I read The Da Vinci Code a few weeks ago, and to tell the truth, I had a difficult time understanding why the book sold as many copies as it did. It is not particularly well written, even for a genre novel. The characters seemed forced in their actions and speech. Brown also has this annoying tendency to withhold information from the reader just for the sake of suspense, which is, to me, a sign of weakness in a novel. It shows that the events in the novel themselves do not carry enough tension with them to maintain our interest; therefore, the writer keeps things from us to make us keep reading.

Still, my husband and I were among the masses of people who apparently flocked to see the movie this weekend. It wasn't surprising to me that I wasn't any more pleased with the movie than I was with the book. The part of the book that was really interesting to me, the discussion of all the different theories, was greatly abridged for the movie. I can understand why. I also thought that there was no real spark in either of the main characters, no real playfulness or true curiousity, which I think is greatly needed for a story like this.

I did enjoy seeing the settings and paintings up close, however. I am particularly interested in Da Vinci's The Last Supper, which I have included above. Yes, there seems to be a woman sitting to the right of Jesus. I think this is fascinating. Is this really a woman? In that case, which of the twelve disciples is missing from the table?

I wasn't bothered by the book or the movie, not in a spiritual sense, because I see them both as merely fiction. Dan Brown tries his best to make us believe that it is based on truth, but his theories crumble with even the tiniest bit of pressure. I heard a wonderful article on NPR about this subject by religion scholar Bart D. Erhman, which I would recommend for anyone who is tempted to take Brown's story at face value:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5364195