Pentacle Power

Well, I've gone and done it now. I've finally delved into and conquered The Da Vinci Code. I have my mixed feelings about the book, it took me about 4 hours to complete it (boy, am I out of my literary shape!). I have to say, I understand the cultish following around the book, Dan Brown has created a Hollywood-esque masterpiece. It thoroughly reminds me of a Harlequin Romance, very predictable, and an easy enough story line to follow along with.

I can honestly say now, after reading it, that it has the same draw that the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books had for me as a young girl. A typical quest pattern, and how appropos that we are hunting the legendary Grail? You can't get too much more hokey than that. Dan Brown creatively employs many familiar literary feats, borrowing from the greats: Christie and Conan Doyle came to mind right away. Don't think that I didn't enjoy this novel, I was engrossed by the story. However, I found it a little childish and sloppy at points, things seemingly solved without much work at all. It is as if the book runs out of steam towards the end, because the initial story is heavily intricate, while the latter portion is sadly lacking. Oh well, this was a fun read, time to get down to more serious study: preparing for my Founders of Christianity quiz on the Gospels for Friday.

On another note, I am becoming a model, at least of sorts. We're having our annual multicultural festivities at York next week, and I volunteered to be a model. Apparently, the members of my club are happy to hear that, and I will be seen next week on the pseudo-catwalk. I will post more details as they become available. Anyhow, off to the reading!