Old English in New York

I've found myself in the interesting position of having to read a book by Friday (or by very soon after). It's interesting because it's not a work book, and I rarely have deadlines for non-school-related reading.

I made the (possible) mistake of telling a friend I'd read Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code before I saw the movie.

Note that I've had zero interest in reading the book. I read Angels and Demons in a single night my senior year of college (I had a paper due and, well, I really like procrastinating). I even read about the first fifty pages of The DaVinci Code back in the days when I was fairly serious about working out, and it was the perfect size to fit in the bookholder on my favorite exercise bike. Then I put down the book I was told repeatedly people couldn't put down. In the years since its publication, I've never been able to get up sufficient interest to pick it back up.

I'm not really up on all the controversy surrounding it -- but I thought this article in The New Yorker was quite interesting. For lack of anything more interesting to write about until my orals lists are constructed (and I have a deadline of tomorrow) -- here's the link.

I wish I could come up with some nice scholarly thing to say about it, but those (as well as many non-scholarly responses) abound on the net and elsewhere. So my single contribution to the DaVinci Code discussion may seem slightly mundane and superficial, but I assure you it is no laughing matter:

What on earth did they do to Tom Hanks' hair?!?!?

*****

And for those in the NE who are getting pounded by the storms out there (this is starting to remind me of the particularly soggy October we had this past year) -- good luck keeping dry. I think we'll probably all need it.