In which we chat about Dan Brown

Yesterday Reader Dan asked if I would be reading The Lost Symbol. I'm on page 99, actually. I'm immensely curious as to how he's going to follow up The Da Vinci Code, and I have great respect for what Dan Brown has accomplished. Yes, I know. Intellectuals like to turn up their noses and get sniffy about "commercial fiction". Since I am contrary, perhaps I like him because I'm not supposed to? Anyway, I do like him. Are his books flawed? Yep, and guess what? So are mine. All books are flawed to some degree or other because we're only human and we do the best we can, but any artistic endeavor is going to be a combination of the sublime and the ridiculous. Whether we're painting or writing or composing, we will always give you something that might have been improved upon. Hopefully, we get better with each attempt, but there will always be something we could have done more proficiently. One of the most difficult parts of writing is knowing when to let go and move on--thank God for deadlines or most of us would never let our editors wrestle our books from us and send them off into the world.

But back to Dan Brown in particular. He writes quick, immensely readable books that knit up strands of logic and mysticism and art and adventure and sometimes that's precisely what I'm in the mood for. (After awhile too much Victoriana can be weighty and you need a change.) I give him tremendous credit for stirring readers up and getting them thinking and talking about questions of history and theology and ethics. People debated his last book ferociously; documentaries were filmed; tours are given around Paris and Rome detailing the exploits of his characters. Those are staggering accomplishments for a writer these days, particularly when we are constantly being told that reading is a lost pastime and books are over. (To which I say, "Piffle." Reading is the ultimate escapism and storytelling will always be around, even if we dress it up with e-readers and handhelds.)

So, yep. I'm reading Dan Brown, and I'm enjoying it. (I'm a sucker for secret societies and very interested in entanglement theory...)

If you're not in a Dan Brown mood yourself, but looking for something to peruse, I recently finished Frances Osborne's The Bolter and Alan Bradley's The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, both of which I enjoyed. And for something historical, Michelle Moran's newest, Cleopatra's Daughter, is just out this week and a superb choice.