Dan Brown has produced a book fill with more page turing events that you can imangine! I stayed up all night just to finish reading it! I can see why it's caused so much controversy - and it certainly has made me think and decide I need to do a bit of research myself!

Book Description

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci -- clues visible for all to see -- yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion -- an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others.

In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who seems to anticipate their every move. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's ancient secret -- and an explosive historical truth -- will be lost forever.

Decided to share this one as a bookring - bookcrosser listed in Blue has book!

DSM ---> Michigan, USA
CajunSmashed ---> Canada
Silverstone --->Sweden
Alive -->Florida, USA
nyisutter ---> Missouri, USA
WritinReader ---> Kentucky, USA
Ann32 ---> Alaska, USA

It's open to anyone else who would like to join!!

As a member, you will receive the book from the person listed before you. When you receive the book, please make a journal entry at BookCrossing stating that you’ve received it and read it as soon as you can (don't rush, just be reasonable about the length of time). After you've read the book, please journal again at BookCrossing with your comments and PM the next person on the list to request their address. If you don't hear from them within a weeks time and two PM's, please move on to the next person on the list - PM me and let me know. I'll make a final loop back for anyone who misses out due to holidays, etc, but I'd like to keep the book travelling reasonably quickly. Mailing the book by media mail is the least expensive way (or surface mail if it's sent overseas).

If any questions come up, please send a PM to me.
If there is no one on the list after you, please return the book to me. I will send the book out again if I get more participants.

Please bear in mind that there's a LONG list of readers patiently waiting to read the book after you. With that in mind, I would ask that you try to get it back on the road again within a couple of weeks of receiving it. If your turn is approaching and you find that you've overextended yourself with rings and/or rays, drop me a line and we'll work something out.

Many thanks for your co-operation, and may everyone enjoy The DaVinci Code!

Release planned for Tuesday, November 18, 2003 at Post Office in Bad Axe, Michigan USA.

Sending to CajunSmashed as the first person of our bookring - Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Just got this in over the weekend and already a few pages in. Thanks for letting me a part of the ring, DSM.

I just finished this one over the holidays, and I have to say if nothing else... it definitely makes me want to look more intricately at Mr DaVinci's paintings.

I have to tell ya, this book made me smile soooo much, especially when talking about how much of Christianity was borrowed from other religions. I loved the focus on the Divine Feminine. To perhaps bring people closer to the idea that we, as women, had and have MUCH more to do with Divinity than we thought we did. The author included information that has been kept secret for a long time, whether anyone wants to open their mind to it or not. My son said he could tell when I had been reading it, I was walking around with a huge smile and giggling to myself.

I really enjoyed this one, my only complaint was that it wasn't long enough LOL I will definitely be on the look out for more books by Dan Brown. I truly enjoy his writing style.

Thanks for letting be a part of your bookring, DSM! *mwah*. It cost me $20 CA, but it's on it's way to silverstone ...

I received it a few days ago and read it all the way through yesterday.
It is really an intriguing book, wanting to put all your views about Christianity upside down and showing you the world of symbols in art. It takes place during maybe two days and plunges you straight into the story as soon as youv'e read the first lines.
Even though I choose not to agree with the author about the truths about Jesus, he is the living one in the Bible for me, I still enjoy this plot and the symbols Brown are finding in DaVincis art.
Absolutely worth reading....

I finally sent this off to Alive on 22nd of May 2004. I'm sorry for the delay, the heaviness of the book made the postage so expensive that it took some time for me to afford it.

Enjoy it Alive!!!

I sorry for the delay.I received this book thursday,May 27th.Thank you so much silverstone for the lovely postcard!!
Thank you DSM for offering this book as a bookring.

Vickie

Sorry it has taken so long will release as soon as I get the addy of the next bookcrosser.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sorry nyisutter for not getting this book out to you sooner.
Enjoy!

This arrived today. Will read as soon as I finish the bookring I am reading now. This is good timing as I recently was given a copy of "Cracking the Code".

Update 10-24-04:
Just started reading.

Sorry to have kept this so long. I have been sick for awhile and just not been able to read much. My computer has also been up and down so taking care of BC business has been difficult. I am only half way through the book, so I just borrowed a copy from a friend to finish so I can send this one on. Thanks for letting me read it.

