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Here's what I don't quite get about Dan Brown's popularity - I've never heard anyone praise his books unreservedly.

Posted by Reagen (aka Reagen) Sep 17 '09, 18:50

It's always "Oh, I just wanted to see what the fuss was about," or "I know he's a bad writer, but..." What the fuck people?! If you know it's going to be a shitty book, why buy it? The fact that everyone buys whatever crap he puts out gives him no reason to get any better, so he's just going to put out more shit.

Responses:

A brainiac professor who gets to travel the world with a different brainy hottie every book. What's not to get? -- nm - con_carne Sep 17, 19:23
There's lots of stuff I won't praise unreservedly. Not everything needs to be perfect in this world. - TFox Sep 17, 19:05 2
- And the other answer is: reading is so often a private endeavor, there is always an appeal to reading something that can be discussed. Widely. -- nm - TFox Sep 17, 19:07 1
  - Certainly. But people don't have to pick a shitty book. -- nm - Reagen Sep 17, 19:09
all you people who responded to this thread are just perpetuating the madness! -- nm - Max Sep 17, 18:57 4
- you could make some mad money giving tours to people who buy the new book, showing them all the sites around DC - farmer ted Sep 17, 18:59 3
  - it's part of the Max Hotel Platinum Package. -- nm - Max Sep 17, 19:03 2
    - Do the Max Interns work at the Hotel? -- nm - Remlik Sep 17, 19:19 1
      - well "work" can encompass so many things . . . -- nm - farmer ted Sep 17, 19:22
to be blunt, you clearly hang around with people who are smarter than average. -- nm - loosilu Sep 17, 18:57
He's a great storyteller but a horrible writer. -- nm - Dano Sep 17, 18:56 1
- Reading The Da Vinci Code was a constant process of "this book sucks, I can't wait to see what happens next" for me. -- nm - Dano Sep 17, 19:01
The literature equivalent of Two and a Half Men -- nm - Mop Sep 17, 18:56 1
- The Mona Lisa isn't that attractive. -- nm - BB Sep 17, 19:07
One reason I don't read him is I figure enough people already do, so I don't need to. -- nm - the liioulu with extra jacket Sep 17, 18:54 2
- "oh, i don't watch TV" -- nm - farmer ted Sep 17, 18:55 1
  - I do watch TV. And I read slish. Just prefer to spend my time with writers that actually care about what they write. -- nm - the liioulu with extra jacket Sep 17, 18:57
I thought The Da Vinci Code was a book of tremendous ideas. I enjoyed it a lot. -- nm - David Sep 17, 18:51 23
- ripped off a number of other people. Also suffers from Oliver Stone syndrome -- take an idea and present it as fact. -- nm - loosilu Sep 17, 18:58 20
  - ...in a novel. which is fiction. -- nm - TFox Sep 17, 19:06 3
    - but he includes a note at the beginning saying that all the history in the book is fact, which is a lie. -- nm - loosilu Sep 17, 19:30 2
      - you were there? -- nm - Beaker Sep 17, 19:32 1
        
        it's been widely debunked. -- nm - loosilu Sep 17, 19:33
  - I didn't have a problem with any of his ideas being expressly derivative. Meanwhile, National Treasure ripped him off to a The Mentalist degree. -- nm - David Sep 17, 19:00 15
    - James Rollins "Map of Bones" was a much better book covering similar themes...and I liked Da Vinci. Not great, but decent read. -- nm - Remlik Sep 17, 19:07 11
      - It came out two years later, so it's in the National Treasure grouping of imitators. -- nm - David Sep 17, 19:11 10
        
        without knowing anything about these books, I don't have a problem with imitation if the thought process is - Reagen Sep 17, 19:17 8
        
        Yes, I generally agree with that. I often wonder if Joss Whedon looks at Twilight fans and wonders, "Where the fuck were you at the start of the 2000s - David Sep 17, 19:18 7
        
        Him and the Moonlight people as well. But Whedon did get 7 years of one and 5 years of another so he had a good run. -- nm - Remlik Sep 17, 19:20 6
        
        Relatively speaking, Whedon's success is a 100 yard dash while she's ran all the way around the world. Twice. -- nm - David Sep 17, 19:21 5
        
        true. very true. I wonder if all of this stuff has made Gellar or Boreanz think about the movie possibilites. -- nm - Remlik Sep 17, 19:22 4
        
        It wouldn't sell. For whatever reason, the insipid version is more universal. -- nm - David Sep 17, 19:29 1
        
        (Much like The Beatles and Star Wars.) - David Sep 17, 19:30
        
        I think Boreanaz has reached the point of not being able to look like he's not aging. - Reagen Sep 17, 19:26 1
        
        true. -- nm - Remlik Sep 17, 19:29
        
        good point. -- nm - Remlik Sep 17, 19:16
    - From what I can tell, National Treasure owns its ridiculousness. -- nm - Reagen Sep 17, 19:03 2
      - Relatedly, I saw a magazine ad the other day for a book that was so clearly trying to be Da Vinci Code meets Twilight. - David Sep 17, 19:06 1
        
        I saw my first ad for The Vampire Diaries tonight. Was the thought process "Hey, I'm a shitty writer, and I like vampires too!" -- nm - Reagen Sep 17, 19:07
- same, I really enjoyed it. all his books have great ideas but unfortunately by the fourth book the set ups were all too familiar. -- nm - zork Sep 17, 18:57
- I can't get past his prose. -- nm - Reagen Sep 17, 18:53
aka The Transformers Defense -- nm - farmer ted Sep 17, 18:51 1
- that ocurred to me. -- nm - Reagen Sep 17, 18:54

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Here's what I don't quite get about Dan Brown's popularity - I've never heard anyone praise his books unreservedly.

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