Dan Brown

So i decided to do some accelerated reading, meaning to read a little more than my average reading pace. I started spending more of my free time catching up on my reading. During the holidays, i bought a lot more books to occupy myself. But wanting something different this time around, i tried picking up a different book. The book that has been lying around in one of the bookshelf in the house, having read by both my parents. The book that would ultimately be in my reading list, but further down the list of must-read books.

This book jumped the queue, i picked it up and started reading it. Its none other than the already famous Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. I decided to read the first 50 pages to see how it goes and my god its extremely engrossing and thrilling!! Damn myself for not picking it up earlier! I was soo hooked to this book that i devoured it in a couple of days.

I watched the movie and found it to be very poorly executed. Its a bad reflection to the popular novel that has sold millions. But that doesnt really derail me from actually picking it up and reading it. I knew of the hype, the controversy and the thrilling mystery about the novel and its rich cultural and historical references to it. But i had no idea that the thrilling parts of the book, its twists and turns happened to encompass not just a few chapters, but the entire book, from start to finish! Incredibly, its easy to read, easier than i thought despite the fact that it had a lot of jargon, references to arts, relics and culture. One would easily dismiss it as a tough book to read, because of the fact that it would be very difficult to visualise the arts references heavily used to tell the tale of the plot. But astoundingly, Dan Brown has written very well for a casual reader, who might not be very versed in the world of the arts. At the same time, Dan Brown doesnt go to great lengths to describe something to the reader, but rather sufficient enough so that the reader understands and at the same time, pique the interest of the reader. There were several instances throughout the book where Wikipedia was my best friend. Looking up and searching for a particular art or culture used in the plot and understanding it in greater detail through wikipedia. 

Dan Brown has authored a very good book and at the same time created a alot of controversy within the religious community, which i understood very little till now. The fact that he used actual historical references to create a fiction, really does ignite the flames of conspiracy and makes you wonder alot about the alternative, if it were to happen…

So after finishing The Da Vinci Code, i decided to read Angels and Demons, and it was even better!! More action, faster pace and even more intruiging and thrilling plot. I personally prefer Angels and Demons because its more thrilling than The Da Vinci Code. While The Da Vinci Code focuses more on the symbology, the arts and culture, Angels and Demons focuses more on history and the dark secret society called “The Illuminati” against the mighty Vatican. It has twists and turns in the plot and was done wonderfully. From the first chapter of the book, it sets the reader glued to the book with a lot of mysteries being presented right from the begining.

Im about to start reading Deception Point and i hope it would be as thrilling as the first two books that i have read. Everyone should read Dan Brown’s books. Despite the controversy, just read it for the sake of entertainment.

I cant wait for the upcoming adaptation of Angels and Demons. Tom Hanks will play the same role as Robert Langdon and will be released in May 2009. You can watch the trailer below.