Monday, October 18, 2004

My DW is an obsessive reader of novels, mostly in the mystery genre. A couple of weeks ago, I had the bright idea of reading some of those novels myself. I've ploughed through "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown, and now I'm reading "The Rule of Four" by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. All three novels remind me of Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" and "Foucault's Pendulum," but all of them are more accessible than Eco tends to be. I enjoy the idea of taking some historical book, idea, rumor, or superstition, and basing a detective story on it. I liked "Angels and Demons" better than "The Da Vinci Code," but that may just be because "A&D" is set in Italy and has a more surprising villain. "The Rule of Four" is exceptionally written and does a dead-on parody of academic disputes over obscure topics that nobody really cares about. However, the academic dispute in the novel involves a secret that people are willing to kill to keep. I can't wait to finish it and find out the secret and whodunit.

3 comments:

Phoebe said...

Loved "The Name of the Rose" so much I read it twice.
And I agree that Angels and Demons was better than DaVinci Code.
I'll have to go pick up "The Rule of Four" for next week's beach vacation. Thanks for the tip.
"dead-on parody of academic disputes over obscure topics that nobody really cares about" -- so funny, Randy :)
And thanks for the inpregnating squirrels remark on my blog. You are forgiven.

Phoebe said...

Ellis Peters!! Good one, Ciara. Randy, I think your wife will like the Brother Cadfael series. (did I spell his name right?) He's a monk in the umpteenth century who has a respectful disregard for the outward form of religion, but regards with respect the inner, more spiritual part of religion. He solves murders, too. And the girl always gets the guy, and vice versa. Very addicting.

Ann said...

Will you put together a list of mysteries your DW has particularly enjoyed and mail them to me? Please?

Thanks for the start with those already listed.