What irks me most about the whole Da Vinci Code is how people are blathering on that it's "ZOMG the best book evah!!" It's not, I'm sorry, not even close. The writing is average, and sometimes terribly cliched, the characters utterly forgettable and the premise just ludicrous. I've studied a bit of the early church and did my thesis on Mary Magdalene, and I laughed at the "troubadours searching for the Sacred Feminine" bit. But when this piece of mediocrity is being voted as the best book of all time, it really, really irks me. There's sooooo much better out there, people. I usually try and entince people to read some good books when they mention they like the Da Vinci Crap. One of my favorites is The Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears. It's set in Restoration Oxford and is beautifully written, with an absolutely compelling mystery.

So as much as I love Paul Bettany, I won't be watching the movie. I'd just be writing in agony the entire time.