Journal Entry 1 by CandyDarling from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Tuesday, June 08, 2004

The Da Vinci Code was a huge bestseller in 2003, and it has also sparked some controversy. A search on Amazon for ”The Da Vinci Code” returns, in addition to the book itself, dozens of books that are written only to prove that the claims made by The Da Vinci Code are wrong. Interesting, since the book is classified as fiction.

The Da Vinci Code is the second book Dan Brown has written about Harvard professor Robert Langdon. His first book about Langdon, Angels & Demons, is very similar to The Da Vinci Code. Both books begin in exactly the same way: in the prologue a man is murdered, and then professor Langdon wakes up in the middle of the night when he receives an urgent phone call, and so on. Fortunately when the action really starts, the books take different turns and the blatant similarities end. There’s no need to read Angels & Demons before The Da Vinci Code, even though events from Angels & Demons are mentioned a few times. Personally, I liked The Da Vinci Code more than Angels & Demons.

The book is written in a very typical ”American suspense novel” –manner. Almost every chapter ends in a cliffhanger. What’s different in The Da Vinci Code is that sometimes the action is interrupted by lectures given by professor Langdon or somebody else. I’ve read that some people have found the lectures annoying, but I loved them. For example, when running away from the police, Langdon starts thinking about a lecture where he was telling the students about the golden ratio. This reminded me of the time our math teacher told us about the golden ratio, and I remembered my own astonishment when I first heard about it. It was fun to read about it again, and Langdon gave more info about it than our teacher did.

The book is filled with interesting facts, like for example the golden ratio, but the only problem is how to know which fact is actually true. At one point Langdon states that 5 million women were killed during the witch hunts, when in fact the number of victims was much smaller. (At least according to the current opinion of the academic world.) Sometimes his analyses of artwork are a bit weird too. Hidden goddess symbolism in animated Disney movies seemed a little far fetched to me. (Although it would be pretty cool if it were true.) I have also read in other reviews that Brown’s description of geography is full of mistakes. I didn’t notice the mistakes (I’m not familiar enough with Paris), but I would advise that people who are easily annoyed by inaccuracies stay away from this book.

The Da Vinci Code is ripe with conspiracy theories, and Brown’s main source is Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. He even found a funny way to mention his sources in the middle of the novel. One reason I liked this book was because I love novels that weave a web of fiction on top of historical truth, and leave you wondering where the history ends and the fiction begins. (Another book like this is Jane Jensen’s The Beast Within, about King Ludwig II of Bavaria.) I also liked Brown’s references to popular culture, especially the Harry Potter-joke. (Really, I love just about any mention of Harry Potter. Nicholas Flamel was also mentioned, but in this book he had nothing to do with Harry Potter.)

As a conclusion, I would say that The Da Vinci Code is an entertaining read, not to be taken too seriously. If you concentrate on finding mistakes in the book, instead of letting the plot sweep you off your feet, you will certainly be disappointed. If you want to feel clever you can try to solve the riddles before Langdon does. (I didn’t try, and now I regret it.) Reading the book got me interested in lots of new things, and I take that as a sign that the book was good.
 

Journal Entry 2 by CandyDarling from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Finland-only bookring.

Osallistujat:
1. Semming (Helsinki)
2. kiala (Espoo)
3. Cairbre (Helsinki)
4. seaflower (Helsingby)
5. cazfi (Oulu)
6. Card (Rovaniemi)
7. Intrycksflikka (Turku)
8. eisisa (Turku)
9. YuCCa3 (Savonlinna)
10. marja-leena (Oulu)
11. 2012 (Vantaa)
12. takaisin minulle

Jos kirjan uskonnolliset aspektit kiinnostavat, löysin erittäin hyvän arvostelun, joka löytyy täältä. Arvostelun on kirjoittanut drommie1810 ja se on kirjan kuudes "entry". 

Journal Entry 3 by CandyDarling from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Thursday, June 10, 2004

Annoin kirjan Semmingille Helsingin tapaamisessa. 

