Anyone reading The Lost Symbol yet??

Bought it yesterday afternoon, but haven't started into yet (yes, I am a football junkie). 

I have finished it, didn't really enjoy it. Thought it was far inferior to TDC and A&D with too much chatter and too little action.

bought it on a whim at Costco (see.... costco thread) but have a couple other (costco bought) books to get thru first. If you are just coming to the conclusion that Brown is formulaic now, you must not have read Angels and Demons or Deception Point. But it does make for entertaining reading (a la Grisham for the most part)

I've only read A&D and TDC.  Both were entertaining and I enjoyed reading them.  So far I am enjoying this one as well.  Just that they are very predictable in their twists and turns.  I knew the Pope's assistant was the "bad" guy in A&D fairly early on and there was no surprise.

Still too early in the new book for me to start guessing, but I already have some loose thoughts as to where things are headed.

Edited by Daremo 2009-09-21 3:09 PM

Finished it. I dont want to ruin anything - but it is not near his best work. Angels and Demons still stands above the rest.

Funniest thing is, I couldnt read it without picturing Tom Hanks the whole time.

Rick,

You might have a little down time Friday and Saturday to finish reading it.

Thought about bringing it for that.

I got a little more into it last night.  Around 115 pages now.  I probably won't finish it by Friday though.  So I'll bring it for the van ride.

Digital Fortress and Deception point are definitely good books to pick up if you like his work.  They don't include Langdon, but are still quite good.  I see Brown's work as a sort of hybrid between Chriton and Ludlum. 

I'm about a quarter to half way into Lost Symbol.  It's exactly what I expected it to be, a fun, fast paced "summer read."

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Read it.....and I agree that it is definately not as good as TDC and A&D....although it was a page turner. I just felt like the threats weren't as...threatening...as the other books

You see - I am not a Stephen King fan.  I do not, under any circumstance, need the facets of that ordinary boulder that has absolutely no real relevance to the story explained to me in 7 pages.  Way tooooooo descriptive on things that need not be so descriptive. 

Completely agree on Stephen King. As a writer, I find him unreadable on a sentence level. He's got great ideas-- I just can't and won't read how his ideas play out. I will for Dan Brown.

I like the fact that Stephen King evolved from scary blood and gore (Carry/Pet Cemetary/Trucks) to more along the lines of screwing with the mental aspect of his characters (Geralds Game/Delores Claiborne).  Although, as we have ventured off the Dan Brown path into other authors, I am still a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft (one of SK's role models) when it comes to horror writing.

I am reading TLS, only on about page 60.  Seems okay so far, hoping it picks up.  I read TDC and A&D, are the other books good?

Courtesy of Jordan Rapp's twitter, "Dan Brown's 20 Worst Sentences"


[url] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/6194031/The-Lost-... />

A little further into the book now.  The good thing about his work is that chapters are short so it is easy to reach a stopping point.  BUT ..... he keeps things moving quickly and jumps around between events going on at the same time so it is hard to put it down as you want to see what happens next.  That is why his work is so appealing and readable.

Certainly not the greatest author to ever live.  But still entertaining.

And yes, I always visulaize Tom Hanks when reading the books as well.  Same as I do Daniel Radcliffe for HP and Elijah Wood for Frodo.  Interestingly enough, because the Bourne trilogy was completely different than the movies I did not picture Matt Damon as Jason Bourne when I read them.  I guess if I had seen the entire original movie from the 70's I would picture Carradine or whoever it was that played Bourne.

I agree with the short chapters and fast pace keeping it interesting.  I am enjoying it so far as well.

Richard Chamberlain was Bourne in the original, but I believe it was in the late 80's.


Steve

I liked TDC and A&D, but did not like Deception Point.  Couldn't put my finger on why, but I didn't enjoy it as much.  When I read these I was doing my dialysis treatments, so I was reading sometimes two or three books a week.  I read Deception point right after A&D and. perhaps, should have taken a "Dan Brown break" before starting DP. 

A little Google action and you are right.

Just looked like a cheesy 70's flick for the few minutes I saw it.  Terrible acting and all that.

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Update.

Finally finished it last night.

Consensus from me?  Ending sucked ............ no real surprise about the twist with the bad guy.  And the final stuff was just hokey.

Enjoyed the read until the last 40 pages or so.

+1

"Wilson!!!!!"

Edited by swimbikeandrun 2009-10-06 1:51 PM

I wouldn't go so far as "sucked" but it was somewhat anti-climactic.  And I agree re: the "twist"