To be more accurate, I’d had my nose in The Da Vinci Code since Friday, finishing it yesterday afternoon. It’s a quick and easy read.

I enjoyed it well enough–in fact, I did find it difficult to put down, especially since, moving through it quickly, I realized the end was attainable by weekend’s end–but I didn’t have the strong reaction I’ve noted elsewhere (e.g., Cornelia). Though it’s certainly true that I’ll never look at Da Vinci’s The Last Supper the same way again.

Perhaps the book just had been hyped too much. Personally, it felt like Dan Brown was trying too hard to be Umberto Eco, and definitely failing to reach that level of skill; I’d venture that I found Katherine Neville’s The Eight and practically anything by Artur Perez-Riverte much closer to that ideal. In fact, while looking up the Amazon codes for these latter authors and their works, I found that someone there already had put together a guide entitled “So you’d like to… read a book like The Da Vinci Code, but better?” and I’d have to say I agree with most of the choices on this list (though number 6 on this list, As Meat Loves Salt, failed to keep my interest about halfway though, and I haven’t yet finished it).