Knee Deep in DaVinci

Inspired by my students' exclamations of surprise (and delight; who are we kidding?) that their blogs are being read by random Canadians, I decided to check my blog stats as well. (Thank you, Shira, for the instructions on how.) And what do you know? Two Canadians, a whole bunch of Israelis, and I don't even know who else have spent at least some number of seconds on my blog. I think there was someone from Alaska, too. Who do I know in Alaska? I highly doubt Sarah Palin is spending much time on my blog, but stranger things have happened... It really is amazing what this website can tell me about my viewers. Amazing and a bit frightening--and all from that puny little IP address.

So I was catching up with a friend of mine in shul this past yom tov and he asked me if I ever write any more. (Cliff notes: I used to be an editor at a magazine before I returned to teaching. Apparently he used to read my stuff.) I told him no, because that's pretty much the truth (unless you count my journal, which I don't). But then I thought better of it and told him about this blog.

Which kicked my guilt into high gear and needled me to write something tonight.

The truth is, I spent most of Simchat Torah buried in Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code, a book I've been meaning to read ever since the thing came out (yes, it really was that long ago--7 years, to be exact) and which one of my students is reading as part of the assignment that spurred all of this blogging in the first place. (Lena, in case you're reading this, I won't spoil anything. How are you liking it, by the way?) The thing that gets me about the book (aside from the feeling of absolute giddyness) is the veracity of Brown's theories. I mean, the guy begins the book with a disclaimer that all of the documents in the book are accurate, but what of that? Many a quote or fact can be taken out of context. The problem is that I don't know my New Testamant. Or my Catholic Theology, for that matter. So it's hard to know how much weight to put into his theories about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the Church. All of that said, it's a fantastic ride and I'm saddened by the fact that I only have about 100 pages left. Books like this shouldn't end.

If you liked The DaVinci Code, you should read Landscape of Lies, by Peter Watson. A very similar sort of plot, though not as significant historically. Certainly not as theologically devastating.

My sister was in town this past week and went home--Brooklyn, NY--this morning. So, on Saturday night we rented a film. Combine the fact that I was knee deep in Dan Brown with Rivka's obsession with Audrey Tautou and you get a $5.00 rental receipt from Blockbuster for The DaVinci Code.

If only I hadn't read the book.

Seriously, they take the leading woman and make her into such a dishrag compared to her role in the book. How did Brown allow that? And as much as I love Tom Hanks (and I do, don't get me wrong), I don't actually think he was quite right for the part. The whole thing just stank of anti-climax.

Anyway. My nose is running and my laptop is too hot. For both of those reasons, I'm signing off.

Happy reading.