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The Official Unofficial Book Group Book Discussion thread

1 lurker | 60 watchers
GregP
GregP
May 2019
4:00pm, 17 May 2019
112,399 posts
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GregP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlWyeRkoZtI
Diogenes
Diogenes
May 2019
9:30pm, 20 May 2019
36,765 posts
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Diogenes
I’ve started reading The Da Vinci Code. Oh my word, I can see why Dan Brown has googley eyes.
Serendippily
Serendippily
May 2019
9:32pm, 20 May 2019
12,646 posts
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Serendippily
I’m sure I scan read it and it was a poor mans foucaults pendulum
Diogenes
Diogenes
May 2019
9:33pm, 20 May 2019
36,766 posts
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Diogenes
It’s bad in a way you rarely see, except in pastiche.
LindsD
LindsD
May 2019
9:37pm, 20 May 2019
27,758 posts
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LindsD
I've read it. Why, Dio? Why? ;)

I've just started 'What I talk about when I talk about running'
LindsD
LindsD
May 2019
9:38pm, 20 May 2019
27,759 posts
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LindsD
That's true, Dio. That Factory Records book I ditched was that kind of bad
Diogenes
Diogenes
May 2019
9:40pm, 20 May 2019
36,767 posts
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Diogenes
I can’t thoroughly look down on it until I’ve actually read it, plus it’s good to know what really bad writing looks like so one can avoid making similar mistakes.
LindsD
LindsD
May 2019
9:41pm, 20 May 2019
27,762 posts
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LindsD
Both good reasons.
LazyDaisy
LazyDaisy
May 2019
9:47pm, 20 May 2019
26,722 posts
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LazyDaisy
For A level we had to read a collection of essays on literary criticism by C.S. Lewis. The only bit I can remember was him saying that there is no such thing as a bad book, only a bad reader. I think novels like The Da Vinci Code proves him wrong. Just because you're a 'good' reader and can see that the book is rubbish, doesn't stop it being rubbish.
Diogenes
Diogenes
May 2019
10:07pm, 20 May 2019
36,768 posts
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Diogenes
An example: we’ve just been introduced to the character of the police captain Bezu Fache, and been told he is nicknamed ‘The Bull. He is described as stocky, dark, almost Neanderthal, his (double-breasted) suit straining to cover his wide shoulders, he emanates authority as he advances on squat powerful legs...

Enough already, yet Brown starts the next chapter as follows:

“Captain Bezu Fache carried himself like an angry ox, with his wide shoulders thrown back and his chin tucked into his chest. His dark hair was slicked back with oil, accentuating an arrow-like widow’s peak that divided his jutting brow and proceeded him like the prow of a battleship.”

It’s so heavy-handed, even if you ignore the repetition of ‘wide shoulders’ - I nearly did Brown a favour by substituting broad for wide in my synopsis - and the uncomfortable rhyme of brow and prow, it’s still the work of a pebbledasher trying to create a fresco on a chapel wall.

About This Thread

Maintained by Diogenes
Unofficial books, underground discussion, MASSIVE SPOILERS.

Some of the most discussed books include:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
(mind-bending mystery with halls and statues)
hive.co.uk



The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (geriatric murder mystery from Britain's tallest comedic brainbox)
hive.co.uk

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
(Memoir of a homeless couple walking the SWCP)
hive.co.uk

Milkman by Anna Burns
(Superlative prize-winning fiction)
Hive link: hive.co.uk

The Player Of Games by Iain M. Banks (Sci-Fi)
Hive link: hive.co.uk

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley (weird steampunk)
Hive link: hive.co.uk
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