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A personal exploration and rating of The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

The Da Vinci Code is not the kind of book that I would have chosen to read myself, had it not been for everyone on the planet incessantly rambling on and on about it. Our bookshelves received a copy from a friend which was a birthday gift for my roommate at the time. It was the illustrated collectors edition, I believe. The size and beauty of the book rivaled my shelves of books on art. After reading this edition, I am certainly of the opinion that books with pictures in them enhance the reading experience.

Even so, this was not my book and I would not have chosen to read it had so many people not been asking me whether I had read it or not. Even the man at my local corner shop tried to give me a copy of his book. I can hardly imagine that I am their most frequent customer. No, it was something about a pentagram I was wearing that made the man's face light up and impelled him to dive behind the counter rummaging loudly and mumbling incoherently until he produced the book which appeared as if it had gone through several readings. He then asked me if I knew what the pentagram meant. Hmmm, a trick question? I thought. Well, I was wearing it and it would follow that it might mean something to me, but does it mean something universally? Was he one of those guys that would just assume that I worshiped Satan?

There were just too many possibilities that cycled through my head, so I answered in the most appropriate of ways: I played dumb. Then the man insisted that I read the book and he tried to give me his copy. I had to refuse on the account of having not read the one sitting on the bookshelf at home yet. I left with 6 cans of beer, 0 books and a happy little feeling about sharing books with random strangers.

So that settled it. I had to read the book. All the signs were there. It was beyond my control.

I would have to admit that Dan Brown is a tricky little writer, isn't he? It was a book I could not put down. I ended up reading it in one evening with the addition of a few hours the next morning spent completing the book. All the chapters are about 1-2 pages long and they all end at a point where they are about to reveal just a tiny bit more seemingly very important information. It is just too easy to say to yourself, I'll just read one more chapter, and after that chapter, say to yourself, just one more - it's only 1 page...

Ok, so I give Brown stars for that.

Brown gets stars for illustrations. The

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