Journal Entry 4 by Semming from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Friday, June 11, 2004

I had good expectations, but sadly I was merely disappointed. The idea seemed awfully intriguing and the book's cover had a hint of mystery. After around 50 pages I was already baffled by the suffocating amount of "fact-dropping" and "hint-flinging". As an European I had difficulties in accepting Brown's bewildered and glorifying attitude towards Paris and Louvre and French and... Also, to me it seems that having the basic knowledge on the origin of Christianity and its development is, or at least should be, part of any normal individual. Honestly, it scares me that this book should ignite thoughts such as "wow, this one blew my mind" or "whee, this really made me think". :)

However, the style of writing was more or less ok and I did enjoy the idea of a treasurehunt and solving puzzles. What I did not like was the forceful way of "educating the stupid readers". :) It was also a bit odd to meet this ever-so-clever heroine in the beginning of the book and then drag along this scared, dum and overly perplexed creature for the rest of the book. And I hated the ending. There.

 

Journal Entry 5 by kiala from Espoo, Uusimaa Finland on Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Semming gave this book to me at a meeting in Helsinki. I will read it next. 

Journal Entry 6 by kiala from Espoo, Uusimaa Finland on Saturday, October 23, 2004

I totally agree with Semming. This book was not a mind blower. I have always liked puzzles and thus the plot was interesting. The alternating "fact" and fiction kind of telling was a bit trying, but i wouldn't have read the book without eihter of them. And thanks to who ever added the article. It was exactly what this book needed. 

Journal Entry 7 by Cairbre from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Tuesday, November 09, 2004

I have recieved it and read it. I'll have to cool down for awhile before I can write a review because otherwise I'll rant... 

Journal Entry 8 by seaflower from Mustasaari, Pohjanmaa Finland on Thursday, December 30, 2004

I received the book just before Christmas :-)

Seems this is a book people have very different opinions of, but I suppose that goes for most books. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this book - it follows the normal pattern for adventure books (not quite sure if adventure book is the best word, but I can't think of anything better right now) and adds some cultural and religious stuff. If I should complain about something is that it is a bit too similar to "Angels and Demons"...

Chirel had already read the book, so I mailed it to cazfi, who has obviously already received the book. 

Journal Entry 9 by cazfi from Pirkkala, Pirkanmaa Finland on Thursday, February 17, 2005

This just arrived. It will take couple of weeks before I can read this. Meanwhile you may break Kryptos code, which may play role in future Dan Brown books. 

Journal Entry 10 by cazfi from Pirkkala, Pirkanmaa Finland on Monday, March 28, 2005

So there's two points in this book; rather interesting alternative history built into it and small puzzles for readers to solve.
Obviously, to make it possible for readers to solve them, these puzzles are quite easy and require no special knowledge - yet heroes cannot just walk through the book in five pages but they have to have difficulty in solving these puzzles. This simply does not work when heroes are cryptology and symbology experts.
 

Journal Entry 11 by Card from Rovaniemi, Lappi Finland on Saturday, April 02, 2005

The envelope was waiting for me when I arrived to Rovaniemi, with some color prints attached.

I thought that some additional pictures might be useful, so I included b&w prints of _Madonna on the Rocks_ and _Virgin of the Rocks_ to the set. 

Journal Entry 12 by intry from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Monday, April 25, 2005

The book arrived a couple of days ago. Thank you for sharing! Will try to read it ASAP, but have some other bookrings before this one. 

Journal Entry 13 by intry from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Friday, July 01, 2005

I finished the book a week ago, but I totally forgot to do a journal entry. I have sent a PM to the next person in line, but I haven't gotten a respond yet.

I had low expectations of the book. I had a difficult time to try and start reading it. I thought that this was a typical best seller book, that wouldn't be that great in the end. But, well, I have to admit I loved it, and had a hard time putting it down. The end wasn't that revolutionary, but the book in the whole was nice entertainment. 

Journal Entry 14 by intry from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Tuesday, July 12, 2005

The book should now be traveling to eisisa by mail, but because of mailing problems I wont be able to give the book to eisisa until I come back from my vacation.

edit to add 21.7.2005
I'm now back from Bulgaria and the book is in the mail. 

Journal Entry 15 by eisisa from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi Finland on Friday, August 26, 2005

Got it and read it, thank you Intrycksflikka. I rather enjoyed this book, but I don´t quite understand the fuzz about it. it will be on the mail for Savonlinna this afternoon. 

