I doubt your committment to edginess
Once, long ago, an author released a book unto the world. And this book was considered to be awful by many many many critics, to the point where much parody was made of the author, the book, and the fans. This mockery ramped up when a movie was made, and even more people were introduced to the author. And, of course, all truly "hip" readers turned up their noses, refusing to call that... that... tripe... literature.

I am, of course, talking about Dan Brown.

Over at Literary Tattoos, Loosma writes:

I love Dan Brown, particularly his Robert Langdon series and I have huge respect for him and his research for his new book The Lost Symbol. I'm reading that now and I'm having a hard time putting it down but there are some great quotes in here. I keep wanting to highlight them and come back because sometimes I come across a sentence that hits me hard just because it relates to me in a way. As do everyone when they tattoo a quote or lyric or whatever on their body

Anyway, so really if any readers of those books have gotten a tattoo relating to the plot or through some quote in there? Especially puzzle lovers? lol

Marvel at the pretentiousness, when we're assured that people are basically sheep and only the amazing folks at Literary Tattoos are capable of sorting that a dancing dog isn't that big a deal.

Be assured that a book is no longer any good once it's popular.

Discuss how Brown does research wrong! Have other people insist that Dan Brown actually does lots of research and is very accurate! (I skipped that, because I am an historian who lives with a theologian, so LOL NO)

OMG! Everyone is so meeen! - not from the OP, although she agrees. More MEEEN!

The OP ultimate tacks on her flounce, in bold:

Ok ok! I got the message! Dan Brown sucks, I have horrible literary sense, the oprah book club thing is probably I something should check into, etc etc etc. Anyway, everyone is entitled to their opinion, regardless of how polite or bitchy it was presented but to each their own.

I just want you all to know that I hated Dan Brown before it was "in" to hate Dan Brown. I bet it's now ~edgy~ to be scholar who loves Dan Brown for the plot, and I totes want to be ~edgy~. Dan Brown Forever! Go Robert Langdon!

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	hallidae 2009-09-21 04:56 am UTC (link)
	Part of the reason is because he sold it as conspiracy truth wrapped in a story when the first book came out. It wasn't until historians, art historians, astronomers, geographers, etc. started trashing him loudly up and down that he finally admitted that he'd blown inaccuracy for the sake of fiction. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

brennalarose
2009-09-21 05:04 am UTC (link)

Okay, that I will grant and that's because it's true. That part of it annoyed the hell out of me. I enjoy his books, but I wouldn't use them on a research paper. I just file him next to my Mercedes Lackey Fairy Tales and Peter Tremaine's overly-expository mysteries and shake my fist at him for keeping me entertained with the theologico-intellectual equivalent of a Little Johnny Joke.

(Delete and repost to clarify and re-icon)

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	hallidae 2009-09-21 05:12 am UTC (link)
	I admit, I started reading the The Da Vinci Code because of the "TRUTH" hype, and was (and am) a big art history geek, so that clouds my judgment. I went RAWR at a lot of the things about Leonardo and the works cited in the novel that were fucked up and pretty much declared Brown a hack from then on. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brennalarose 2009-09-21 05:26 am UTC (link)
	For me, it was the Mary Magdalene stuff that ground my gears. He would have been okay and maybe even plausible, after a fashion, if he had kept Da Vinci's name out of it (and Disney, and the Louvre, and too many others to remember at present). (Reply to this)(Parent)

	inarticulate 2009-09-21 05:49 am UTC (link)
	The TRUTH hype and his lack of "yeah, okay, I made shit up," is kind of where I get stuck, too. I love it when authors make shit up! It's the lack of acknowledgment that he did.* On the other hand, as much as I hate to admit it, it was great publicity. * Depending, of course, on whether the shit they make up is awesome or full of fail. But you know. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	lady_ganesh 2009-09-21 02:35 pm UTC (link)
	I had a friend who was like WOW THIS STUFF IS AMAZING. And then I read it and was like, 'okay, half these theories I already knew, and the other half are...no.' (Reply to this)(Parent)

	squeakthemouse 2009-09-21 10:26 pm UTC (link)
	A while back, I tried to argue with a friend that the Da Vinci Code was not based on a true story. I eventually gave up. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	eleutheria 2009-09-21 01:26 pm UTC (link)
	Wait. Tremaine as in the guy who writes Celtic mysteries about an early Irish nun? Those are as poorly researched as Dan Brown? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

brennalarose
2009-09-21 03:42 pm UTC (link)

Oh, no, he's done his research. I think he specializes in Irish medieval history. It's that they both have scholarly overtones and undercurrents that manage to annoy me if I focus on them. Tremaine has an ugly, though understandable, habit of putting two chapters worth of glossary and milieu set up in the front of the book "for those of you just joining us" and then repeats the information or new info that has very little relevance to the plot at great length. One book (I'm packing to move so I can't check the title) stalled out for a page and a half while he explained what seemed to me to be the finer points of Irish law in the time.