1-10-05
I finished reading my friend's copy over the weekend. Although theologically, I disagree with a lot of the beliefs presented in this book, I enjoyed it for the mystery and how it made me try to work out the puzzles. By the end, I was figuring out the pieces before reading them. Despite this, I was still suprised at a lot of the plot twists! It was definitely a fast paced book. It is amazing that all that happened in 2 days!

1-12-05
I just remembered something else that I remembered from the book. I found it fascinating that Westminster Abby provided the tools to do grave rubbings. Here in the states, cemetaries that aren't nearly as old are prohibiting grave rubbings to preserve the historical sites. Strange that some promote it and some discourage it.

I am now reading Cracking Da Vinci's Code, which is a good rebuttal for this book.

Mailed to Writinreader today. Sorry for the delay.

Arrived safe and sound. Thank you for sharing this.

As much as I would like to I'm not sure when I will be able to read this so I am going to go on and send it to Ann32. Thank you for sharing it with us.

RELEASE NOTES:

Putting in the mail to Ann32 tomorrow morning.

Received this book today in the mail. I'll read it soon and send it on...

Thanks!

I started and finished this book all in one day... mostly because I'm spending time at home with my new kitten. The book was great. Definitely a page-turner. It was more of an action adventure book than I expected, but Brown definitely knows how to write a suspense-filled book with an interesting topic.

Mailed to DSM today, completing the bookring! Thanks, DSM, for sharing your book and organizing this ring :)

This bookring has come full circle and has returned home - and in such good condition! I hope everyone enjoyed their time within The DaVinci Code!

As soon as my son finishes reading - I'll offer it up as another bookring! ;o)

RELEASE NOTES:

I'm off for another bookring cycle to begin!

RELEASE NOTES:

I'm off for another bookring cycle to begin!

I'm off for another bookring beginning with JDP.
The full list of participants:

JDP - PA, USA
uofigirl - IN, USA
avanta7 - CA, USA
Lil-Snoo - CA, USA
reptlian - CA, USA HAS BOOK!
Zarylia - MN, USA
Jennifer671 - SC, USA

It will then head overseas:

molekilby - UK
tabbystripes - UK


This bookring is still open if anyone is interested!

*YIKES* I found this book while cleaning my office - It's amazing the things you find when you clean isn't it?!! I'm dropping it in the mail today to begin it's new journey! Sorry for holding it up!

Received. Just wanted to note because I read "returned in such good condition" - the jacket is getting a little bent and creased, hope that is ok since this book is really traveling. Caught me in the middle of reading two other books (An Amy Tan and "The Quality of Life Report") but have decided this will be my bedtime reading so that ought to get me moving right through it as to not hold things up. Will post more when its been read and sent on.

Thank you DSM and 4-lele!

Edit 11/28 read, had to wait to come back to work to log in and report done, good book, left me wanting more, may have to dig around for my old pb version of Angels and Demons and reread.

Mailed to UofIgirl 12/1, priority mail (hey DSM, how'd you do Priority media mail, post wouldn't let me?)

Book arrived safe and sound.

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN REVIEW)

This was the most offensive piece of fiction I have read this year.

And that has nothing to do with the ideas contained within. Dan Brown is a TERRIBLE writer!

Sure, I'm a pretty laid back, educated Christian who sees no problem with Christ having a kid, or two, or three, or even being a grandfather by the time he was crucified, or even Jesus being the first of 14 kids that Mary eventually had. The content was not surprising, and not new or even controversial in my opinion. I think Dan Brown should have developed the idea, still used his trip to Paris as a tax write-off, and passed the plot to a competent author.

At least it was a quick read, but with a new chapter every 2 to 3 pages, how could this book not be a page-turner? Dan Brown only has 10 characters, one of whom is dead, and he does not bother to develop any of them, except to drop information that arrives in convenient fashion. The contrived bits where Langdon remembers standing in front of his classes having conversations is a terrible device that should be forever abandoned. And, for a Harvard-trained symbologist, Robert Langdon is really dumb. There was that episode where they are trying to open the cryptex with the clue about the ancient word of wisdom that is 5 letters long, blah, blah, blah, and they run off on tangents and side tracks and use a dumb letter replacing thing to come up with Sofia... um... what other 5-letter word of wisdom are YOU thinking of? At some point during his studies of religious symbols, you'd think that a visit to St. Sofia in Instanbul would be in order. Or, um, did you NOT notice there's a girl named SOPHIE sitting next to you???? Doesn't say much for the faculty of a premiere research institution, does it?

