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Fun Stuff => ENJOY => Topic started by: Method of Madness on 20 May 2013, 09:36

Title: Dan Brown
Post by: Method of Madness on 20 May 2013, 09:36
His newest book just came out, so I figured I'd see what people here think about him.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Lupercal on 20 May 2013, 12:40
I saw the Da Vinci Code age 13, liked it. Read the book a year later, didn't mind it. But I've had no inclination to pursue his books. I find him more of a problem for the trade publishing industry in general really, because supermarkets will undercut the price on his newest book, as they did with The Lost Symbol, by about 50%, meaning independent retailers are screwed, and inevitably carry less stock of what will surely be another international bestseller. I think he should do something about the this flux, but he is probably more interested in just pocketing the cash, which is understandable.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: ackblom12 on 20 May 2013, 12:43
Personally, I think he's a pretty piss poor author. I have no idea about him as an individual.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Method of Madness on 20 May 2013, 12:56
What don't you like about him?
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Pilchard123 on 20 May 2013, 13:05
I've only read one book by him (Deception Point), and that was quite a while ago. I don't know how much of this (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DanBrowned) happens in his other books.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: ackblom12 on 20 May 2013, 13:07
Keeping in mind the only book of his I've read has been The Davinci Code, so this is based entirely on it. His dialogue feels pretty unnatural to me, his prose is eh, it's poorly researched, the story is one giant cliche and the book took itself far too seriously for the quality of story and writing.

Keep in mind this is coming from a person who considers I bought a Vampire Motorcycle and Riki Oh: The Story of Riki as fantastic cinema.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: BeoPuppy on 20 May 2013, 13:12
I've read most of them ... well, all except the last one.

It ranges from 'okay, intruiging' to 'massive waste of time and money'. Personally, I sort of like the made up puzzles and clues in paintings and statues. Why not.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Kugai on 20 May 2013, 14:16
Meh

Read The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons.  OK reads

Thought the movie was OK and enjoyable for what it was.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: pwhodges on 20 May 2013, 14:20
Dan Brown is an average example of that rather common modern phenomenon - the writer of mildly engaging and easy to read books which are superficially interesting, but completely forgettable.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: TheEvilDog on 20 May 2013, 15:22
Read two pages of The Da Vinci Code and stopped. Believe me, I would give any book the benefit of the doubt and read it all the way through, but I just do not like his work. In another time, he'd probably be the kind of author that'd get accidentally put in with the cheap horrors in the book shop.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Method of Madness on 20 May 2013, 16:35
Quote from: pwhodges on 20 May 2013, 14:20
Dan Brown is an average example of that rather common modern phenomenon - the writer of mildly engaging and easy to read books which are superficially interesting, but completely forgettable.
A John Grisham?
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: pwhodges on 20 May 2013, 17:03
Same category, yes.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Method of Madness on 20 May 2013, 17:13
I enjoy his books.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 20 May 2013, 23:22
Beginning authors are warned that if they don't know what they're writing about, they'll get into print babbling about watermelon orchards.

Everything computer or crypto related in The Da Vinci Code broke the suspension of my disbelief, removing the springs and draining the shock absorbers.

Two Lumps devastatingly lampooned him as writing about the catacombs under the Louvre in Venice.

Also, if you're going to make a puzzle, make it a good one, please? I got bored after thinking of three ways to open a cryptex.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Akima on 21 May 2013, 01:00
Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 20 May 2013, 23:22
Everything computer or crypto related in The Da Vinci Code broke the suspension of my disbelief, removing the springs and draining the shock absorbers.
Ditto Digital Fortress. He's writes some horrible, horrible clumsy sentences (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/6194031/The-Lost-Symbol-and-The-Da-Vinci-Code-author-Dan-Browns-20-worst-sentences.html) too.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Method of Madness on 21 May 2013, 04:42
Two Lumps?
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Blue Kitty on 21 May 2013, 08:45
I read Angels and Demons and the Da Vinci Code, and it seemed to me like they were the exact same book except the switched out the love interest and antagonist.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: TheEvilDog on 21 May 2013, 09:37
Quote from: Method of Madness on 21 May 2013, 04:42
Two Lumps?

'Tis a comic (http://twolumps.net/d/20100517.html)
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Method of Madness on 21 May 2013, 10:07
Ha, that was good. May have to do an archive run later.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: J on 21 May 2013, 21:46
Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 20 May 2013, 23:22
Also, if you're going to make a puzzle, make it a good one, please? I got bored after thinking of three ways to open a cryptex.

did one of them involve a hammer?
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Method of Madness on 21 May 2013, 22:25
Yes...a "hammer".

(walks away)

(walks back)

The hammer is my penis.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: CrowFairy on 22 May 2013, 12:48
Quote from: Pilchard123 on 20 May 2013, 13:05
I've only read one book by him (Deception Point), and that was quite a while ago. I don't know how much of this (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DanBrowned) happens in his other books.
I loved Deception Point! That was a really good read for me.

