So a little background is necessary here:
When I was in college a long time ago, my roommate Tammy told me about this book called The Eight by Catherine Neville.
Now, mind you, we were all science majors and major nerds, and so when she told me there was this book that had puzzles and involved chess and intrigue and mystery, well, that sounded exciting to me.
So I read The Eight. And this was more than 12 years ago.
And ever since then, I have considered The Eight to be (one of) my favorite books of all time (which is a category which likely deserves it's own blog post). Remember, this was more than 12 years ago.
Anyway, recently Sarah Solter at Books and Other Miscellany posted a review of the book on her blog. Which I managed to catch because she commented on my Booking Through Thursday post. So I had to comment back.
Her point (I think - please Sarah correct me if I'm wrong) is that The Eight is not as good as The Da Vinci Code. My point is that The Da Vinci Code has the benefit of being written later and I am quite sure that Dan Brown has read and was inspired by The Eight. (Although really I have no idea what Dan Brown reads.)
So now Iliana has asked for my thoughts about the book. I guess I'm going to have to find a copy to reread so I can actually make some more intelligent comments than "Wow, I really liked it."
What did you think of The Eight? Let's talk about it some more!
Happy reading, everyone!
9 comments:
Hi Trixie,
Actually, I did not necessarily think that The Da Vinci Code was better than The Eight. That's interesting that you got that out of my post, because that was not my intended point. There are several things about The Da Vinci Code that really bugged me - the all happening in 24 hours part was one of them. I liked the fact that The Eight took place over a more realistic time period.
In the end, I think the two books are not really as comparable as the quote on the cover of The Eight would have you believe. They each have their strong and weak points.
Oh, and I loved The Name of the Rose (and I think it is not comparable to either The Eight or The Da Vinci Code; it is in a class of its own) so I recommend you try it again!
Thanks for the link, and I like having a dialog! :)
Sarah
Oh, and I think you are probably right that Dan Brown got inspiration from The Eight, among other things.
Sarah,
I agree with you completely that both Da Vinci Code and The Eight have their strong and weak points. I will try The Name of the Rose again. I think I have it around here somewhere!
Oh that's too funny.. You know, there are books I've read years and years ago and I still claim them as all time faves but can't remember much about them other than the fact that I loved them when I read them. So, no worries, I know how it goes.
Someone had recommended this book to me a long time ago and I think I was put off by the whole puzzles idea. Now, it sounds appealing though :)
I didn't like The Eight too well when I read it, actually. I'd read and reviewed The Book of Names on my book review blog, 5-Squared, and another member of that blog suggested The Eight because I was disappointed with The Book of Names. I haven't read The Da Vinci Code but I've read Angels and Demons which is in the same puzzle-ish genre, and I hated it, thought it was some of the worst writing I've ever come across. The Eight wasn't THAT bad, but I still felt a lot of the points made in Sarah's blog (I found this post through her blog) were very valid and they annoyed me tremendously. To the point of not being able to enjoy the book by the end.
Oh, I suppose I should link to my book review on The Eight, whoops! Sorry, here you go: review.
I thought Angels and Demons was pretty bad. I wrote a short review of it here. His writing is terrible but I can't deny that the plot was gripping.
I read The Eight as a sophmore in high school (wow, that was a long time ago...) and I LOVED it. I should try it again :)
Hi Corinne,
Well, you read the conversation, so you know this already, but I remember loving it as well. I have to find my copy and re-read it!
Thanks for visiting!
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