The Da Vinci Code

I can hardly believe what I’m posting here, I thought we had a rule about Dan Brown.

But firstly, it was a good group to talk about the mundane and small events of a street, what we notice as we go through life, and how much plot is needed. We weren’t quite agreed on whether If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things is profound, earnest or just a bit boring.

Then a lot of great pitches, some with props, led to a tie-breaker. After it was decided we shouldn’t try to read both we made the final choice by a show of hands and now everyone who was present is somehow complicit in our next read being The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I can only assume we were all drunk. I should point out it is the 20th Anniversary of this book, and Francesca has been VERY persuasive that this means we should revisit it and see how it has stood the test of time. On the other hand Salman Rushdie says it is ‘a novel so bad it gives bad novels a bad name’.

Anyway we are reading it, and that is what democracy does for you. Its available in most good charity shops, unless you want to splash out on the Deluxe Illustrated edition, or perhaps the YA edition, or watch the film or play the game…

Runners up were:
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevon (this had a vintage gameboy involved in the pitch)
Everything Sad is Untrue – Daniel Nayeri
I, Claudius – Robert Graves
Days Without End – Sebastian Barry
My Name is Why – Lemn Sissay
Yellowface – RF Kuang
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – Junot Diaz
Brainworms
Blindness – Jose Saramago

By the way I heartily recommend the chapter of The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller which deals with both the Da Vinci Code and Moby Dick.

We should be back at Effra Social, meeting on 9th November and starting book talk from 8pm. But give yourself a little time to get a drink and find a chair before that. We are usually in the Churchill Room (on the right as you come in), but any changes will be posted here.

If you fancy a smaller group please check out our sister group over in Kennington https://www.facebook.com/events/1256618391701050