The Da Vinci Wagon
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In one of Bob Ong's essays in Stainless Longganisa, he talks about how writers in other countries such as the US and the UK are given fair chance to be heard (or read). I'll agree. If you go through the bookshelves of any local bookstores here, you'll see a lot of relatively outrageous titles getting published abroad – The Book for The Hip Mom, The Type Z Guide to Success, Mental Floss, The Alphabet of Manliness, The Fat Smash Diet etc. You'd think no one will actually be interested in reading them. It's just proof of how open-minded publishers are out there where you can write about virtually any topic. I mean, would you actually believe you'll see a book entitled Confessions of an Insomniac published here soon?
It's also amazing to see the many publishers and writers that joined in on the Da Vinci Bandwagon. Ever since the very controversial book Holy Blood, Holy Grail hit the bookstores and stirred confusion in the ranks of Christians around the world, other authors seemed to have taken a similar interest after realizing that Holy Blood, Holy Grail never ran out of print (and world-wide sales). From HB,HG which was published in 1982 the already popular titles The Hiram Key, The Holy Place, Secrets of the Templars, The Messianic Legacy (the sequel to HB, HG) and so on have seen fruitful publication.
Now, 20 years later, the concept from HB, HG has taken the form of an adventure-thriller that has the Vatican scrambling for action - The Da Vinci Code. As before, authors have quickly joined the club. This time, they come from either side of the argument. It's amusing actually to see the titles on the featured books section on bookstores: Breaking the Da Vinci Code, Da Vinci Declassified, The Da Vinci Deception, The Truth About Angels and Demons, Da Vinci and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Heroes in a half shell! Turtle Power!!!). A lot of authors seem to be hard bent on disproving Dan Brown’s novel but in reality, I think they just want to get on the best-seller list themselves.
However, there are also those books that seek to support the theories / hypothesis presented by The Da Vinci Code and HB, HG. Out comes the Naghammadi Library / The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Gospel of Philip, The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, The Gospel of Judas, The Pistis Sophia and so on. If it is true that religion is a dodgy topic, then I beg to disagree now.
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In one of Bob Ong's essays in Stainless Longganisa, he talks about how writers in other countries such as the US and the UK are given fair chance to be heard (or read). I'll agree. If you go through the bookshelves of any local bookstores here, you'll see a lot of relatively outrageous titles getting published abroad – The Book for The Hip Mom, The Type Z Guide to Success, Mental Floss, The Alphabet of Manliness, The Fat Smash Diet etc. You'd think no one will actually be interested in reading them. It's just proof of how open-minded publishers are out there where you can write about virtually any topic. I mean, would you actually believe you'll see a book entitled Confessions of an Insomniac published here soon?
It's also amazing to see the many publishers and writers that joined in on the Da Vinci Bandwagon. Ever since the very controversial book Holy Blood, Holy Grail hit the bookstores and stirred confusion in the ranks of Christians around the world, other authors seemed to have taken a similar interest after realizing that Holy Blood, Holy Grail never ran out of print (and world-wide sales). From HB,HG which was published in 1982 the already popular titles The Hiram Key, The Holy Place, Secrets of the Templars, The Messianic Legacy (the sequel to HB, HG) and so on have seen fruitful publication.
Now, 20 years later, the concept from HB, HG has taken the form of an adventure-thriller that has the Vatican scrambling for action - The Da Vinci Code. As before, authors have quickly joined the club. This time, they come from either side of the argument. It's amusing actually to see the titles on the featured books section on bookstores: Breaking the Da Vinci Code, Da Vinci Declassified, The Da Vinci Deception, The Truth About Angels and Demons, Da Vinci and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Heroes in a half shell! Turtle Power!!!). A lot of authors seem to be hard bent on disproving Dan Brown’s novel but in reality, I think they just want to get on the best-seller list themselves.
However, there are also those books that seek to support the theories / hypothesis presented by The Da Vinci Code and HB, HG. Out comes the Naghammadi Library / The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Gospel of Philip, The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, The Gospel of Judas, The Pistis Sophia and so on. If it is true that religion is a dodgy topic, then I beg to disagree now.
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hehehe! we're subscribed to the Mental Floss magazine here. interesting stuff. alfredo picks up some trivia that comes handy when we watch jeopardy. =P
Posted by
beng |
5/12/2006 02:06:00 PM