For the people who don't care for Dan Brown: I haven't read his other books, but Deception Point is really quite different--it's about science and conspiracy (Okay, so the others are about conspiracy, but this one is related to the government and is provable). I've seen the Da Vinci movies and didn't care for them.

Quote from: Method of Madness on 20 May 2013, 17:13
I enjoy his books.
I've only read Runaway Jury and Skipping Christmas and rather liked both of them.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Method of Madness on 22 May 2013, 12:53
I didn't read Skipping Christmas, but if you liked Runaway Jury you'll probably like the rest of his legal stuff.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Thrillho on 26 May 2013, 06:38
He writes potboilers, and reasonably well a that. So meh. Credit to him. Question is, would we rather people read a not very good book, or read nothing at all?
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Lupercal on 06 Jun 2013, 14:53
I suppose it depends, right? The answer should really be the former. But I remember even taking A-Level English people still hadn't got a favourite book beyond the scope of Harry Potter. If the literature 'snobbery' won out in the general public then Paul Auster would be a multi-millionaire.

The other thing is about getting into new authors rather than just reading old ones. Kind of got massively bored of hearing how the press thought Hilary Mantel was going to win the Women's Prize for Fiction after winning the Booker and Costa prizes. Very little column space is given to the longlist, let alone the shortlist, for these prizes. Only the finalists, and ultimately winner, get a proper dedication from the media.

Although I'm not a huge Kindle fan, the fact that Amazon sell certain eBooks at a 'loss' (ie selling it for 20p whilst the author receives full RRP commission) means people read different, varied books by new and upcoming authors.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Lupercal on 06 Jun 2013, 15:03
Also, clit lit has ushered in the most uninspiring paperback covers I've ever seen:

(http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02251/shades-of-grey_2251523b.jpg)

(http://asda.scene7.com/is/image/Asda/8227959?hei=400&wid=400)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ICw0K6KSMoc/UDPeqUoFpyI/AAAAAAAAApc/pclyUvO24J4/s1600/destined-to-play.jpg)

(http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355080716l/64179.jpg)

...you get the idea. Urgh. Monochromatic, safe and dull typefaces... And yet, I can't help but notice these in supermarkets/bookshops!
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: CrowFairy on 06 Jun 2013, 15:27
There are a bunch of minimalist things going around, like people making minimalist movie posters and crap. They're cool as a concept but should not under any normal circumstances be used in the actual publishing industry.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Jimor on 06 Jun 2013, 17:45
One thing interesting about working in a bookstore was that I was quite literally able to sort the paperbacks by genre out of the corner of my eye.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: BeoPuppy on 06 Jun 2013, 23:39
Hey, I'm half-way through Dan's latest and, you know, it is what it is. All the things mentioned in this thread are true and i still want to know how it ends.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Method of Madness on 07 Jun 2013, 15:32
I really, really, really hope you aren't reading this on Tapatalk.
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Alerie Sand on 18 Jun 2013, 04:04
I've read Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and Lost Symbol. Honestly, as an art history lover I really enjoyed all the references to these works of art. I also liked the interesting views he brings up on religion, particularly the science/religion arguments in Angels and Demons.

As a writer? Eh.

I was bored to tears at Lost Symbol and haven't read his newest book. I may give it a try if I run across it at the library, but I'm not really in a hurry.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: CrowFairy on 18 Jun 2013, 13:22
I really liked Dante's Inferno, and I'm honestly a little offended by Dan Brown choosing it for his latest book. It's honestly a really good piece of literature, and it seems so unnecessary to tear it apart as I'm assuming he did. Out of all the things he could create conspiracies over, why this? :(
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: BeoPuppy on 23 Jun 2013, 00:53
Well, that sucked.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Method of Madness on 23 Jun 2013, 09:25
lol
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: BeoPuppy on 23 Jun 2013, 09:34
It was what I expected until the end. Then it died. Horrible. In an accident involving a cheese grater or something. Not a great book. I hope that this was the end for Langdon. Any future novel would be scifi of necessity and that would require some world building and that I don't see Brown do. At all. Or convincingly.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: Method of Madness on 23 Jun 2013, 09:37
I highly doubt it's the last one, and honestly the ending of this book probably won't even come up in the next Langdon book because it doesn't affect him personally.
Title: Re: Dan Brown
Post by: BeoPuppy on 23 Jun 2013, 09:41
Dan Brown THAT oblivious? ... yeah, might be.

You'd have to deal with it, right? Society would be ... messy ... I don't see how he could skip that bit.

It'd be fun, though, if the next Langdon book is 2 pages long:

'I found a puzzle!'
'Sorry, Robert, we're a bit too busy to really give a flying fuck for more renaissance kawashima's brain training'

Fin.