![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Dec. 19th, 2003 06:21 pmWell, I promised ages ago to give the rest of my thoughts on The Da Vinci Code, and then never got around to it. Since then, I've read a few more books so I will now try to give some abbreviated version of my thoughts on all of them.
Okay, first The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I guess it was alright, certainly a page-turner, although not nearly as literary as most of the stuff I read. The premise was kinda interesting, but the writing isn't very good, which I found frustrating. I also thought that there were a lot of instances in the book that really strained credibilty. For instance, I had difficulty believing that a dying man would have the time or the presence of mind to create such an elaborate web of secret clues in his final moments. But I suppose that this is the kind of book in which a willing suspension of disbelief is necessary. My major complaint with the book is the fact that it's ostensibly all about divine femininity and not suppressing the role of Mary Magdalen in the early church, and all sorts of feminist-type stuff, and yet the only female character spends the entire book having everything explained to her by two men. It was also completely predictable. But I can't complain. It was a fast read and a good diversion while I was finishing up my nano novel.
After finishing both The Da Vinci Code and my novel, I decided to reread a couple books that I felt could teach me a few things about some of the things I was trying to accomplish in the book that I wrote. The first one that I reread was Possession by A.S. Byatt. I was especially interested in the way in which she tied together her parallel story lines, which, as I remembered, was remarkably well done, but not really the way I want to go with my own book. It had been quite a while since I last read Possession, and I remembered it as being a great, fun book that was very intriguing, but I had forgotten quite what an impressive achievement it is. Byatt really did an amazing job of inhabiting the Victorian mindset, mores, and even writing style of her two poets. To say nothing of all the poetry she wrote for the book! The interesting thing about rereading this book was that I noticed more of the genius of it, but I also noticed certain flaws that I had overlooked the first time.
Next on my rereading list was Regeneration by the amazing Pat Barker. Regeneration is just an incredible book. Remarkably restrained, yet astonishingly powerful. As always, I was stunned by the way in which Pat Barker can convey so much with just a few hints and images. Wow. What a book.
When I finished Regeneration, I was stuck in the Phoenix airport with nothing else to read, so I was forced to resort to the miserable selection at the airport bookstore. I did the best I could, and bought The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It was okay, although the story was fairly simplistic and not very artfully written. It would have been a much better book if the characters had had a little more depth and dimension to them. In a way it was encouraging, because as I was reading it I kept thinking, "If this is a New York Times bestseller, I should certainly be able to get my book published, at the very least!"
Since finishing The Secret Life of Bees, I've been reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, although I'm not really far enough along to say anything about it yet. Also, I'm planning to start the major revision work on my own crazy novel, so I may be posting a little less frequently than I was once accustomed to.
Okay, first The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I guess it was alright, certainly a page-turner, although not nearly as literary as most of the stuff I read. The premise was kinda interesting, but the writing isn't very good, which I found frustrating. I also thought that there were a lot of instances in the book that really strained credibilty. For instance, I had difficulty believing that a dying man would have the time or the presence of mind to create such an elaborate web of secret clues in his final moments. But I suppose that this is the kind of book in which a willing suspension of disbelief is necessary. My major complaint with the book is the fact that it's ostensibly all about divine femininity and not suppressing the role of Mary Magdalen in the early church, and all sorts of feminist-type stuff, and yet the only female character spends the entire book having everything explained to her by two men. It was also completely predictable. But I can't complain. It was a fast read and a good diversion while I was finishing up my nano novel.
After finishing both The Da Vinci Code and my novel, I decided to reread a couple books that I felt could teach me a few things about some of the things I was trying to accomplish in the book that I wrote. The first one that I reread was Possession by A.S. Byatt. I was especially interested in the way in which she tied together her parallel story lines, which, as I remembered, was remarkably well done, but not really the way I want to go with my own book. It had been quite a while since I last read Possession, and I remembered it as being a great, fun book that was very intriguing, but I had forgotten quite what an impressive achievement it is. Byatt really did an amazing job of inhabiting the Victorian mindset, mores, and even writing style of her two poets. To say nothing of all the poetry she wrote for the book! The interesting thing about rereading this book was that I noticed more of the genius of it, but I also noticed certain flaws that I had overlooked the first time.
Next on my rereading list was Regeneration by the amazing Pat Barker. Regeneration is just an incredible book. Remarkably restrained, yet astonishingly powerful. As always, I was stunned by the way in which Pat Barker can convey so much with just a few hints and images. Wow. What a book.
When I finished Regeneration, I was stuck in the Phoenix airport with nothing else to read, so I was forced to resort to the miserable selection at the airport bookstore. I did the best I could, and bought The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It was okay, although the story was fairly simplistic and not very artfully written. It would have been a much better book if the characters had had a little more depth and dimension to them. In a way it was encouraging, because as I was reading it I kept thinking, "If this is a New York Times bestseller, I should certainly be able to get my book published, at the very least!"
Since finishing The Secret Life of Bees, I've been reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, although I'm not really far enough along to say anything about it yet. Also, I'm planning to start the major revision work on my own crazy novel, so I may be posting a little less frequently than I was once accustomed to.
