed out of the bookray.
I liked the subject of the book and the ending. Some of the clue deciphering was a little slow. Sometimes I felt as if I were being led slowly by the hand when I had already guessed the answer and wanted to run. There were some surprises and I thought the entire plot to be clever. I wish this book had been written by Dorothy Dunnett, however. Then it would have been truly convoluted and mind blowing.
I'm not religious, so I did not find this book shocking. I did get just a bit pissed off at the history of Christianity's denigration of women. I guess this book just pulled together little bits of things I was already aware of and then threw in some history and symbolism to tie it all together.
I do want to read other books by this author.
Enjoy!
I liked the subject of the book and the ending. Some of the clue deciphering was a little slow. Sometimes I felt as if I were being led slowly by the hand when I had already guessed the answer and wanted to run. There were some surprises and I thought the entire plot to be clever. I wish this book had been written by Dorothy Dunnett, however. Then it would have been truly convoluted and mind blowing.
I'm not religious, so I did not find this book shocking. I did get just a bit pissed off at the history of Christianity's denigration of women. I guess this book just pulled together little bits of things I was already aware of and then threw in some history and symbolism to tie it all together.
I do want to read other books by this author.
Enjoy!
Just received today. Will read next.
What an ending! I did not see it coming! Off to vampgirl next week.