This book reads like a bad screenplay as opposed to a novel. I have never seen so much italicized print before. This looks like one of those times in which the movie will be better than the book. I'm glad I had a chance to read it, but I'm still not sure what all the fuss is about.

Arrived in today's mail.

Wear notes: The DJ is still intact, although it's beginning to get a little tattered around the edges. And at some point the binding and spine have been broken. They're now held together with packing tape. I'll see if I can do anything about these before sending the book on.

I'm looking forward to reading this, and will start on it right away!

What an interesting twist on the Grail legend!

By the time I read this novel, some two years after the rest of the English-speaking world it seems, I was already aware of its general premise. And like uofigirl, I figured out the cyphers a page or two ahead of the characters. I'll give them the same benefit of the doubt that I do game show contestants when I beat them to the answers: I'm safe and sound, sitting on a comfy sofa at home, not under the pressure of hot lights or a gun in my face. So be it.

Did I say yet that I liked this? Well, I did. It's silly and contrived at times, almost too ludicrous and coincidental at others, but hey! So what? It's a beach novel. The story itself was an enjoyable way to waste a few hours. Not great literature by any means, but genre fiction deserves space on everyone's bookshelf.

As far as the "controversy" goes, get a grip, people. It's a novel. F-I-C-T-I-O-N. Based on a fabulous conspiracy theory and featuring real historical figures. But it's not true. And I doubt Mr. Brown ever intended for his little pulp novel to ever be taken this seriously.

As an aside, let me just say I find the conspiracy theory contained herein fascinating. The Grail legend, the history of the church, the Templars and the Masons have all held my interest for years. The bits and pieces about each Brown drops throughout his narrative have done nothing to dissuade me from that interest.

Thanks for letting me be a part of this bookring. A PM will go out today to Lil-Snoo, next on the list.

(BTW, I made some minor repairs to the dust jacket. It's still a little battered, but not quite so forlorn. I could do nothing about the binding. I don't have the proper tools.)

Mailed to Lil-Snoo yesterday. Happy BookCrossing!

Received this today. I think it went on a cross-country trip first! :) I have one book to finish, then I'll get started on this one. I can't wait since I've been wanting to read this for ages! :)

Pretty good read! It's nice to get an alternative view of how things could have happened, and all about Jesus' life, although I have to admit the book overall is not what I expected. It was still entertaining enough that I plan on listening to it on CD during my cross-country drive next week. I'm looking forward to the movie coming out too.

Sent to reptlian 3/23/06.

Received yesterday. Will read ASAP.
__________________________________________

I worked out nice that the movie came out shortly after I read the book. Thanks for letting me participate.

This book is traveling to tabbystripes after 2 No Responses, and 2 declines to participate.

Yay! Received in the mail today. I've been wanting to read this for ages. Thanks Reptlian for kindly posting it all this way. I'll start reading it this weekend.

I didn't get to read this as soon as I'd hoped, so apologies for stalling it for so long.

I loved it! Okay, all the clues throughout the book are amusingly obvious, except to poor old Sophie the alleged cryptologist, but I still found it a thoroughly enjoyable read. I liked all the little facts regarding The Holy Grail, The Knights Templar, etc that Dan Brown throws in there and I can honestly say that I've learnt some stuff from this book which is pretty good considering it's only fiction. My only regret is I didn't read it sooner (prior to joining this ring) but I was put off by all the hype surrounding it. I agree with avanta7 that if you don't try to take the book too seriously and just enjoy it for what it is - fiction - it should at least entertain you for a few hours. That said, I will definitely get a copy of my own and read some of Dan Brown's other books.

Thanks so much for sharing this book, DSM. I notice there are no other bookcrossers waiting for it so if you PM me your address I'll send it back to you.

This bookring made it's way back to me - almost 4 years after releasing! I hope everyone enjoyed reading The DaVinci Code.