Journal Entry 16 by YuCCa3 from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Monday, August 29, 2005

I got the book today, thanks a lot, CandyDarling and eisisa!

I've almost read now the Angels and Demons from the same author and I've liked it very much. I presume that this book will be as much entertaining, especially now when Robert Langdon is completely familiar to me. :)

UPDATE 16th November 2005

I’m deeply sorry that it took so long for me to read the book, or, let’s say, start reading it. When I started reading, I finished the book in five days, I couldn’t stop reading! *Damned Dan Brown!* ;D

I must admit that I felt a little bit disappointed of the book. I’ve heard so much about this book and so my expectations on this book grew and grew. I’m not saying, that it isn’t a good book, but really I expected so much more! :D And as the matter of fact I liked Angels and Demons more, probably, because I didn’t know almost anything about it, only, that it is written before The Da Vinci Code (which is the reason that I read it before this book).

I must say that Robert Langdon’s character is adorable, he really makes me laugh sometimes, and his “wicked wit” is something so fascinating. :) In my opinion he should have stayed together with Vittoria Vetra, though. ;D

So I liked the book, not as much as I expected, and I find the Holy Grail quite interesting, though I definitely don’t share the same ideas with the author. In fact there’s one catch in Dan Brown’s books, especially if you don’t agree with him in some cases: they’re based on true facts but they’re still fiction, so where’s the line between the absolute truth and author’s imagination?

In the end I just want to mention that I guessed the password of the last cryptex immediately when I read the poem for the first time. I just didn’t think that it could be so easy, and so I didn’t believe in it. How big was the surprise when I found out that I was right!!! :D

UPDATE 10th July 2006

I'm very sorry that I've kept this book for so long, but I had a lot of problems with BookCrossing in Italy, because I couldn't go to Internet and so I didn't know where I should have sent the book. But now, finally, when I've arrived in Finland, I'm going to send the book as soon as possible to the next participant of the bookring. *Patience is a virtue...* ;)

UPDATE 15th November 2006

Today I sent the book to the next participant, marja-leena. Have a nice reading! :) 

Journal Entry 17 by marja-leena from Oulu, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa Finland on Thursday, November 16, 2006

I got the book today by mail.I will read it as soon as possible but I am currently quite busy with studies. 

Journal Entry 18 by marja-leena from Oulu, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa Finland on Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The book couldn't surprise me in any way. Maybe I had read too much about the book and the movie. The structure of the book is a typical one for a thriller. The author uses lots of references to symbology, which is interesting. I wouldn't mind if the story of Mary Magdalene was a true one. I guess this is one (or the major) reason for the great success of this book; its message of the value of the female.At some point I got tired of riddles followed by riddles. The main characteristics remained quite superficially described and the end a bit ridiculous solution to get a nice happy end scene. Anyhow I liked to read the book. Now I know what the all fuss is about. 

Journal Entry 19 by 2012 from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Saturday, December 23, 2006

The book arrived yesterday and although I have a lot of books to read, this will make to the top of the pile cause there are people waiting for it even after me. Perhaps I'll be able to start reading it during Christmas holiday! 

Journal Entry 20 by 2012 from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Friday, January 19, 2007

Finished reading today. I had seen the movie before, so during the reading, I pictured the characters more like as they were in the movie than in the book. I think the movie had grasped the idea of the story quite well though I don't remember it very well anymore. I think that I should have read the book first and then watched the movie. Maybe then I would have noticed more differences. I liked the reading though and found especially some little details interesting and surprising.

Sending back to CandyDarling cause the last 2 in the ring didn't want to read the book anymore. Home, sweet home, here it comes! 

Journal Entry 21 by CandyDarling from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Wednesday, January 31, 2007

The Da Vinci Code is back home. Thanks to everyone who took part in the ring! 

Journal Entry 22 by CandyDarling at Lumous in Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Released 2 yrs ago (10/21/2009 UTC) at Lumous in Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left the book at the second hand bookshop Lumous, on the BookCrossing shelf, on Wednesday October 21st, around 3 pm.

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