The DaVinci Code

I read The Da Vinci Code when it first came out. I bought the book and sat down and read it cover to cover in a day while I was on vacation. Then I read it again. The second time I read the book I was near a computer so I took the time to look up the art and some of the concepts referenced in the book. (There’s a newer version out now, with pictures of the referenced art work – I recommend the newer version if you can get your hands on it.)

It’s a good book. I read it cover to cover in a day and I need a riveting plot to get that done. But the plot is the best part of this book. It’s the plot that made it a best seller; the prose is ham-handed and he could have really used some help with line editing. But a good plot makes up for that – and should make for a good movie as you can breeze past the excessive use of adverbs and adjectives and just show what happened.

Controversy? Of course there’s controversy. And that helps with selling books. I read Satanic Verses because of the fatwa imposed on Salman Rushdie (excellent book, by the way). I read banned books. Controversy is the best way to get read.

Here’s what I think:

  1. The book is a work of fiction. do not use this book for spiritual guidance, that’s not its purpose, it is made for entertainment.
  2. The controversy is not new – it’s as old as the nicene creed.
  3. The church will survive the exposure.
  4. This book gets people thinking and talking (and unfortunately, some people talking without thinking).
  5. If this book makes you think and even question your faith, that’s good. Unthinking and unquestioned faith is one of the sources of our current problems in the world (and yes, I mean Christians too).
  6. Use your brain. Try to avoid knee-jerk reactions.

Textbooks

School starts tomorrow, so we’re in the final phases of getting ready for that. We’ve been stressing quite a bit about the books, as we had about $200 total between us, and all of our books totaled over $450 at the school – and that included used where they were available. We spent a lot of time agonizing over which books to buy and which books to try to get through the semester without… But really, we need the books.

We went home without buying any of the books, and I hit the web, researching all the used books and used textbooks sites. I managed to find everything on Amazon.com for less than $200 – including shipping charges. They probably wont get here till late next week, but for that kind of savings, I think we can wait a week.

Riversong Lodge Cookbook: What comes around goes around

Riversong Lodge Cookbook: What comes around goes around

Riversong Lodge CookbookThe other day, a friend of mine at work asked me if I had a copy of the The Riversong Lodge Cookbook: World-Class Cooking in The Alaskan Bush. The book, a mix of recipes and the stories of a couple’s trials and triumphs in building a fly-in lodge in rural Alaska had been a favorite of mine. I spent hours reading the stories and even more hours trying out the recipes. But the book had been loaned out to someone many years ago and no longer in my possession.

My friend brought in her copy of the book to give me, she was trying to downsize her cookbook collection, but she likes to make sure her things have a good home. I love how things come full circle like this. And this time I got an upgrade. My old copy was paperback. The new one: hard bound and signed by the author.

 

Autobiography of a Fat Bride

Every once in a while you come across an author of whose voice you just can’t get enough. Laurie Notaro is one of those writers. I’m currently reading “Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood.” The chapters are short, 3 page stories that are brief enough to be read out loud – which happens often in this house as my husband pokes his head in the room to find out why I’m laughing out loud.

She strikes me as a cross between Bridget Jones and the chick from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” She’s goofy, clumsy, often drunk, and quite confused about what it means to be a grown up. She could be one of my friends.