Now we just have to wait for the movie...

Falling behind again, but that means I get to post a few books back to back. Let's see what I can find to say about The Lost Symbol.
Author: Dan Brown
Publisher: Double Day Book
Date: 2009
My start date: 4/5/10
My finish date: 4/11/10

Ok, so what can I say about a book you probably know at least a little something about. This book has shattered sales records, so there is a good chance that you or someone you know already own this book. If you don't, I imagine there is a good chance that you have read or watched the movie versions of Brown's two previous mega-hits, Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code. And if you have, you already know this book.

Several years ago when this books predecessors became huge, I was also caught up in the hype. I loved the puzzle aspects in this books especially. Plays on words, dissecting art, conspiracy theories, secret societies, I still love all of it. And this third novel involving professor Langdon doesn't fail to produce all of the exact same elements. In fact, at times, it feels almost too much of the exact same. The books are starting to get a little too predictable. I knew the ending several hundred pages before I got there, especially the very predictable identity of the bad guy. But then again, I read for a living, so maybe I have just gotten used to the clues an author has to put in to make it work. Hopefully you won't see it coming so early and will continue to enjoy it.

That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit and I really do like books that make me try to reason puzzles and keep me guessing, regardless of how formulaic they are. The main character is likable (despite his Harvard connections, I am not a big fan of Harvard and Yale, but that is a whole separate blog...) and unlike the previous two books, which took place in Europe, this book brings it closer to home by examining conspiracies here in the US--although that opens another whole set of comparisons, because it starts to be strikingly similar to the Disney movies, National Treasure, starring Nicholas Cage.

Anyway, at the end of the day, if you like the previous books or the Disney movies, if you like conspiracy puzzles, if you like have a wealth of secondary literature, which has sprung up on every magazine stand and across the internet explaining the truth behind the book, and you don't care if it gets a little predictable, go get this book. That is, if you aren't one of the millions who already have. Now all we have to do is sit back and wait for Tom Hanks to reprise his role and Langdon and provide us with a film version. To my understanding, it is already long since in production.

Time to run off to class, but check back tomorrow for a post about the next book I read, involving witches!
In the meantime,

Keep reading!
Sarah