As much as I love the banter and relationship between the two leads, sometimes I wonder if the Saxon monk/apothecary isn't just there to experience culture shock so the nun can explain it to someone without breaking the fourth wall.

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	magnolia_mama 2009-09-21 06:39 pm UTC (link)
	I think he specializes in Irish medieval history. Celtic history and culture in general; he publishes his non-fiction under Peter Berresford Ellis. I agree with you about his tendency to show off his research - I've read 2 of the Sister Fidelma books but couldn't take any more of the infodumping. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	brennalarose 2009-09-21 08:31 pm UTC (link)
	I just grit my teeth and skim the infodumps. There's at least a good story there, usually, though I always feel cheated when the murderer goes and suicides. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	eleutheria 2009-09-22 12:53 pm UTC (link)
	Ah, okay. Ellis, IIRC, is one of the go-to authors for Pagans interested in the history of druidry, so I was a little alarmed to see him grouped with Dan Brown. Yeah, the exposition is a bit much, but I'm interested in the history so I usually don't mind it. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	My favorite Little Johnny joke: sistercoyote 2009-09-21 07:58 pm UTC (link)
	Poor little Johnny we'll be seeing him no more, for what he thought was H₂O was H₂SO₄. I'm a hopeless geek, I know. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: My favorite Little Johnny joke: notjo 2009-09-21 08:23 pm UTC (link)
	More plz. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Not a Little Johnny, but... sistercoyote 2009-09-21 08:59 pm UTC (link)
	Police Officer: Dr. Heisenberg, do you know how fast you were going? Heisenberg: No, but I know precisely where I am! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: My favorite Little Johnny joke: dejla 2009-09-24 12:39 am UTC (link)
	Willie found some dynamite, Couldn't understand it quite. Curiosity never pays; It rained Willie seven days. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: My favorite Little Johnny joke: brennalarose 2009-09-21 08:35 pm UTC (link)
	Nah, that's a bear of a different breed (can't remember the name but there's a bunch of poems like that). Little Johnny jokes are closer to... "Little Johnny was walking down the street and saw Little Sally. Sally asked if he wanted to play 'doctor' with her. "'Nah,' says Little Johnny, 'everybody plays that. I want to play President!'" (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: My favorite Little Johnny joke: brennalarose 2009-09-21 08:42 pm UTC (link)
	However I do love those poems. There's more of them here: http://www.ruthlessrhymes.com/little_willie_poems/little_willie_poems/ "Little Willie, feeling mean Pushed his sister through a screen Mother stopped his innovations Said it made for strained relations." (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: My favorite Little Johnny joke: beccastareyes 2009-09-22 02:04 am UTC (link)
	One of my physics profs once shared this with me: Little Timmy, full of glee, Put radium in Granny's tea. We all thought it such a lark, To see her glowing in the dark. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	khym_chanur 2009-09-21 09:45 am UTC (link)
	This might just be an invention of my faulty memory, but I recall Brown saying something about the "conspiracy truth wrapped in a story" bit itself being a part of the story (or some other meta-y postmodern-ish thing), so it wasn't his fault if people took it seriously. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	breecita 2009-09-21 02:45 pm UTC (link)
	I remember that too, plus, you know, if that was how they decided to market the man's book, there's only so much he can do without looking absolutely fucking crazy-pants. Interviewer: We hear your book is based in trut-- Dan Brown: LIES LIES IT'S ALL FICTION THEY'RE COMING FOR US HIDE! ...actually that would have worked too. Never mind. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	catslash 2009-09-21 05:08 pm UTC (link)
	Now that marketing campaign would have gotten my attention. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	breecita 2009-09-21 05:10 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, in retrospect I wish they'd gone with him doing every interview while wearing a tinfoil hat. (Reply to this)(Parent)

hallidae
2009-09-21 05:46 pm UTC (link)

He did, but it was after the writers of Holy Blood, Holy Grail (which was also crap, but didn't have the addition of an Indiana Jones wannabe story) brought a lawsuit against him and his research had already had big gaping holes plowed in it. Before that, he was content to chirp that he'd broken the conspiracy of the Catholic Church and gotten a fabulous novel out of it.

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	rimrunner 2009-09-26 07:21 pm UTC (link)
	...so it was all a social experiment, then? (Reply to this)(Parent)

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